This study represents the first attempt to investigate how consumers expect sport management to respond to sport celebrity transgressions, while still protecting their corporate social responsibility. Consumer responses were resourced from online forum sites and the investigation noted that consumers expect sport management to respond to sport celebrity transgressions in several ways. Findings indicated that consumers noted specific sport celebrity transgression responses: 1) suspension; 2) apology; 3) fine; and 3) develop educational programmes for sport celebrities. Additionally, consumers indicated that these response strategies should be consistent and uniform through all types of sport.

Sport is a lucrative and universal form of popular culture, transcending international and social boundaries (Andrews & Jackson, 2001) providing sports men and women with increasingly lucrative financial opportunities through involvement in sponsorship and endorsement deals (Colapinto & Benecchi, 2014). Whilst sport celebrities have long been used in marketing communication and sponsorship campaigns to increase levels of consumer interest and attention (Gupta 2009; McCracken 1989; Van der Veen & Song, 2001), what is not well researched, is the role that electronic word-of-mouth communications plays in the transmission of potentially negative effects on consumer attitudes towards the sport celebrity brand image when a transgression occurs. Not only does electronic word-of-mouth communication make the transmission of a transgression immediate and widely disseminated, it also provides numerous opportunities for celebrities themselves to share information about themselves and their lives sometimes resulting in a “too much”, “too soon” and “too often” nexus. With the removal of a social privacy filter common with many of the younger generation, this TMI (too much information) state or increased self-disclosure (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010) makes managing the brand image of sport celebrities by their managers and their sponsors an increasingly difficult problem.