“Sportswashing”

Definition

Money poured into sport by a country, a company or an individual to make people feel better about them. The investment is real and so are the trophies. The point is what you end up thinking about instead.

Origin

A new-ish word built off “whitewashing.” It started appearing around 2015, when human rights groups used it to describe Azerbaijan hosting the European Games, and it has followed big sporting money around ever since.

Used in a sentence

“The Prime Minister spent a week praising City’s owners days after they were found guilty of 114 charges. Whatever you make of that, it is a working definition of sportswashing.”