👉 Background: Netball Australia is the main governing body for netball in Australia. And it's been in some trouble lately - Netball Australia lost A$7 millionover 2020 and 2021 thanks to COVID.

👉 What happened: This year, Netball Australia secured Hancock Prospecting as a corporate sponsor with a whopping $15 million over four years. Hancock Prospecting is Australia's largest private company and is the mining company majority owned by Gina Rinehart.

👉 What else: Last week, it was revealed that some netball players didn’t support Hancock Prospecting as a sponsor. This was due to historical comments made by the company's founder on indigenous issues. As well as the company's record on environmental issues. So now, Hancock Prospecting has walked away from the deal with Netball Australia.

What's the key learning?

💡The sport industry has seen a major rise in the power of the athlete. And as a result, the relationship between corporates, sports leagues and sports teams has become a lot more than just financial.

💡Over this period of time, sport stars have become more vocal about their personal opinions on key political and social issues.

• Fremantle Dockers have been urged to cut ties with Woodside Energy
• Aussie cricket captain has refused to appear in ads for Cricket Australia's sponsor Alinta Energy

💡So we’re reaching new territory where some corporates may start to think twice before investing in a partnership with a sports league or team.

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