Sport Governance

Sport governance has emerged as an important practice in the oversight of sport organisations at all levels including international sport federations, national and state/provincial sport organisations, professional sport leagues and clubs, and community-based clubs. An examination of sport governance shows it to be a curious mix of corporate and nonprofit governance, given the range of ownership structures of sport organisations which includes private ownership, a consortium of individuals, private company ownership, member associations, and clubs. Ultimately, the form of ownership shapes sport governance practices. Governance of sport organisations is also shaped by prevailing legal systems and the powers afforded to boards of companies and nonprofit organisations. Cultural influences are also important, especially in relation to sport organisations, where historically, a leisure culture has acted as a barrier to the need for governance, let alone good governance. This was largely due to a history of voluntary administration and amateur participation in sport in many countries. Since the 1980s and 1990s, as sport organisations began to professionalise, governance has assumed increased importance. Professionalisation occurred in response to increasing revenue streams for professional sports through broadcasting, sponsorship, and attendances, and for the majority of national and state sport governing bodies, increased government funding. Commercialisation demanded enhanced accountability, transparency, and democratic processes on behalf of sport organisations across the world. These trends also challenged sport boards to become more strategic and to focus less on operational aspects of the sport. Board strategic capability has become a major research focus to better understand how boards of sport organisations can enhance their strategic capability. Traditionally, prevailing theories of corporate governance have been applied to the sport governance research setting with the contrast between the control described in agency theory to the partnerships approach exhorted through stewardship theory leading to an important research focus on collaborative governance and collective board leadership. Collaborative governance and collective board leadership are important theoretical advances in the governance of a network of sports in a federated model or a professional sport league. Application of these theories are attractive given sport is viewed as a public good to be shared and enjoyed across communities and where participation is the underlying culture.