Sport is big business! The Business of Sports Management.
01 Oct 03

Sport has always been a popular recreational activity, but now it is much, much more than that. Underpinned by the rising profile of sports stars, rapid changes in technology and increasingly sophisticated customer expectations, sport has become big business. It is played out by some of the world’s biggest celebrities, playing in some of the best leagues and biggest events, and watched by millions of fervent supporters. Such has been the development of sport that in the United Kingdom alone, sport accounts for 2% of Gross Domestic Product, and 2.5% of total consumer expenditure, whilst forecasts indicate that UK sport expenditure will increase 15% by 2007. This demands that managers employed in sport need to be professional and commercially oriented in their work. Managing on-field performers is important, but managing off-field operations is becoming equally significant.

‘The Business of Sport Management’, edited by British academics John Beech and Simon Chadwick and published by Pearson Education, therefore sets out to examine the challenges that sport business managers’ face and explores how these challenges might be addressed. To do this, the book adopts a structured approach in examining sport business functions and a range of current issues facing sport businesses. It also makes extensive use of case material drawn from a wide range of sports, including football, motor racing, tennis, golf and horse racing, and provides extensive details of additional reading and relevant web sites.

The editors have drawn together sports management authors from across the world to ensure the best possible coverage of both business functions applied to sport and management issues specific to sports business. The result is a book which not only meets the needs of postgraduate and undergraduate students of Sports Management but also provides a textbook for practitioners in all forms of sports management, from Chief Executive of a major league to the officials of a small amateur sports club.

The Business of Sports Management is published February 2004. For more information click here.

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