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Journal of Sport Management

Official Journal of the North American Society for Sport Management

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Print ISSN:  0888-4773             Online ISSN:  1543-270X

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Volume 38 (2024): Issue 3 (May 2024)

JSM is published bimonthly, in January, March, May, July, September, and November.

The Journal of Sport Management aims to publish innovative empirical, theoretical, and review articles focused on the governance, management, and marketing of sport organizations. Submissions are encouraged from a range of areas that inform theoretical advances for the management, marketing, and consumption of sport in all its forms, and sport organizations generally. Review articles and studies using quantitative and/or qualitative approaches are welcomed.

The Journal of Sport Management publishes research and scholarly review articles; short reports on replications, test development, and data reanalysis; editorials that focus on significant issues pertaining to sport management; articles aimed at strengthening the link between sport management theory and sport management practice; and book reviews ("Off the Press").

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Lesley Ferkins, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand

Kevin Filo, Griffith University, Australia

Andrea N. Geurin, Loughborough University, UK

Heather Gibson, University of Florida, USA

Chris Greenwell, University of Louisville, USA

Kirstin Hallmann, German Sport University Cologne, Germany

Kate Heinze, University of Michigan, USA

Larena Hoeber, University of Regina, Canada

Michael Hutchinson, University of Memphis, USA

Yuhei Inoue, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

Kyriaki Kaplanidou, University of Florida, USA

Matthew Katz, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Timothy Kellison, Florida State University, USA

Lisa Kihl, University of Minnesota, USA

Jeeyoon (Jamie) Kim, Syracuse University, USA

Dae Hee Kwak, University of Michigan, USA

Sarah Leberman, Massey University, New Zealand

Dan Lock, Bournemouth University, UK

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Jennifer McGarry (Breuning), University of Connecticut, USA

Brian Mills, University of Texas, USA

Katie Misener, University of Waterloo, Canada

Calvin Nite, Texas A&M University, USA

Norm O’Reilly, Ohio University, USA

Milena Parent, University of Ottawa, Canada

Rodney Paul, Syracuse University, USA

Daniel Rascher, University of San Francisco, USA

Dominik Schreyer, WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, Germany

Nico Schulenkorf, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Chad Seifried, Louisiana State University, USA

Sally Shaw, University of Otago, New Zealand

Emma Sherry, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia

Brian P. Soebbing, University of Alberta, Canada

Popi Sotiriadou, Griffith University, Australia

Per Svensson, Louisiana State University, USA

Nefertiti Walker, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Marvin Washington, Portland State University, USA

Nicholas Watanabe, University of South Carolina, USA

Pamela Wicker, Bielefeld University, Germany

David Wooten, University of Michigan, USA

Masayuki Yoshida, Hosei University, Japan

James Zhang, University of Georgia, USA

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The Journal of Sport Management publishes research and scholarly review articles; short reports on replications, test development, and data reanalysis; editorials that focus on significant issues pertaining to sport management; articles aimed at strengthening the link between sport management theory and sport management practice; and book reviews ("Off the Press"). Individuals interested in submitting book reviews should contact the section editor: Dr. Edward Horne, University of New Mexico ( [email protected] ).

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Tracing the state of sport management research: a bibliometric analysis

• Open access
• Published: 24 February 2023
• Volume 74 , pages 1185–1208, ( 2024 )

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• Jonas Hammerschmidt 1 ,
• Ferran Calabuig 2 ,
• Sascha Kraus   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4886-7482 3 , 4 &
• Sebastian Uhrich 5  

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This article presents a state-of-the-art overview of the sport management research discipline through a bibliometric analysis of publication data from the top five sport management journals in the decade 2011–2020. The analysis includes citation and productivity analysis of journals, institutions, countries, and articles, author citation and output analysis, and title and abstract (co-)word analysis. The data identifies the Sport Management Review as the most prolific journal of the last decade. Institutions and authors from the US are dominating the sport management research, which has increased its attractiveness in other disciplines. Co-word analysis shows recent and frequently discussed topics related to management of sport organizations and events, team and game, sport marketing and sponsorship, and behaviour and identification of the spectator. The article serves the ongoing debate on sport management as an academic field with deep insights into the publication structure and thematic dynamics of the last decade.

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1 Introduction

Sport has become a weighty player embedded in the context of economic development (Ratten 2010 ). The growing economic relevance of sport created an organizational need for operational and managerial structure. Research at the intersection of sport and management has established a discipline that tackles the complexity of managerial activity in the sport environment. In the slipstream of the increasing influence of sport, sport management research has developed into an attractive and exponentially growing discipline (Funk 2019 ). However, the rapid and proliferating growth of sport management research, especially in the last decade (Pellegrini et al. 2020 ), has led to seemingly uncoordinated progress. As a result, it is difficult to assess the current status quo of the research discipline, as well as uncertainty about the prevailing dynamics that have influenced the development of the field in recent years.

In the period from 1990 to 2000, sport management was dominated by topics related to athletic training and athlete programs with less focus on the commercial potential of sport (Ciomaga 2013 ). In the penultimate decade, from 2000 to 2010, the thematic landscape of sport management has evolved in the opposite direction, with the focus of the field on commercial issues and becoming more oriented towards management disciplines (Ciomaga 2013 ). Ciomaga ( 2013 ) and Shilbury ( 2011a , b ) noted that marketing had the greatest impact on sport management research during these years, and that influence appeared to increase over time. This development was viewed with suspicion because the extensive commercial view of the multifaceted world of sport could lead to a neglect of its special qualities (Ciomaga 2013 ; Zeigler 2007 ). Almost as a logical consequence, Gammelsæter ( 2021 ) criticizes the prevailing conceptualization of sport as an industry or a business, which ignores natural features of sport such as its sociality. In the current conceptualization of sport entrepreneurship, a sub-area of sport management, Hammerschmidt et al. ( 2022 ) has recognized that ‘sport is social by nature and thus is sport entrepreneurship’ (p. 9), which apparently is the case for sport management. However, the discussion about the lack of conceptual clarity in sport management research was initiated early on, accompanied by recommendations that subsequent research addresses this deficit of clarity through systematic analyses (Chalip 2006 ).

To take a first step towards a better understanding of the status quo of a scientific discipline, a bibliometric analysis is a well-established method (Deyanova et al. 2022 ; Kraus et al. 2022 ; Martínez-López et al. 2018 ; Tiberius et al. 2020 , 2021 ). In recent years, few reviews have been conducted in the sport management discipline. Ciomaga ( 2013 ) combined a content-related review with a quantitative analysis of three leading sport management journals for the period 1987–2010. The study examines how sport management research strives for legitimacy and asserts that sport management research is still strongly influenced by its reference disciplines (e.g., marketing and organizational studies). To assess the state of development of the research field and its influence on generic disciplines, Shilbury ( 2011a ) examined citations of sport management and marketing journals in management and marketing journals. Results show that sport management and especially sport marketing literature has gained traction in top tier generic journals. In addition, Shilbury ( 2011a ) observed that it takes just over six years after a sport management journal’s creation until it’s expected to generate citations in journals outside the field. However, six of the seven analyzed journals were then not yet listed in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), which makes it difficult to draw a real picture of journal usage and consequently impact. Moreover, Shilbury ( 2011b ) analyzed citations of reference lists of manuscripts published in the Journal of Sport Management (JSM), Sport Marketing Quarterly (SMQ), European Sport Management Quarterly (ESMQ) and Sport Management Review (SMR). JSM is the journal with the longest history and was the most frequently cited journal, highlighting its role as the leading journal in the discipline. It is followed by SMQ with the second most citations, which is correspondingly the journal with the second-longest history. Apparently, the time factor played an important role because influence, citations, number of citable items, and reputation have developed over time (Budler et al. 2021 ).

Previous studies were important for a better understanding of the publishing behavior of sport management journals and provided a comprehensive overview of the fields’ development. However, the discipline has had the greatest growth in the last decade (Pellegrini et al. 2020 ) and the diffusion of new theories can take several years (Funk 2019 ). For example, when the analysis of Shilbury ( 2011a ) was conducted, only one sport management journal was listed in the SSCI, indicating that it may have been too early to obtain conclusive results from bibliometric analysis. Since then, many sport management and marketing journals have been listed in the SSCI for numerous years. It is particularly interesting to see how the sport management journals have performed in comparison since the analyses of Ciomaga ( 2013 ) and Shilbury ( 2011a , b ).

The aim of this bibliometric analysis is therefore to quantitatively structure the field using bibliometric indicators, and to assess the thematic dynamics of the last ten years with bibliometric coupling to contribute to the debate on the path that sport management is taking. To achieve this, a holistic bibliometric analysis is required due to the high demands on an integrated view of the complex scientific field (Gammelsæter 2021 ). This is mainly due to the multi-faceted nature of sport management, which can be easily illustrated by the role of a sport manager who takes care of issues in the organizational environment such as the desire to win, business, sport for development, professional marketing or social welfare (Hammerschmidt et al. 2021 ). Consequently, the methodological approach to achieve the research aim goes beyond related previous work.

A bibliometric analysis is a capable tool to identify the most influential journals based on publication and citation trends (Baumgartner and Pieters 2003 ; Martínez-López et al. 2018 ). In doing so, the study identifies important aspects in terms of citations, authors, articles, institutions, and countries. Ciomaga ( 2013 ) calls for studies to be conducted with more and particularly specialized journals. In response to this call, we conduct a bibliometric analysis that goes further than what has been done so far and analyses five of the leading sport management and marketing journals: Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, European Sport Management Quarterly, International Journal of Sport Marketing & Sponsorship, and Sport Marketing Quarterly. The rationale for our selection of these five journals is their appearance in the SSCI. Whatever delimitations are set, bibliometric analyses can never provide a complete picture of the field, as recent work may not have reached its full bibliometric impact (Budler et al. 2021 ), but boundaries need to be set to manage the data, and given the work that has pre-dated this study, delimiting the scope of this work to a ten-year period since 2011 is logical.

The study is structured as follows. The next section explains in detail the methodology used for bibliometric analysis and data collection. The results of the bibliometric analysis are then presented, including basic bibliometric indicators, as well as leading institutions, countries, authors, and articles of the five journals. The bibliometric coupling and the analysis of the themes is then presented. Subsequently, the main findings are discussed, followed by the limitations and the conclusion in the last section.

2.1 Procedure

The method of bibliometric analysis aims to statistically and objectively map the current state of a scientific field and to quantitatively structure its publications (Merigó et al. 2018 ; Mukherjee et al. 2022 ). To obtain a holistic picture of the sport management scholarship, we performed several bibliometric procedures. Specifically, basic bibliometric indicators were calculated to analyze the top five sport management journals: publication behavior of specific institutions, citation measures of different countries, scientific productivity of authors within the field, and most cited articles in the field.

Quantitative numbers of publications indicate the scientific productivity and citation frequency reveals the influence of research (Luther et al. 2020 ; Shilbury 2011b ). In this context, the quantitative analysis offers a high level of objectivity (Zupic and Čater 2015 ). To measure the influence of journals in this study, the Impact Factor is used because compared to other metrics, such as CiteScore, the Impact Factor is still the more widely used and recognized metric and is more likely to reflect current developments because it is based on a smaller time frame (Kurmis 2003 ). Institutional and country data is collected to provide a potential basis for alternative explanations of thematic dynamics and trends (Ciomaga 2013 ). The results on authorship provide a useful basis for the interpretation of possible social influences within the scientific community (Small 2011 ). The analysis of the most cited articles offers information about what type of research can generate the most interest in the discipline (Ciomaga 2013 ).

The quantitative analysis includes additional metrics to evaluate the authors' research output: the h-index and the g-index. The h-index metric presents a balance between individual articles that achieve high citations, older articles, and articles with average citation counts (Alonso et al. 2009 ; Hirsch 2005 ). “A researcher has index h if h of his/her N p papers have at least h citations each, and the other ( N p  −  h ) papers have no more than h citations each” (Alonso et al. 2010 , p. 3). Thus, a h-index of 10 means that at least 10 articles have achieved 10 citations each. In addition, we present the g-index, which is intended to extend the h-index. Here, the threshold of achieved citations are exponentiated and aggregated (Egghe 2006 ). “A set of papers has a g -index g if g is the highest rank such that the top g papers have, together, at least g 2 citations. This also means that the top + 1 papers have less than ( g  + 1) 2 cites” (Alonso et al. 2010 , p. 4). Hence, a g-index of 10 means that the top 10 articles of an author have collected at least 100 citations. Taken together, these two metrics give a sharper picture of the correlations between productivity figures and the influence of authors. Since the data base for these metrics is limited to sport management publications, the h- and g-indexes correspond to their sport management publications.

The data retrieved from the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) is decisive to build networks of co-occurrences. Although there is no standard approach of a bibliometric analysis, the most common methodologies include the investigation of citations, co-citations and co-occurrences (Ferreira et al. 2015 ). In this study, the VOSviewer software is used to perform bibliometric coupling by means of a co-word analysis of titles and abstracts. This method processes the bibliometric data and then visualizes the relationships in a distance-based map. The representation simplifies the illustration of the bibliometric data and helps with the subsequent interpretation of the results (Luther et al. 2020 ). The aim of this work is not to synthesize the entire literature of the discipline, but rather the most mentioned themes. This inheres the danger of neglecting current trends and topics with little influence. Considering the research question, however, this is by no means a disadvantage, but provides clarity on the themes that were frequently discussed in the period under study.

To increase the depth of the results, this study performs a co-word density map. The density of a term depends on the number of nearby items and the number of citations they have. The density map shows how dense the research on a topic is. The denser the color, the more research is being done on that topic (van Eck and Waltman 2010 ). By combining a co-word map and a co-word density map, we get a more complete picture, because this shows which terms are mentioned the most and which ones gather the most science around them. The unified approach sheds more light on the underlying structure of bibliometric networks and therefore adds value compared to the isolated use of either approach (Waltman et al. 2010 ).

2.2 Data collection

The data were collected from the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) using the Web of Science Core Collection™ (WoS). To be included, journals need to be directly related to either sport management or sport marketing, or both. Second, the journals need to be assigned with an Impact Factor in the journal citation report (JCR) at the time of the search. Table 1 provides an overview of the selected journals. The study is limited to published research between 2011 and 2020 that is labelled as either original or review articles, and excludes other types of articles. The search string was carried out on February 15, 2021.

This research contributes to the sport management discipline by providing a systematization of literature from the last decade. From 2011 to 2020, a total of 1516 articles (1417 articles and 79 reviews) were published in these five sport management journals by 1951 authors, belonging to 845 institutions from 49 countries.

3.1 Basic bibliometric indicators of the journals

The discipline of sport management and marketing is still a young area, as can be seen in Table 1 . The first sport management journal to be indexed in the WoS was the Journal of Sport Management, which first appeared in 1993. In 2007, a second journal was added, the International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship. The European Sport Management Quarterly was introduced one year later. There is an important quantitative leap until 2011 when the Sport Management Review was included in the index. Finally, the Sport Marketing Quarterly was indexed in 2014 and received the first Impact Factor in 2017.

The journal that contributes the most articles to the analysis is the Sport Management Review with 462 original articles or reviews, followed by the Journal of Sport Management with 410 articles or reviews.

The local citation score (LCS) indicates the number of citations the journal has received in the analyzed database of 1516 articles. The global citation score (GCS) indicates the number of citations that the journals’ articles have received throughout the WoS database. The LCS and GCS are aggregate data on the amount of citations and therefore, whether the variables are calculated for articles or journals, can be an indicator of influence (Mehri et al. 2014 ). On a general level, SMR is the most influential journal outside the discipline during the last decade, receiving 7557 citations (Table 1 ). It is followed at a large distance by JSM with 5985 citations and the European Sport Management Quarterly, which has 3719 citations in the general database of the WoS. The great influence of SMR is particularly notable considering that it is a very young journal in the WoS since it entered this index not until 2011. In addition, SMR received the highest Impact Factor (i.e., 6.577) in the field in 2020.

Figure  1 shows the development of published articles over the years. As more journals have been introduced into the WoS, the number of published articles has increased. However, the journals’ strategy of increasing the frequency of issues published per year to improve visibility and citation opportunities influenced the results. Growth has been steady, reaching the highest level in the historical series in 2020.

Total number of publications of the top five sport management journals

As far as the development of the number of published articles and reviews per journal is concerned, there is an upward trend for all of them (Fig.  2 ). In general, these journals have increased the number of their publications over the past decade. The journal that published the most articles in 2020 is SMR (72), followed by JSM (45) and IJSMS (38). In contrast, the journals that published the smallest number of articles in 2020 are ESMQ (28) and SMQ (17).

Number of publications of the top five sport management journals

As can be observed, there is a general increase in the IF, especially in the last year (Fig.  3 ). The IF of JSM shows an upward trend (IF 2011–IF 2019 = 1.55) and presented the highest improvement in 2017. Regarding SMR, the IF also showed a positive trend from 2014 (first year with IF) to 2019 (IF 2011–IF 2019 = 2.13), reaching the highest value of the top five journals in 2019 (IF = 3.34). ESMQ has also shown a positive trend in IF in recent years (IF 2011–IF 2019 = 1.01). The highest growth of its IF was between 2015 and 2016 and the highest value was reached in 2018 with 2.27. However, in 2019, its Impact Factor decreased to 1.89.

Impact Factor of the top five sport management journals

For the IJSMS, there was a positive trend in IF from 2011 to 2020. Though, it had no IF in 2012 and 2013. Since then, its highest IF was reached in 2020 with 2.93. Finally, SMQ received its IF recently, in 2017, and it increased sharply in 2018 (IF = 1.14), but decreased in 2019 (IF = 0.74), showing similar values to 2017 (IF = 0.69).

3.2 Institutions and countries

Slightly more than half of the contributing authors (814) come from the US, followed by Australia (252) and the UK (173). The European country with the highest number of contributing authors is Germany (105).

Figure  4 provides an overview of the most cited countries in the last decade. Darker colors indicate a higher number of citations. The US and Australia are the countries that have received the largest number of citations (> 2000 citations). However, it is important to highlight that the US is by far the country that has received the most citations (9834). The European country with the most citations is Germany (1589).

Number of articles published per country

Regarding the institutions, Griffith University ranks first by citation count in the WoS (1717), followed by Temple University, which is the second most cited university (1432). The University of Florida ranks third (1270). In addition, these three universities are also the most cited in searches within these five journals (LCS). The most productive institutions are Temple University with 96 articles, followed by Griffith University with 81, and the University of Florida with 79 published articles.

In terms of number of citations per article published in the WoS (GCS/Nb. Articles), the University of Technology Sydney ranks first (25.47), followed by Griffith University (21.20) in second, and Deakin University in third (20.72). University of Technology Sydney also ranked first in the number of citations per document published in these five journals (7.17) (see Table 2 ).

3.3 Authorship of published articles

We ranked the number of citations by author based on the date of data collection (February 15, 2021). The most outstanding authors are Funk with 850, Wicker with 618 and Breuer with a total of 581 citations in the WoS. Highly cited researchers are also highly productive. There is evidence that the number of publications is highly correlated with the number of citations (Parker et al. 2013 ). Looking at the number of publications of these authors, Funk stands out as the author of the field with the highest number of publications (39) in the mentioned sport management journals during the last ten years. In addition, Funk has the highest h-index with 19 and the highest g-index with 29. Both metrics indicate that his high number of publications is matched by a high number of citations. Therefore, he can be considered the most influential author in the discipline in absolute terms. Table 3 shows the most productive authors in sport management and marketing research. An additional way to determine the influence of authors is the number of citations received based on the number of articles published (Kostoff 2007 ). The GCS/Nb. index shows that Kaplanidou has the most global citations per published article with 35.55. The scholar is followed by Schulenkorf (31.20) and in third position is Lock with 30.35 citations per article.

Considering only the citations received in these five journals over the past ten years, the LCS/Nb. index shows that Lock has the most citations per article with 11.94. He is followed by Doherty with 10.57 and Yoshida with 10 citations per article.

The ten most cited articles in the WoS are displayed in Table 4 . It is noteworthy that the three most frequently cited articles are relatively recent literature reviews. SMR contributes seven articles and JSM contributes two articles, one is from ESMQ.

3.4 Co-word analysis

Figure  5 clusters the co-occurrence of words within titles and abstracts. The generated terms reflect frequently discussed topics in the literature. The relationships of the topics show four recurring thematic groups of the five sport management journals. Each color (blue, red, yellow, and green) corresponds to a theme and signals its group membership.

Co-word analysis of terms gathered in clusters

Figure  6 is a density map. A topic is denser if it has more terms nearby. Thus, the figure shows the interconnections and proximity of the themes to each other (van Eck and Waltman 2010 ). The range is displayed from yellow (most intense) to green, and blue (least intense).

Density map of co-word analysis

The co-word analysis revealed four thematic clusters. The red cluster (1) belongs to the management of sport organizations and events, the blue cluster (2) is about the team, fan and the game, the green cluster (3) is the sport marketing and sponsorship cluster, and the yellow cluster (4) is about the behavior and identification of the sport spectators.

3.4.1 Red: Examining the management of sport organizations

The red cluster is relatively diverse and appears to contain another subgroup. In principle, this thematic field is about the management of sport organizations, which are the origin of sport participation (Misener and Doherty 2009 ). This field is predestined to benefit from the knowledge of other disciplines. Thus, the principle of organizational capacity, a concept from the management discipline, can be a key determinant for the success of sport organizations (Hoeber and Hoeber 2012 ; Misener and Doherty 2009 ). However, sport organizations are exposed to unique circumstances and, therefore, a potential subject for research emanating from inside the field. An example of this is the research of volunteerism, which is currently in the conceptualization phase (Wicker 2017 ), but can be one of the most pressing issues of sport organizations in the future (Wicker et al. 2014 ).

3.4.2 Blue: the sport cluster about the team, the fan and the game

The blue cluster is much clearer and is dominated by only a few terms. It is somewhat surprising that team and identification appear in separate clusters, since team identification is one of the most developed concepts of sport management, especially within the last decade (Katz and Heere 2016 ; Lock and Heere 2017 ). This is probably due to the fact that the terms fan, team, game, and league create a kind of cluster of their own since they are typically mentioned together. They have apparently also connections to other topics (which can be observed at their central position) but should be seen more as a platform for gaining knowledge, rather than as a separate thematic field. The connection of the word pairs is also interesting because in the blue cluster, the fan, and fan attendance are connected, whereas the terms customer, spectator, and behavior appear in the yellow cluster. The blue cluster seems to have evolved out of sport because of the terminology, whereas the yellow cluster is obviously characterized by commercial concepts (consumer, spectator, behavior, identification). The blue cluster is also the only cluster that includes a specific sport, namely major league baseball and especially football (soccer).

3.4.3 Green: developing marketing and sponsorship in sports

Marketing is part of the green cluster, however, neither the co-word analysis nor the density map reveals an increased appearance or influence of the term marketing. However, this refers only to the term in the analysis, not to the influence of the marketing topic in general. The way in which sport is consumed is of great value for practitioners. They try to provide pleasurable sport experiences by focusing on service quality and customer satisfaction, which is based on knowledge about how sport is consumed (Funk et al. 2016 ). Sport consumer research is a popular and growing sub-discipline of sport marketing research (Funk 2017 ; Yoshida 2017 ). Sponsorships most prominent context is sport, and generated insights have the potential to impact generic disciplines. For example, sport management research is discussing whether a consumer can identify non-congruent messages in sport marketing more easily than congruent, consistent information (Alonso Dos Santos and Calabuig 2018 ).

3.4.4 Yellow: investigating the commercial aspect of the spectator

Research within the yellow cluster focuses on diverse aspects related to spectator identification, loyalty, and behavior with sport (Lock et al. 2012 ). The terms of the yellow cluster are strongly linked to the concept of team identification, which in turn is strongly linked to marketing research (Heere et al. 2011 ; Katz et al. 2018 ). Psychology also has a great influence on the yellow cluster. Chang et al. ( 2018 ) used the approach of cognitive psychology to create the concept of implicit team identification (iTeam ID). By integrating the unconscious nature of consumption, iTeam ID may provide sport marketers with new insights for understanding fans’ identification with teams.

The density map (Fig.  6 ) shows that the term ‘team’ has the highest density in the field, indicating that more researchers are conducting research related to topics that mention the term team. The terms sport club, sport management, and sport organization are also presented with a high degree of density and would likely overtake the term ‘team’ if more consistent terminology were used. Terms such as league, game, fan, behavior, consumer, identification, participation, sponsorship, and sponsor also have a high density and are all presented in a more concentrated color than the term marketing.

4 Discussion

4.1 productivity and citations.

Despite its relative newness to the WoS, SMR is the most influential journal in the sport management discipline in our analysis of the last decade. During this period, it published the most articles, collected the most local and global citations, and had the highest Impact Factor among the top 5 journals in sport management. In addition, 7 of the 10 most cited articles, including the one with the most citations, were published in SMR. Hence, our study reveals a potential shift from the Journal of Sport Management as the most influential journal in sport management to SMR.

Productivity in the analyzed journals has been dominated by the US. The majority of authors come from the US, indeed the number is eight times higher compared to the European country with the most contributing authors: Germany. However, among the 3 most cited authors in the field are two Germans (Wicker and Breuer), which, by the way, count for 76% of all German citations with 1199 out of 1589 citations. The most cited article comes from an Australian university. The dominance of the US therefore seems to be less due to the quality (what can be derived from the values of LCS and GCS per article), but much more due to the quantity of researchers from the US contributing to sport management. The high number of researchers from the US seems to have an influence on the topics discussed. Sport in the US is more commercial in its basic concept, and community-sport organizations have less influence than is the case in Canada or Europe (Misener and Doherty 2009 ), which in turn may be part of the explanation why commercial logic has taken over in the sport management literature. It is further surprising that the term football is so prominently represented, even though football is called soccer in the US and plays a minor role. Conversely, this indicates that the scholarship of other nations focuses all the more on football.

In terms of authorship, a two-sided picture emerges. On the one hand, there are authors like Kaplanidou and Schulenkorf who have achieved high GCS scores and thus many citations outside the sport management journals. The articles by Kaplanidou were focused on the field of sport events and sport tourism. The most influential articles by Schulenkorf belong to sport for development literature and the most influential article is a review on sport for development, which accounts for a good quarter of the total global citations. Without this article, the value would fall back to the midfield. Research in these areas thus seems well suited to be cited by disciplines outside the field, but less suited to generate traction within the field. In terms of local citations, however, research on consumer satisfaction/behavior and sport organizations, respectively done by Yoshida and Doherty, are leading the scoring board. Lock is the only one whose research on team identification is frequently cited, both within and outside the sport management discipline. This possibly stems from the fact that Lock is also a co-author in other areas, such as sport and social media, eSports or sport consumption, and therefore has a very diverse research portfolio. Whether these findings about the choice of a topic and its influence on citation generation can be systematically replicated remains unclear. It can, however, support academics in choosing future projects and contributes to Funk's ( 2019 ) findings that on the one hand the ‘How?’ influences the diffusion of knowledge and on the other hand the ‘What?’ influences where knowledge can generate impact.

In Ciomaga's ( 2013 ) analysis, the papers with the most citations were reviews. Likewise, the three most cited articles in this analysis are reviews, a phenomenon that can also be observed in other disciplines (Vallaster et al. 2019 ). Surprisingly, the three authors with the most citations do not have an article in the top cited article list. However, the authors also have high scores in the h- and g-indexes, which means that they are highly productive, but also able to gain traction in terms of citations.

4.2 Exploring the thematic complexity of sport management research

In the results section, the thematic clusters were presented and their content discussed. In this section, we link our results to the ongoing debate in some substantive areas within sport management research.

The most obvious finding when looking at the visualization of co-occurrences is also the most influential: the thematic map of sport management research has become more diverse. The thematic complexity of the discipline that we present in our study contrasts significantly with the previous one-dimensionality of issues. Previous reflections mentioned that the focus of sport management research was characterized by a lack of systematic management strategies (Slack 1998 ) and then oscillated to an over-representation of commercial logic (Chalip 2006 ; Ciomaga 2013 ; Gammelsæter 2021 ). Our findings have carved out four thematic clusters and two of them, namely the green cluster on sport marketing and sponsorship and the red cluster on the management of sport organizations and events, are noticeably influenced by management disciplines and commercial thinking. However, both also show research streams that intend only to apply theories from other disciplines in the sport context, but to develop their own theories concerning, for example, the voluntary work of sport clubs, the management of community-sport-organizations or the peculiarities of sport sponsorship. The yellow cluster remains vague in this respect. On the one hand, this thematic group is also dominated by a commercial perspective and deals with the fundamental question of what motivates a spectator to consume sport. In this context, spectators are also referred to as customers, a term normally used in business. On the other hand, sport management scholars managed to establish a firm basis of evidence around the team identification topic. This thematic area, while based on identity theory and the social identity approach, has subsequently built up a sport-specific and data-based knowledge base step by step, rather than accumulating theories through the constant introduction of new general management theories.

The blue cluster in this analysis is a novelty and represents a dominant thematic field of sport management that deals with sport specific characteristics: the team, the fan, the league, and the game. This cluster represents a thematic development of the last decade in sport management research, which is in line with the demand to put sport back into the center of sport management (Gammelsæter 2021 ). It is also important to note that the term ‘team’ is the term on which most research has been conducted. However, this conclusion may also be deceptive, as other thematic fields have greater diversity in the use of terms and, cumulatively, would likely yield more influential scores.

In general, commercial research areas continue to dominate the field. A common characteristic of these topics is that they are related to important sources of income and, hence, the findings are relevant from the perspective of practitioners as well. Sport has its grassroots in voluntary, community-based sport clubs. Despite the ongoing professionalization of sport, most sport organizations have a social background and are non-profit (Misener and Doherty 2009 ). As Morrow ( 2013 ) notes, sport ‘has always been and continues to be […] economic in basis, but social in nature’ (p. 297). In contrast, the term ‘social’ was not represented in our analysis and therefore future research could take a more holistic approach and engage in distinct social aspects of managing sport.

Football (soccer) is the only sport besides major league baseball that appears in the co-word analysis. Moreover, both terms, i.e., soccer and football, are still represented and together their influence would be mapped even more strongly. Nevertheless, football is the most represented sport in the sport management journals in our analysis, thus underlining its significant and leading role in research.

Looking at the development of sport management topics in the past, it is interesting to note that these have grown mainly within sport management journals. Shilbury ( 2011a ) noted that only 25 sport management related papers were published in generic management journals. In contrast, sport entrepreneurship, a young and emerging sub stream of management research in sport, has originated from the field of entrepreneurship and mainly grown up outside the major sport management and marketing journals. Sport entrepreneurship attaches great importance to the specifics of sport (Hammerschmidt et al. 2020 , 2022 ) and can therefore help to support the missing distinctiveness of sport management (Shilbury 2011b ). It remains open whether it is a trend or an exception that new sub streams arise outside the discipline.

4.3 Bridging sport management facets: an integrative view

The integrated view of sport management is a holistic approach that considers the various aspects of sport managements research. This approach recognizes that, for example, the success of a sport organization is not solely dependent on one aspect, such as management or marketing, but rather on the interrelationship of all elements.

In our analysis, we were able to depict the multi-faceted landscape of topics in sport management over the past decade. As described above, the dominant themes and ultimately the concepts and theories that emerged from them can be traced back to a strong influence of commercially oriented generic management research. This commercial focus runs throughout the discipline of sport management. Interestingly, however, the inherent tasks of managing sport lead to a much more diverse landscape of topics. Therefore, the integrative view of sport management does not refer to focused topics, but attempts to point out the multi-faceted nature of sport management through a holistic approach.

An integrated view of sport management considers the management of sport organizations, including the development of unique and sport-specific theories that address the unique challenges and opportunities presented by the sport industry. This approach also includes the marketing and sponsorship of sport events and the spectator sport experience. In addition, an integrated view of sport management considers the volunteerism and community engagement aspect of sport organizations, recognizing the important role that volunteers play in the sport management discipline. This approach also embraces the role of sport in promoting social development, for example, through the use of sport as a means of education and promoting healthy lifestyles. The integrated view of sport management thus allows for a better understanding of the sport industry as a whole and the interactions between the different elements of the industry. This can lead to better prediction of industry trends and a more accurate understanding of the competitive landscape. The integrated view of sport management is a holistic approach that considers all aspects of sport organizations and events. Therefore, the integrative view offers opportunities for unique and sport-specific theories, and allows for more effective strategies and decision-making by recognizing the interrelatedness of the sport management elements.

4.4 Sport management research on the rise: a sport-specific perspective

The results of the study underline that sport management research has been attractive outside the field over the last decade. Many of the papers published in sport management and marketing journals are cited in journals from other fields. The ten most cited articles presented in this study show high citation indicators in the general WoS database and are good proof that research in sport management attracts the interest of the larger scientific community. This underlines the findings of Ciomaga ( 2013 ) who analyzed sport management research following the direction of a reference discipline as a trend.

One possible explanation for the increased influence of sport management research is provided by the assumption of Ciomaga ( 2013 ) that sport management research has increasingly shown the ability to build unique theories and thus may become a reference discipline. In this study, we presented the main thematic clusters of sport management research and showed that there are research areas characterized by a gradual development of unique theories. One of these areas is volunteer management in sport, the theories of which are well-developed due to their great relevance for sport clubs and sport events and thus play a leading role in volunteerism research. Another topic is sport for development, of which two articles appear in the ten most cited articles. The term already indicates that these are developed findings from a sport management sub stream that focuses primarily on sport-specific contexts. In addition, the development within the topic area of team identification is noteworthy. The articles we analyzed showed a steady theoretical development because they built on each other stepwise with a high degree of consistency. Although the number of articles in the field of team identification is comparatively small, well-researched and advanced theories and concepts have been developed. Moreover, it has been shown that sport management research has grown and the topics of the discipline have become more diverse, which logically has increased the number and possibilities of theories to be used for other disciplines. In addition, the blue cluster presented in this study (terms: team, fan, league, game) shows a greater cohesion to sport-specific topics compared to the dominant topics presented so far, suggesting that more unique sport management theory is emerging. However, the methods presented in this study cannot answer the question of how sport management research has increased its attractiveness in other disciplines and whether this is related to the emergence of unique theories.

In essence, a reference discipline states its progress of knowledge by getting cited by other disciplines (Shilbury 2011b ). Being a reference discipline is strongly linked to the fundamental debate on conceptual clarity of sport management. The ability to create theories reinforces the view that sport has a special quality (Gammelsæter 2021 ), whereas the application of theory from broader disciplines to sport management suggests that it is rather a sub-discipline of management (Ciomaga 2013 ). Regardless of which way is chosen to generate knowledge in sport management, it should be considered that the diffusion of new theories in sport management proves to be a slow and uncomfortable process (Funk 2019 ). The ongoing debate shows that sport management is still in its discovery phase.

5 Conclusion

This study applied the bibliometric method to analyze the five leading journals in sport management and marketing literature (Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, European Sport Management Quarterly, International Journal of Sport Marketing & Sponsorship, and Sport Marketing Quarterly). The analysis covers data of 1516 articles in the period from 2011 to 2020 and leads to theoretical and practical contributions in several ways.

The bibliometric analysis allowed us to identify key authors, institutions and journals in the field, as well as the mapping of research trends and patterns over time. Our analysis shows that authors from the US dominate, not qualitatively but quantitatively, and suggests that their focus may be part of the explanation why the theoretical structure of the sport management field is highly commercialized. Despite the US dominance, the term football is prominently represented suggesting that football (soccer) is a popular empirical setting for sport management research. In terms of thematic development, commercial thinking in sport management has become firmly entrenched within the discipline and an abrupt change in the prevailing paradigms seems naïve, even if it neglects sport-specific idiosyncrasies as a result. One of these idiosyncrasies is the inherent social nature of sport (Morrow 2013 ), which receives hardly any attention in sport management. The result of our co-word analysis showed that there are four dominant thematic clusters in the field (management of sport organizations and events; team, fan and the game; marketing and sponsorship; behavior and identification of the spectator). Despite the dominance of commercial topics, the cluster around the team, fan and game seems to have evolved out of sport with a focus on the sporting aspect. Moreover, Ciomaga ( 2013 ) predicted that research within sport management will ‘follow lines of research on sport that have been legitimized by reference disciplines’ (p. 572). The analyses of this study indicate that the influence of sport management literature on other disciplines is growing. In addition, developments in substantive areas and the introduction of sport-specific theories in several contexts, including volunteerism, sport for development, or team identification are emerging within the discipline. This enriches the field in diversity and has the potential to (a) drive a paradigm shift to put sport back in the spotlight and (b) increase the legitimacy of the field through growing influence on other disciplines.

On the practical side, our analysis showed that SMR is, in the period under study, the leading journal in almost every productivity category which can be a useful information for authors looking to publish their work, or for organizations and institutions to identify potential partners or competitors. In addition, the analysis of citation data support authors in future articles by showing what research achieved high popularity. Within the study period, reviews in particular achieved high citation scores. Articles in the field of sport for developments, sport events and sport tourism were cited remarkably often outside the discipline. Within sport management, articles in the thematic area of consumer behavior and sport organization in particular achieved high citation values.

The presented findings in this study are constrained by various limitations. Quantitative data were collected from the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) of the Web of Science database. Hence, the limitations of the database also limit the results of this study. Therefore, future studies may select other sport management and marketing journals indexed in other databases (e.g. Scopus) and perform a bibliometric analysis to compare the themes and trends with the results obtained in this study. Further, recognizing scientific contributions and developing academic impact takes time (Xi et al. 2015 ). As a result, recently published articles were yet not able to unfold their full potential and have relatively lower impact than well-established papers in the field. In addition, the journals’ impact was measured based on their scientific productivity, which is influenced by the time period of being indexed in the WoS. As a consequence, we created indexes by putting absolute numbers in relation, like citations per article or global citation score per year. Further, our approach mainly rests on quantitative metrics and the results should therefore not be used to evaluate the research quality of countries, journals, or individual articles and authors. The results can contribute to making such assessments, but we suggest to refrain from using any of the rankings presented here as a direct measure of research quality.

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Department of Physical and Sports Education, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

Ferran Calabuig

Faculty of Economics and Management, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy

Sascha Kraus

Department of Business Management, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Institute of Sport Economics and Sport Management, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Sebastian Uhrich

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Correspondence to Sascha Kraus .

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Hammerschmidt, J., Calabuig, F., Kraus, S. et al. Tracing the state of sport management research: a bibliometric analysis. Manag Rev Q 74 , 1185–1208 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-023-00331-x

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Conceptual analysis article, theorizing community for sport management research and practice.

• 1 Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada
• 2 Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
• 3 Department of Sociology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• 4 School of Kinesiology, Western University, London, ON, Canada

Community is a context for much research in sport, sport management, and sport policy, yet relatively few authors explicitly articulate the theoretical frameworks with which they interrogate the concept. In this paper, we draw from communitarian theory and politics in order to contribute to a robust discussion and conceptualization of community in and for sport management research and practice. We provide a synthesis of current sport management and related research in order to highlight contemporary theoretical and methodological approaches to studying community. We distinguish between community as a context, as an outcome, as a site for struggle or resistance, as well as a form of regulation or social control. We then advance a critical communitarian agenda and consider the practical implications and considerations for research and practice. This paper synthesizes current research and establishes a foundation upon which sport management scholars and practitioners might critically reflect on community and deliberatively articulate its implications in both future research and practice.

Introduction

The notion of community, real or imagined, is somewhat ubiquitous within the field of sport and sport management. Whether it is explicitly addressed or more abstractly implied, understanding communities is fundamental to understanding how sport, recreation, and physical activity 1 are engaged, promoted, managed, sold, and consumed. For example, scholars study community sport clubs, community stakeholders, community development, brand communities, social and health outcomes for community members, and even a more abstract sense of community within various sporting milieus. Despite its rather prolific use in both research and practice, the various concepts and language employed within sport management are often not explicitly articulated or deliberated. In this paper, we interrogate the concept of community in and for sport management in order to provide a synthesis of theoretical approaches and a robust conceptual discussion through which to inform both research and practice.

Our work proceeds with two sections. First, we use meta-ethnography to examine the ways that community has been engaged within the sport management literature. Drawing from various examples of research in sport management and other sport, recreation, and leisure fields, we distinguish between community as a context, community as an outcome, community as a site for struggle or resistance, and community as a form of regulation or social control. Then, drawing upon critical communitarian literature, we articulate a critical theoretical approach to studying community. While many scholars are already considering complex issues related to power, oppression, and community, we suggest that this approach will enable students, scholars, and practitioners to reframe their discussions of community by explicitly acknowledging these different ideas and engaging in critical discussions of both individual rights as well as pluralistic obligations. Our intention is for this contribution to provide a platform upon which scholars can potentially interrogate and reflect more effectively upon issues related to social justice in and through the management of sport. Drawing from this critical communitarian approach, we interrogate the meaning of community alongside the power relations inherent in management and decision-making practices, as well as the methodological processes involved in examining the intersections of community and sport management. Through this work, we aim to explore the processes and limits of community within sport management research and practice. Overall, our aim is to both consolidate discussions of community that are currently taking place in sport management, as well as to try and stimulate further discussion about innovative theoretical and methodological approaches.

Theorizing Community

In order to frame our discussion, we must first consider the historical and philosophical underpinnings of what we now know as community . The study and theorizing of community (along with that of the individual and society) has long and interwoven traditions in many fields, including philosophy, sociology, anthropology, history, and political science. Much of this theorizing has involved two different yet equally important conceptions: that of the immediate community, roughly associated with the Greek understandings of the polis which was specific and encompassed all of the public life of individuals; and that of a universal community to which we all belong, often associated with early Roman and Christian understandings of citizenship and the church ( Delanty, 2010 ). Contemporary work on community is often traced to the work of Tönnies (1963 [1887]) , who distinguished between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft as two types of associative life. While these terms are not easily or directly translated, Gemeinschaft can be associated with horizontal relationships, regular contact, thick forms of trust, and solidarity; whereas, Gesellschaft is characterized by thin forms of trust, looser relationships, and vertical or hierarchical associations which are more conducive to inclusion and integration in large-scale and/or diverse societies ( Arai and Pedlar, 2003 ; Ingham and McDonald, 2003 ; Delanty, 2010 ; Glover and Sharpe, 2020 ). The former foregrounds community as a territorial entity, the latter as a relational and symbolic construct ( Gusfield, 1975 ; Cohen, 1985 ). In the latter, community is relatively fluid and open to change, and people may continuously weigh their options to join or leave a particular community ( Delanty, 2010 ). In its more extreme, consumer-oriented version, community can come to reflect a (fleeting) neo-tribe ( Maffesoli, 1996 ) or community lite ( Duyvendak and Hurenkamp, 2004 ) released from the rigidity of the forms of organization with which we are familiar; instead, it constitutes “a certain ambience, a state of mind, and is preferably to be expressed through lifestyles that favor appearance and form” ( Maffesoli, 1996 , p. 98). These late (or post) modern conceptions of community echo Bauman's (2000 , 2001) influential assertion that community must be understood in the context of the shift from a solid modern society to a liquid modern sociality. A core idea in Bauman's work is that we are caught up in the tension between security and freedom: the more our lives have become separated from community, the more we long to experience it.

While there is much that might be explored and unpacked with regard to historical conceptualizations of community, we turn our focus toward contemporary trends in communitarian thought and practice. We do so with a specific focus on the structures and practices that influence meaning and experiences within communities in order to explore the implications of these ideas in the context of sport management. Communitarian ideas and concepts, such as Putnam (2000) notion of social capital, have been widely discussed in the sport literature (e.g., Misener and Mason, 2006 ; Nicholson and Hoye, 2008 ; Misener and Doherty, 2012 ). Others have built on these discussions in the context of diverse theoretical frameworks such as social anchor theory ( Clopton and Finch, 2011 ; Seifried and Clopton, 2013 ) or community capacity ( Jones et al., 2018 ), yet few have endeavored to provide a more robust discussion of the implications of communitarianism more broadly. Some notable exceptions exist within sport and leisure studies, where scholars such as Arai and Pedlar (2003) , Jarvie (2003) , and Blackshaw and Long (2005) have explicitly drawn on communitarian approaches to discuss the implications of individualism and mutuality in the context of leisure theory and practice.

Communitarian Theory and Politics

Understandings of communities in the twentieth century were undeniably complicated by the concomitant rise of globalization, technology, and (neo)liberal policy agendas. In this context, communitarianism can be understood as a “phenomenon which reveals common ground in the relationship between academic political and social theory—often of a very abstract and philosophical kind—and practical politics” ( Frazer, 2000 , p. 179). Communitarians are concerned with the community or the collective, rather than the individual as the unit of analysis. Defining what exactly is meant by a community, and the challenges that arise from poorly articulating these definitions, is regularly discussed within some research contexts such as community-based research methodologies ( Israel et al., 2003 ). Frazer (2000) suggested that a strength of communitarianism is the possibility of a coalition of diverse groups (of thought and action) around the idea of a greater good. Within the context of sport, this is an important consideration given that provision and delivery of participation opportunities or engagement more broadly (e.g., as fans) often involves contributions from and collaborations between many stakeholders from the public, private, and voluntary sectors ( Ferkins et al., 2010 ).

While there is no concise agreement on a definition or conceptualization of community within communitarian politics, Sandel (1982) distinguished between two moral and political streams of thought: those who value community rhetorically and those who value community instrumentally. That is, some value community in and of itself (e.g., for a sense of belonging), while others value community as a means for achieving other outcomes (e.g., leveraging social capital for financial or political gain). As the tensions between these two streams exist in both theory and political practice, diverse understandings of community persist ranging from simple units of identity related to place, activity, identity, or feeling ( Glover and Sharpe, 2020 ), to much more complex and multidimensional conceptualizations. For example, Etzioni (2004) distinguished between ideas of community and identity highlighting the role of community in supporting human development and identity formation. He compared the two with the metaphor of learning how to walk (community) and learning in which direction you will walk (identity) to explicate the complexity of community as involving many identities and subcultures. Within this discussion, he offered the following:

The definition of community here followed has two characteristics: first, a web of affect-laden relationships among a group of individuals, relationships that often crisscross and reinforce one another (as opposed to one-on-one or chain-like individual relationships); and second, a measure of commitment to a set of shared values, norms, and meanings, and a shared history and identity—in short, to a particular culture ( Etzioni, 2004 , p. 20).

This definition is useful as it highlights both the particularistic and universal aspects of community in order to broaden the understanding of the term and appreciate its complexity. Additionally, acknowledging the social and cultural context of community allows for a more nuanced consideration of how social activities—such as sport—might be implicated in community. Given that sport occupies diverse roles and practices within different cultures ( Dyck, 2000 )—and by extension communities, this acknowledgment is important in order to move toward critical readings of sport and the possible social outcomes of the way it is managed and organized.

Although communitarianism is a relatively small school of political theory and practice, its scope is broad, encompassing several streams of thought, practice, and action. While discussions vary in their scope and approach, Frazer (2000) noted that communitarians hold at their core a critique of liberal schools of thought and politics which privilege individual autonomy and free market systems. Where liberal approaches value individual rights and freedoms, communitarians argue for a balance between individual autonomy and collective or pluralistic obligations ( Etzioni, 2004 , 2014 ). In short, communitarians engage with discussions of a common good to which citizens are also accountable beyond that of individual rights. This thinking is evident in the shift whereby groups and organizations recognize a list of rights and responsibilities in order to appreciate both conditions of reciprocity and mutuality.

Much sport management research is framed from positivist traditions and is reflective of an epistemology developed within a context dominated by (neo)liberal market principles ( Shaw and Hoeber, 2017 ). As such, communitarian perspectives have not been widely employed despite the fresh insights they may provide, particularly in the context of community sport and recreation. While many scholars read and consider these ideas, it is difficult to reconcile and articulate a critique of free market principles in a field that is dominated by a rhetoric of neoliberalism. As noted above, we must acknowledge the potential shortcomings of a myopic view of community, particularly when its theorization is underpinned by individualism (and/or liberal perspectives) which fail to consider the implications of collectivity, mutuality, and the possibility of pluralistic obligations. Further, in order for community to function as a polymorphic concept within sport management (i.e., one with various definitions and applications which scholars can agree or disagree with), it requires scholars to articulate the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of the conceptualizations we invoke. This position aligns with broader calls for more critical engagement with the philosophy of science and politics that underpin sport management research and practice (see Newman, 2014 ; James, 2018 ). We build on these discussions in order to explore the theoretical implications of communitarianism for sport management. To do so, we review how researchers typically invoke community before proceeding to articulate how a communitarian perspective can lend insights into sport management research and practice.

Within sport management, community has been theorized (both explicitly and implicitly) in various ways. Diverse methodological approaches to studying individuals, groups, and societies complicate the ways that community is articulated and interrogated within the sport management literature. In preparing this paper, we sought to embrace this diversity whilst attempting to also consolidate these approaches and unpack some of their implications. We present various approaches heuristically in order to provide a synthesis of the ways in which community is presented within the sport management literature.

For this review, we drew upon a meta-ethnographic approach. Meta-ethnography is a dynamic methodology which can be used to interogate bodies of qualitative research ( Doyle, 2003 ). The process generally involves comparing and analyzing elements of qualitative work in order to develop new interpretations ( Noblit and Hare, 1988 ). Our meta-ethnographic approach focused on interpreting, critically synthesizing and translating conceptualizations of community from studies in sport management and related fields. This method differs from synthesis methodologies that seek to summarize or amalgamate existing findings, as our approach ultimately focuses on examining studies to re-conceptualize the way community is discussed ( Doyle, 2003 ). Lee et al. (2015) noted that the steps to meta-ethnographic analysis can take many forms. The analytical steps to the process typically follow the steps outlined by Noblit and Hare (1988) : reading, relating, translating, synthesizing, and expressing. Building on this line-of-argument approach to synthesis ( Noblit and Hare, 1988 ), we sought to draw from the existing work to construct our overarching conceptual analysis of community. In doing so, we acknowledge that community may be theorized or interrogated in more than one way, and thus may align with more than one of the approaches outlined. We also recognize that some of the literature discussed below made reference to community, but did not seek to explicitly interrogate community. However, we contend that this does not constitute an a priori exclusion as irrelevant to our understandings of community.

The process proceeded as follows. The first stage, reading , involved identifying and organizing relevant examples of sport management research into thematic trends (e.g., community sport, brand communities, sport policy, fandom etc.). The focus of this process was reflective whereby all three authors brought forth examples, assessed, articulated, and reflected on sport management and related (e.g., leisure, sociology) literatures, and then revisited and explicitly analyzed relevant examples. This stage was iterative and involved identifying examples, discussing these trends, and then returning to the literature (particularly sport management journals such as the Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, European Sport Management Quarterly, Managing Sport and Leisure , as well as the International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics) to identify and collate additional examples. Relating involved finding the common and recurring ways in which community was articulated and theorized in the examples put forth by all three authors. These relational patterns, or categories, were identified inductively rather than a priori . Translating involved connecting the different ways in which community has been articulated and employed (e.g., as a context, outcome, etc.) and then creating a matrix in which the relevance of examples could be organized (see Table 1 below). Finally, we synthesized the translations by building out our line-of-argument and expressing it in the paragraphs that follow. This type of review is distinguished from other research syntheses as it is it not meant to be exhaustive in scope (i.e., to review every instance where community is invoked in the literature), but rather to illustrate the application of each of the approaches and to provide tangible examples of how community has been engaged both explicitly and implicitly.

Table 1 . Approaches to community in sport management.

Findings: Approaches to Community in Sport Management

Through the meta-ethnographic process described above, we inductively developed our review of theoretical and methodological approaches around four conceptual categories: (a) community as a context; (b) community as an outcome; (c) community as a site for struggle or resistance, and; (d) community as a form of regulation or social control. As the first two categories (community as context and outcome) may appear somewhat intuitive, we attempt to delineate how they have been taken up and discussed in various sub-disciplines within sport management. The second two categories (community as a site of resistance or form of social control) are less clearly articulated. As such, we draw from a variety of literatures and examples to situate and explain these categories. We review each of these categories in turn before advancing a discussion of a critical communitarian approach. Importantly, we acknowledge that these approaches are not mutually exclusive in their application, and that scholars and practitioners may draw from various conceptualizations in their work and practice. In the sections that follow, we tease out the distinctions in order to inform a robust discussion of the philosophy and theories that underpin this work.

Community as Context

The first conceptualization of community evident within sport management literature is that of context. By this, we refer to the idea of space, geography, or the neighborhoods in which people reside. Community in this sense, is used to describe grassroots participation opportunities including both structured and unstructured sport participation. It is also used to describe how the outcomes of sport organizations are experienced by a range of actors (e.g., development through sport or corporate social responsibility initiatives). Therefore, community as a context, is either about a physical space for participation (e.g., a local sport club, facility, or municipality) or a level of participation (e.g., in regional or nationally organized opportunities). The community context is relevant for discussions of sport development where researchers and policy makers have grappled with the longstanding tensions between goals of elite development and mass participation ( Sam, 2009 ; Stenling and Fahlén, 2009 ). Further, authors have acknowledged the messiness of sport in community contexts, particularly with regard to questions of how to effectively account for and manage diverse forms of sport participation which are (and are not) engaged by diverse members of a community or society ( Jeanes et al., 2018 ).

There are various ways in which community is invoked as a context within sport management research. Authors have explored the way that urban and rural environments shape the nature of sport involvement and the potential outcomes of participation ( Svensson et al., 2017 ; Clutterbuck and Doherty, 2019 ; Rich and Misener, 2019 ). Less explicitly, community sport is also used as a broad category to qualify the context of research. For example, a 2013 special issue in the Journal of Sport Management focused on community sport and much of the work therein drew heavily on this conceptualization of community as a context. As described in the introduction to the special issue, community sport is understood as “the grassroots foundation of a country's sport system, and where most people engage in organized sport” ( Doherty and Cousens, 2013 , p. 419). The papers in that special issue addressed topics such as social inclusion ( Frost et al., 2013 ; Maxwell et al., 2013 ), as well as the creation of organizational culture ( Mills and Hoeber, 2013 ), processes of organizational resilience ( Wicker et al., 2013 ) and (non)change ( Stenling, 2013 ) in local sport cubs/organizations. As noted by many of the preceding authors, working in sport policy and development requires an invocation of community as an important context for sport. With the emergence of using sport as a tool for achieving a range of social policy initiatives (domestically and abroad) and the concomitant rise in a sport for all policy discourse (e.g., see Skille, 2011 ; Lusted, 2014 ) these discussions have become more complicated. As such, a contextual conceptualization of community brings about questions related to participation levels and distribution, diverse demographics, and the lived experiences of diverse groups in various sporting contexts. The conceptualization of community as context, therefore, provides an important distinction for thinking about sport (for) development, policy implementation, and access to sport participation opportunities.

Community as Outcome

Another way in which community can be conceptualized is as an outcome that can be built, developed, or strengthened in and through sport. This approach is broad, incorporates many concepts and methodological approaches, and often draws on an understanding of community which equates it, in one way or another, with a set of identities, relationships, or feelings. Community outcomes therefore can be conceptualized as a variety of concepts including networks ( Misener and Mason, 2006 ; Misener and Doherty, 2012 ), social identities ( Kristiansen et al., 2015 ), and heritage or nostalgia ( Ramshaw and Gammon, 2005 ). These concepts are implicated in the construction of fleeting communitas ( Ingham and McDonald, 2003 ), a sense of community ( Warner et al., 2013 ), social cohesion ( Sabbe et al., 2020 ), or brand communities ( Woolf et al., 2013 ).

One of the most prolifically discussed community outcomes is social capital. Entire volumes (e.g., Nicholson and Hoye, 2008 ) are dedicated to exploring the myriad of ways in which sport can be examined through a lens of social capital—from policy discourses, to the implications of infrastructure, volunteers, and experiences of marginalized groups. Within these analyses, authors have employed various conceptualizations of social capital. Most notably, Putnam (2000) concepts of bonding and bridging social capital are often invoked to qualify the nature of relationships which can be generated through participation in sport and more broadly in leisure programming. For example, Skinner et al. (2008) discussed the use of sport and leisure opportunities as a tool for disadvantaged citizens to develop networks and a sense of connectedness. This work is demonstrative of an explosion of research focusing on sport as tool for developing particular social outcomes such as social capital in marginalized communities. The work of Welty Peachey et al. (2015a , b) focused on a large sport for development event where the processes associated with liminality, communitas, and ultimately social capital development were a result of building relationships, learning, and enhanced motivation to support others. Despite these positive connotations of social capital as an asset for community, several authors have called for more nuanced approaches to studying social capital which might engage longitudinal and critical approaches to understanding the processes associated with sport and the development of relationships ( Misener and Mason, 2006 ; Kitchin and Howe, 2013 ).

Within sport management, a variety of theoretical and methodological advances relate to community as an outcome. For example, several researchers have engaged in social network analysis to examine the many ways that relationships manifest, can be measured, and represented through sociograms (e.g., Hambrick et al., 2019 ; Barnes et al., 2021 ). Researchers have also conceptualized a psychosocial sense of community that can be measured and examined in relation to various participation and management activities. For example, Warner et al. (2013) discussed the development of the Sense of Community Scale, which incorporates “seven mechanisms that define sense of community within sport for participants” (p. 351). This approach draws extensively from community psychology literature (e.g., McMillan and Chavis, 1986 ) to propose a model which conceptualizes community as an outcome to be measured. It is considered to be influenced by mechanisms such as common interests, social spaces, leadership opportunities, and competition ( Warner et al., 2012 ).

Sport marketing scholars have done extensive work at the intersection of fandom, identity, and community to develop the idea of brand communities. For example, Heere et al. (2011) problematized the interplay between competing identities (associated with various brand communities), and Katz et al. (2018) explored how complex relationships between fans, their teams, and each other can be understood to predict behavior. Recently, Naraine et al. (2021) examined how networks of communication form around hashtags in social media campaigns which, they suggest, are important antecedents of the development of fan identifies and brand communities that are important for relationship building and two-way engagement. These developments elucidate the complex and intersecting ways that identities, relationships, reciprocity, and communication are all implicated in development of outcomes related to community.

Community as Struggle and Resistance

In critical sport management research, community has been framed as a site for struggle and resistance. Contributing to the expansive literature on dynamics of social inclusion and exclusion in sport, scholars have examined collective resistance to, and disruption of, power relations within sporting communities. By this, we refer to forms of community-based mobilization and collective action that aim to bring about social change in sports cultures or organizations. These efforts are typically instigated by and for community groups that have historically faced discrimination and disadvantage in sport and society, and their allies. This has historically involved (combinations of) variegated communities such as women, Indigenous peoples, Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ2S activists. Their campaigns and everyday practices aimed at enhancing inclusivity in sport frequently adopt a form of strategic essentialism ( Spivak, 1990 ); that is, an essentializing and to some extent a standardizing of their communities' public image, thus advancing their in-group identity in a simplified, collectivized way that downplays internal diversity and complexity ( Eide, 2010 ).

Several authors have produced valuable insights into how sport can serve as a site of resistance. For example, Shaw and Hoeber (2003) identified the way that gendered discourses shaped knowledge about leadership roles in national sport organizations, and how these discourses might be challenged by working toward more equitable conditions for women in these organizations. There is also a notable tradition of research that examines the role of BME sports spaces as symbolic and practical sites of community mobilization and cultural identity production for specific BME communities, within the wider context of racism and exclusions in predominantly white mainstream able-bodied sports structures ( Singer, 2005a ; Long et al., 2009 ; Bradbury, 2011 ). Beyond the grassroots level, there is a growing body of research that explores community dissent and resistance surrounding sport mega-events. Community activism and resistance to host city bidding and staging for sport mega-events has been one such focus of research (e.g., Boykoff, 2014 ), while other authors have critically examined LGBTQ2S activism at the Olympic and Paralympic Games ( Lenskyj, 2014 ; Sykes, 2016 ). For example, Sykes (2016) has analyzed Pride Houses at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, which showcased LGBTQ2S athletes and provided support services for LGBTQ2S athletes and spectators. Sykes discussed the complexities and contradictions of the Pride Houses as a “new form of sporting settler homonationalism” that was founded upon, and reproduced, settler colonial discourses about participation and displacement of Two-Spirit youth and Indigenous people ( Sykes, 2016 , p. 54). In another recent study, Quinn et al. (2020) examined the way sporting events that purport to be inclusive of athletes with a disability, serve to reinforce norms of able-bodiedness through discursive practices and spatialized approaches to sport services. In this case, where sport managers unanimously believed the model of integration was a fitting approach to be inclusive, those with direct sporting experiences (athletes and coaches) critically discussed the complexity of this practice and need to collectively resist these “unifying” narratives.

Finally, research has explored how marginalized community groups may use sport mega-events as an impetus or platform for mobilization around non-sport causes such as human rights or workers' rights. The recent study by De Lisio et al. (2018) on Rio de Janeiro's sex workers is noteworthy in this regard. These authors discussed the everyday strategies of struggle and resistance that sex workers used to navigate local authorities in search of new economic opportunities and rights in the lead-up to and during the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. In a similar vein, Braye et al. (2013) explored how disability activists saw the 2012 Paralympic Games as a site of resistance regarding the narratives of ability, power, and promise. These Games came on the heels of funding cuts for disability services in the UK and thus served as a site to reinforce the politics of disablement reinforcing narratives of (dis)empowered communities ( Purdue and Howe, 2012 ). Collectively, these examples demonstrate the importance of a more critical approach to community which allows specific groups to mobilize and disrupt broader power structures in sport organizations and society more broadly. However, as noted above, examinations of struggle and resistance may serve to essentialize identities within marginalized groups or position them in competition with others for access to resources.

Community as Regulation and Social Control

Community is not only a site for struggle and resistance, but also a form of social control and regulation. Neoliberal transformations in public policy, in particular, have reconfigured how we think about and act toward community building. The contemporary policy focus devolves much of the burden of social responsibility to individuals and civil society actors, who are expected to take responsibility for their own well-being and that of their communities ( Spaaij, 2013 ). According to Rose (1999) , the shift of social responsibility to individuals for their own communities is representative of a mode of government that may be termed governing through community :

[C]ommunity is not simply the territory of government, but a means of government: its ties, bonds, forces and affiliations are to be celebrated, encouraged, nurtured, shaped and instrumentalized in the hope of producing consequences that are desirable for all and for each ( Miller and Rose, 2008 , p. 93).

Governing through community represents the creation of a non-political sphere of civil society that is supposedly free to govern itself and take responsibility for its own future ( Herbert-Cheshire, 2000 ). This tendency was evidenced in, for example, Spaaij's (2009a) study of voluntary sports clubs in rural Australia. The author suggested that sport clubs serve vital community building functions within the context of profound economic and social changes that have affected rural Australia, including privatization, economic restructuring of agriculture, and retrenchment of public policy provisions.

In sport and recreation, the notion of community as control arguably reveals itself most clearly in the myriad sports-based development programs that target poor and marginalized (and often urban) communities, which are often perceived by policymakers and funders as threats to social order ( Spaaij, 2009b ; Coakley, 2011 ). Sports-based interventions in these areas are frequently underpinned by a control-based approach to community. Examples includes Midnight Basketball programs in the United States ( Hartmann, 2016 ) and comparable programs in other countries ( Hartmann, 2015 ; Ekholm and Dahlstedt, 2020 ). While these programs seek to assist with the social development of marginalized young people, they also serve as a form of social control and regulation by serving as a means to keep “at-risk” youth off the streets and out of trouble, and to civilize. For example, in his research on a sport-based intervention targeting marginalized youth in Rotterdam, Spaaij (2009b) contended that sport “is increasingly becoming a substantial aspect of the neoliberal policy repertoire of cities like Rotterdam aimed at generating social order in disadvantaged inner-city neighborhoods” (p. 263). He found that the program trained participants in becoming normalized, regulated neoliberal subjects; that is, to assimilate them into the existing social structure, rather than seeking to change that structure. As such, these examples demonstrate that sport can be invoked as a way of maintaining order within communities by regulating actions, understandings, and ultimately acceptable forms of membership.

Another aspect of community as control that has been foregrounded in sport research is the way communities can enforce internal social control and regulation (e.g., within a sports organization). Affiliative ties and bonds of obligation with community members not only comprise vital resources, but also create impediments and constraints that limit community members' expectations, opportunities, and access. In other words, ties that bind can also keep you down. A clear example is the institutionalized practices and cultural norms in many sports clubs that constrain girls' and women's access to participation and leadership positions, and devalue or trivialize their achievements (e.g., Burton, 2015 ). There are numerous studies in sport that show the ways that cultural hegemonies of sport perpetuate the white, male, heteronormative, able-bodied model, and serve as a form of social control by regulating access to various realms of sport (e.g., Anderson, 2009 ; Jeanes et al., 2020 ). Several examples of hegemonic control within sport organizations were explored in a special issue of Sex Roles ( Cunningham and Sagas, 2008 ; Fink, 2008 ). For example, Knoppers and Anthonissen (2008) examined the ways that gendered managerial discourses related to instrumentality and emotion structured the nature of work for senior managers in Dutch national sport organizations. These authors highlight the important note that taken-for-granted beliefs and practices within organizations can serve insidious roles in restricting and allowing participation of various individuals within organizations.

Collectively, our framework above highlights the different ways in which community is conceptualized and employed. Next, we turn our attention toward to a critical theoretical approach to community and how it may enhance the existing perspectives in sport management research and practice.

Discussion: Toward a Critical Theory of Community

As noted above, community can be valued rhetorically in a way that assumes it is a universally positive construct. However, some of the literature reviewed in the preceding sections suggests that a blind acceptance of community may serve to mask the politics inherent in communities and silence the voices of diverse community members. Indeed, several traditional social structures and activities (such as the nuclear family unit, or community sport and recreation) are imbued with values of sexism/gender roles, racism, and homo/transphobia. Therefore, adopting a critical perspective of community may allow researchers to unpack the complex social dynamics involved in community life. In order to inform this approach, much can be drawn from a social justice paradigm and feminist critiques of community. While both communitarians and feminists share a critique of the extreme individualism of (neo)liberal political agendas, their grounds for doing so and proposed solutions or alternatives are quite different ( Weiss, 1995 ). Where communitarian discussions center around balancing autonomy and collectivity or the preservation or return to traditional values of community, a more critical perspective of communitarianism questions whose autonomy is privileged, whose input is heard and considered in the collective, or which of these traditional values are acceptable in a socially just and equitable community. Rather than a traditional, idyllic, and tightly knit homogenous community, Young's (1995) suggested that community might be understood as an unoppressive city space that is constituted by “openness to unassimilated otherness” (p. 253), or a politics of difference. In short, a critical communitarian perspective is concerned with the power and politics of community and how this can be shifted or radically changed. Young (1995) politics of difference offers a theoretical tool which is helpful to problematize the complex social dynamics involved in sport, recreation, and leisure in and for community ( Allison, 2000 ), and to deal with the deeper underlying causes of injustices within these sectors and within research on/with them ( Floyd, 2014 ).

Communitarianism and Sport Management

Few scholars have examined sport and recreation management explicitly through a communitarian lens, and even fewer from a critical communitarianism perspective. Notably, Jarvie (2003) applied a communitarian approach to discuss community activism and decision making around a pool and recreation facility in Glasgow, Scotland. Jarvie (2003) discussion highlighted the tensions between ideas of community and individualistic/free-market service provision in the context of a municipal sport and recreation facility in a large urban center. In a different context, Mair (2009) discussed the role of curling clubs in community life in rural Canada. Her analysis suggested that these sport clubs offer important third places, away from both home and work, which are dynamic and fluid community institutions as they offer a context for shared leisure experiences in a social context where private and individual leisure activities are becoming increasingly prevalent. These two investigations raise important questions about the possibility of managing sport in and for community in the context of neoliberal policy agendas which prioritize individuals over the collective or communal responsibilities. The work of Arai and Pedlar (2003) offered an example of challenges to the discourse of individualism and suggests that a communitarian perspective of leisure as a focal practice could allow for more nuanced analyses of outcomes for the collective rather than outcomes for individuals.

Critically Assessing Community in Sport Management

Drawing upon the arguments outlined above, we suggest that a starting point for discussions informed by a critical communitarian approach might be how issues of social justice are inextricably bound up in the sport-community relationship. While these questions are by no means new, they can help to consolidate and advance contemporary scholarly debates. For each of the aforementioned categories, we pose questions for researchers and practitioners, and consider management implications at the intersection of community and sport management. The proposed directions are summarized in Table 2 .

Table 2 . Future research directions for community in sport management.

First, we must continue to reflect on the politics of defining community as a context while simultaneously segregating sport participation based on age, gender, ability, class, and other identities. How is community reflected if sport, in this context, serves to divide and subdivide individuals according to so many lines of separation? In short, a community context includes many individuals who agree, disagree, look alike, look different, hold homogenous views of the world, and who fundamentally disagree on a range of issues. As scholars and practitioners, we might consider who is represented in our organizations and research, as well as who is not. Critically assessing the makeup and power structures of organizations and communities may provide an important foundation for educational and policy directives (at various levels) related to equity, diversity, and inclusion in sport. In some cases, the use of the label community sport may be contributing to the ambiguity of the term (see Blackshaw, 2008 ; Torchia, 2020 ) and we might consider how we can use more precise terms like participatory sport, recreational sport, non-competitive sport, or grassroots participation opportunities. While this discussion can seem like a matter of semantics, the discourses we use reflect important nuances about power, privilege, access, and opportunity in the work of sport scholars and sport managers.

As scholars have highlighted (e.g., Stenling, 2013 ), the organization of sport in communities requires deep and fundamental shifts if organizers and managers are to effectively serve diverse participants and diversify their offerings. Future research opportunities in this area are broad as they may consider the complex nexus of intersections related to individual and community identities and the social, cultural, and political contexts in which they develop. Here, deeply contextual analyses or thick descriptions ( Geertz, 2008 ) will help to elucidate the role of community in shaping the way sport is organized, managed, and structured in and for different contexts. Indeed, research approaches (e.g., ethnography, institutional theory, etc.) which consider not only managerial processes, but the broader contextual factors that shape, enable, and constrain these processes are integral to mapping a robust understanding of community as context. From a critical perspective, future research may continue to interrogate how sport organizations may be implicated in existing power structures within community contexts and the impacts this has on shaping experiences of diverse community members.

Considering the prevalence of work seeking to develop outcomes related to community, a critical framework raises similar concerns about how outcomes are measured and evaluated. There are methodological and ethical issues with attempts to measure community as an outcome when these associated constructs involve various ephemeral and enduring qualities for diverse groups in society. As such, further scrutiny on how these theories are constructed and tested is required in order to more fully understand how community is experienced by diverse people. A reliance on (post)positivist approaches to research ( Shaw and Hoeber, 2017 ) and methodologies which fail to consider temporality or the impacts of social change on individual and collective understandings of networks, relationships, or identities, will limit our understandings of communities and how they may shift, change, and be developed ( Misener et al., 2021 ).

As both sport and community are deeply implicated in processes of social change, future research should continue to map the ways that perceived outcomes related to community are realized through sport and sport organizations. Although important recent theoretical advancements related to community have been developed through longitudinal analyses (e.g., Putnam's social capital), there is a paucity of research at the intersection of sport and community engaging longitudinal research designs. Future work using this type of analysis may yield particularly interesting insights related to sport and community for diverse population groups. To consider how diverse community members may understand and value community-related outcomes, researchers may consider the use of community-based, participatory, and action-oriented research methodologies which seek to engage community members throughout the research process ( Israel et al., 2003 ). These methodological approaches may be particularly useful for engaging communities who may not have traditionally been centered in sport management research.

Thinking about sport as a platform for resistance may require a consideration of how social and organizational change can open up space for multiple and diverse perspectives—sometimes from the same community . This may require recognizing the (im)possibilities of reconceptualizing sport for equity seeking groups, and that representation is not a panacea for inequity ( Shaw, 2007 ). That is, we must consider who gets to determine what counts as sport and sport management, what legitimate management processes and practices look like, and who is able to exercise power and authority in the processes of deciding. This difficult process may look to the work of scholars such as Stewart-Withers et al. (2017) or Chen and Mason (2019) who have advocated for decolonizing research approaches in sport management or Kobayashi et al. (2013) who explored the intersections of sport and diverse cultural understandings of community (i.e., wantok ).

The theoretical and practical implications of this departure are vast, and beginning to be explored in the sport management literature (e.g., Singer, 2005b ; Newman, 2014 ). Future research examining community as a site for struggle and resistance should consider how sport is implicated in social movements and how resistance is enacted both within sport organizations as well as through sport and sport organizations with a view of broader change in communities. Through this work, scholars and practitioners may engage with ontological and epistemological questions related to how knowledge about sport and sport management is constructed and the implications of these processes in late modern societies characterized by social acceleration and uncertainty ( Rosa, 2013 ).

Finally, building on our discussion of social control and regulation, we suggest a need to critically explore the ways in which support and self-determination of marginalized citizens can be created in and through sport management. Rather than organizing sport as a way to address “problems” in communities, we need to continue to critically assess how community structures may be constructing or contributing to inequities in our social environments. This requires a recognition of the role of the norms, values, and social practices within communities and organizations ( Shaw and Hoeber, 2003 ; Fink, 2008 ; Knoppers and Anthonissen, 2008 ; Burton, 2015 ). We must continue to ask how the construction of community may be experienced differently by different folks in these organizations.

In this regard, future research might critically interrogate the role of sport programming as well as research processes which seek to evaluate programs and organizational operations. The evidence provided through research is inherently political and examining the role of this research in broader policy agendas is critical in understanding the role of community as a mechanism of social control. Future research is this space may also continue to examine the intersections of public, private, and civil society organizations who are increasingly working across sectoral boundaries and ultimately changing the way the sport is understood and managed. Broader changes in governance models of sport, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, will inevitably lead to changes in the way sport is practiced and understood by community members and these changes may have important implications for sport management scholars and practitioners.

In this paper, we built on contemporary literature to interrogate some of the intersections of community and sport management. We reviewed the ways in which research has articulated community as a context, an outcome, a site of struggle or resistance, and as a means of social control. Further, we introduced a critical communitarian perspective and provided commentary on how this theoretical approach might inform future research in the field and the managerial practices that research informs. This commentary advances the existing foundation upon which future scholars and practitioners might critically consider their work and the claims about the role of sport organizations and their management with regard to the various conceptualizations of communities. We encourage scholars to consider the array of methodological, theoretical, and epistemological approaches to understanding community and the implications they may bring for understanding both the theory and practice of sport management.

Author Contributions

KR, RS, and LM all contributed to the conceptualization, analysis, and writing of this conceptual paper. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

1. ^ In this paper, we are concerned with sport, recreation, and physical activity in a broad sense. Henceforth, we use the term “sport” as a shorthand to refer to all of these.

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Warner, S., Dixon, M. A., and Chalip, L. (2012). The impact of formal versus informal sport: mapping the differences in sense of community. J. Community Psychol . 40, 983–1003. doi: 10.1002/jcop.21506

Warner, S., Kerwin, S., and Walker, M. (2013). Examining sense of community in sport: developing the multidimensional ‘SCS’ scale. J. Sport. Manage . 27, 349–362. doi: 10.1123/jsm.27.5.349

Weiss, P. A. (1995). “Feminism and communitarianism: comparing critiques of liberalism,” in Feminism and Community , eds P. A. Weiss and M. Friedman (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press), 3–18.

Welty Peachey, J., Borland, J., Lobpries, J., and Cohen, A. (2015a). Managing impact: Leveraging sacred spaces and community celebration to maximize social capital at a sport-for-development event. Sport Manag. Rev . 18, 86–98. doi: 10.1016/j.smr.2014.05.003

Welty Peachey, J., Bruening, J., Lyras, A., Cohen, A., and Cunningham, G. B. (2015b). Examining social capital development among volunteers of a multinational sport-for-development event. J. Sport. Manage . 29, 27–41. doi: 10.1123/JSM.2013-0325

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PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar

Keywords: community, sport management, communitarianism, social justice, sport policy

Citation: Rich KA, Spaaij R and Misener L (2021) Theorizing Community for Sport Management Research and Practice. Front. Sports Act. Living 3:774366. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2021.774366

Received: 11 September 2021; Accepted: 28 October 2021; Published: 19 November 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Rich, Spaaij and Misener. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Kyle A. Rich, krich@brocku.ca

This article is part of the Research Topic

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Evolution of sport management research

This is an excerpt from research methods and design in sport management by damon andrew,paul m. pedersen & chad mcevoy..

Before reviewing the current state of sport management research, it is important to define the scope of sport management. DeSensi, Kelley, Blanton, and Beitel (1990, p.33) defined sport management in a broad sense as “any combination of skills related to planning, organizing, directing, controlling, budgeting, leading, and evaluating within the context of an organization or department whose primary product or service is related to sport and/or physical activity.” Additionally, VanderZwaag (1998) identified other areas of sport to be included within the professional realm: recreational sport programs, industrial and military sport programs, corporate-sponsored sporting events, sporting goods, developmental sport programs, sport news media, and sport management academic programs. Refer back to the highlight box on pages 4 and 5 for a conceptualization of the various subdisciplines of sport management and their contexts.

The need for sport management was evident in 1957, when Walter O'Malley, owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, wrote,

I ask the question, where would one go to find a person who by virtue of education has been trained to administer a marina, race track, ski resort, auditorium, stadium, theatre, convention or exhibit hall, a public camp complex, or a person to fill an executive position at a team or league level in junior athletics such as Little League baseball, football, scouting, CYO, and youth activities, etc. (Mason, Higgins, & Wilkinson, 1981, p. 44)

O'Malley's question was posed to Dr. Clifford Brownell, a professor at Columbia University, and later conveyed by Dr. Brownell to his doctoral student, Dr. James Mason,who led the development of one of the first sport management programs in the United States at Ohio University in 1966 (evidence also exists of an earlier program at Florida Southern University from 1949 to 1959). About 20 years later, the North American Society for Sport Management was formed during the 1985-1986 academic year. The Journal of Sport Management was first published in 1987 to address sport management in the context of management theory and practice;it focused specifically on sport, exercise, dance, and play, since these activities are pursued by all sectors of the population (Parks & Olafson, 1987).

In the first issue of the Journal of Sport Management , Zeigler (1987) addressed the past, present, and future of sport management as a field of study. He concluded that the field still had an opportunity to relate significantly to the developing social science of management but that it needed to do so soon. Zeigler also emphasized that the vast enterprise that is sport must more effectively address the urgent need for qualified managers, and he highlighted the then-new North American Society for Sport Management as an entity that could make a significant contribution in this regard. Finally, Zeigler recommended that such developments should be carried out in full cooperation with the National Association for Sport and Physical Education within the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance and with the Canadian Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (now known as Physical and Health Education Canada).

Zeigler (1987) recognized potential conflicts between practitioners and scientists early on, and this issue still affects the field of sport management today. Practitioners often claim that scientists are out of touch with reality while scientists charge that practitioners often fail to properly base decisions on research. Further, he criticized sport management scholars for their lack of significant contribution to research during the prior 20 years. When discussing the academic quality of sport management programs, he commented, “One can only speculate about the intellectual level of these programs when the professors and instructors have typically been such reluctant, unproductive scholars themselves (p. 10).” Such harsh yet realistic comments from one of the most respected scholars in sport management helped usher in a new era of productivity in the field.

Paton (1987) took the initiative to critically examine the progress of sport management research in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Sport Management . After an exhaustive literature review, Paton concluded that the bulk of the research was descriptive in design and directed toward postsecondary institutions. Furthermore, major research emphasis was placed on leaders and leadership behavior, yet few concrete conclusions had emerged from such research. Paton recommended that researchers work to improve the theoretical base and strive to make the knowledge sensible and useful. He also recommended that sport management researchers broaden their horizons to examine noneducational organizations: “[P]rojections suggest that we must turn our attention to other areas such as professional and amateur sport organizations and the increasingly diverse organizations in private enterprise” (p. 30). Although more research is available today on professional sport teams, a majority of research still focuses on collegiate teams, and only scant research has addressed amateur sport organizations.

Other sport management scholars have also voiced their concerns about the direction of research in the field. James Weese (1995) argued that in addition to enhancing the field of sport management from a theoretical perspective, sport management research should serve practitioners in professional and organizational sport settings and environments. He suggested that practical implications should be addressed in order to assist sport industry professionals in understanding the conclusions of research.

Trevor Slack (1996) expanded on Weese's (1995) idea that sport management research has not kept pace with the growth of the sport industry. Slack claimed that the bulk of sport management research has been geared toward issues involving physical education and athletic administration, whereas little attention has been given to enterprises such as athletic equipment and apparel and sport organizations. Slack suggested that sport management academicians must broaden their areas of research, as well as the theoretical basis for this research; if they do not, he cautioned, the field of sport management will remain limited and lack generalizability. Slack (1996) suggested steps by which sport management researchers could improve in these needed areas. It is essential, he said, for researchers to be familiar with current management concepts, theories, and strategies. Such information can be obtained by reading management books and journals outside the field of sport management. Slack also urged sport management academicians to present their research to a broader audience and sustain scrutiny from other academic fields. He suggested that credibility in the field of sport management can be earned if sport management academicians teach outside of their respective domains—for example, within business schools.

Slack (1996) also suggested areas of research that would help the field of sport management stay current—among them, organizational strategy, the impact of technology on the sport industry, organizational culture, and the power and politics found in the sport industry. There has been some growth in research addressing the topics suggested by Slack, such as organizational culture, but many of the topics he suggested are still sparsely researched in the realm of sport.

In addition, Slack (1996) advocated other types of research—some that are not so heavily quantitative, such as the biographical approach (examining an organization's past, present, and future) and the use of secondary data to analyze and draw conclusions. Since Slack's suggestion, secondary data has indeed been used more often, primarily in sport finance and economic research. The biographical approach has yet to be used to its full potential.

Slack's (1998) suggestions for creating a unique aspectin the field of sport management from the overall management discipline include being reflective and critical of personal scholarly research and identifying voids in the field, especially as viewed from a theoretical or practical viewpoint. Also, he suggests that researchers must theorize their work and use sport organizations to test their own theories as well as more established theory. Finally, Slack suggests that sport management academicians must broaden the types of sport organizations they examine and expand upon the subdisciplinary areas of sport management education. Slack's insightful comments have challenged sport management programs to reconsider their approach to research. Even today, many of his research suggestions remain current and applicable.

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Earning A Sport Management Degree: What To Know Before You Enroll

Updated: Feb 2, 2024, 1:01pm

Interested in launching a sports career? Earning a sport management degree is a smart first move.

A sport management degree equips students with an arsenal of multidisciplinary skills. This degree involves coursework in finance, management, marketing, communications and economics, all through the lens of professional sports and recreation. Those skills can apply to a variety of careers in the sport management arena.

What’s more, some of the highest-earning jobs in this field go to people with sport management degrees. Here’s everything you need to know about earning a sport management degree.

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What Is a Sport Management Degree?

A sport management degree prepares students for careers across varying areas of sport management. Several colleges and universities offer sport management degree programs. Depending on the field of work you’re interested in, you may opt to complete a four-year bachelor’s degree or pursue a master’s or Ph.D.

Sport Management Admission Requirements

What does it take to apply for a sport management degree? That depends on which degree you’re pursuing. Undergraduate programs typically have fewer admissions requirements than graduate programs. Conversely, graduate programs generally have higher admissions standards and more rigorous requirements.

Undergraduate Degrees

If you’re a first-time student, you’ll apply for an undergraduate sport management program . You can enroll in a four-year college or university for your bachelor’s degree, or you can begin at a two-year community college before transferring to a four-year program.

Admissions requirements vary by school. Check with each school’s admissions department to learn about GPA minimums, prerequisite courses and standardized test scores, if required. Some programs may ask you to submit a personal essay with your application.

For what it’s worth: A genuine, demonstrated enthusiasm for sports or another recreational field is helpful. If you have substantive coaching or athletic experience, don’t forget to discuss that in your application.

Graduate Degrees

Students applying for a graduate degree in sport management should obtain at least a bachelor’s degree. An academic background in sport management or a related field is preferred but not required.

Prospective graduate students must submit official transcripts, a résumé and test scores with their application. Some schools also ask for GMAT or GRE test scores . Most programs ask for letters of recommendation, too.

While it’s not required, be sure to include any volunteer or independent research experience you may have completed in your undergraduate studies.

Courses in a Sport Management Program

Upon enrolling in a sport management program, you’ll choose your courses. Most programs require students to enroll in a mix of general education and degree-specific classes. If you’ve selected a concentration like sports law or sports media, you’ll also enroll in courses specific to that subject.

Most sport management programs offer core courses in business principles like marketing, communications and finance. Below are some popular courses you can expect to find in a sport management program.

Business Communications

Business communications courses help students sharpen their communication skills in a business context. Students learn to handle one-on-one meetings, how to speak well on the spot and how to write persuasive business documents. Business communications courses also prepare learners to create powerful visual presentations and properly manage correspondence.

Leadership positions demand strong communication skills, but these skills are generally good to have regardless of your career path.

Principles of Marketing

Many sport management positions require a solid understanding of core marketing principles. This course explores how to identify and serve a target audience. Students learn how to define and explain baseline marketing terms and how to calculate and analyze marketing metrics. Learners can also expect to cover topics including branding and product development, campaign development, market research and social media marketing.

Sports Analytics

Data plays an instrumental role in the world of sports and recreation, both on and off the field. As a result, you can expect to take a sports analytics course as part of your sport management degree. This class teaches the fundamentals of data analysis and how to apply that analysis in a business context. Students also learn to leverage data and modeling techniques to improve marketing performance.

Sports Tourism

Sports tourism involves traveling to watch or participate in a sporting event. A sports tourism class covers the fundamentals of managing and leading sporting events that draw sports tourists. Topics covered in sports tourism classes include event planning and development, site selection, marketing, legalities and the industry’s history. Students will also dive into sports’ impact on communities and economic development.

Sports Management Careers

Earning a sport management degree opens the door to a variety of career opportunities. Below are several career paths that a sport management degree prepares you for.

We sourced the below salary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Game Day or Event Coordinator

Median Annual Salary: $52,560 Projected Growth Rate (2022-2032): +8% Job Description: Game day or event coordinators facilitate day-of sporting event logistics. This means taking care of and managing every party involved in sporting events, from vendors to athletes to reporters. Game day coordinators must also be prepared to respond to changes in plans, inclement weather and other possible variables.

Contract Administrator

Median Annual Salary: $101,870 Projected Growth Rate (2022-2032): +5% Job Description: Contract administrators create, negotiate, sign and uphold athletic contracts. In professional sports, these contracts typically involve millions of dollars.

Purchasing Agent

Median Annual Salary: $67,620 Projected Growth Rate (2022-2032): -8% Job Description: Purchasing agents ensure that sports organizations have what they need to function properly on a day-to-day basis. This may include sporting equipment, weight training equipment and office supplies. These professionals are also responsible for choosing sellers, negotiating contracts and determining the quality of products. With experience, agents can progress to higher-paying management roles.

Athletic Coach

Median Annual Salary: $44,890 Projected Growth Rate (2022-2032): +9% Job Description: Coaches teach, mentor and train athletes in both professional and recreational contexts. A coach is responsible for preparing athletes for games, creating drills and team-building exercises, ideating game strategy and supporting athletes’ individual and collective improvement.

Sport Marketer

Median Annual Salary: $138,730 Projected Growth Rate (2022-2032): +6% Job Description: Sports marketers promote sports teams and related organizations like the Olympics or the National Football League. They might also promote individual high-profile athletes. Generally, sports marketers make sure they tell a story that shines a positive light on their respective organizations and promotes sports overall.

Frequently Asked Questions About Sport Management

How many years is a sport management degree.

An undergraduate sport management degree typically takes four years to complete. Most master’s programs are two years. Ph.D. candidates can expect to spend at least three to four years earning their degree.

What does a person with a sport management degree do?

Sport management degrees open the door to a variety of career possibilities. Degree holders may enter the corporate world of athletics as marketers, team managers, journalists or contract agents. Others find jobs as coaches, facility directors or athletic directors.

Does a sport management degree make good money?

It depends on the position. Some of the highest-paying jobs in sport management include sports marketing directors, sports promoters, facilities directors and athletic directors.

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Sport Management Degree

The Bachelor of Science in Sport Management program is designed for students seeking a sport degree with an interdisciplinary approach.

• 120 credit hour program
• Students choose from a selection of Sport Management electives in order to tailor their coursework to their career goals.
• Required 12 credit hour internship taken during the graduating semester

What can you do with a Sport Management degree?

Career Paths

The sport management degree prepares students for entry into a wide array of career paths:

• marketing of goods and services within professional and amateur sport
• management of public and commercial recreation programs and facilities
• electronic and print communication positions within sport organizations or sport media outlets
• sales and marketing in the fitness and health club industries

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Our top employers in the sport industry:

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Sport Management Admission

Program Admission and Retention Criteria (Effective Fall 2023)

To declare the Sport Management major, students must meet the following requirements:

• Students must be admitted to Kennesaw State University.
• Applicants must have a 2.5 cumulative grade point average in the following 6 courses POLS 1101 (American Government), ENGL 1102 (Composition II), ACCT 2101 (Principles of Accounting 1), ECON 2106 (Principles of Microeconomics), SM 2100 (Introduction to Sport Management) and SM 2200 (History & Contemporary Aspects of Sport) and a minimum grade of "C" in each required course for admission. Transfer courses considered equivalent by the transfer review process will be permitted. No more than two attempts will be allowed for admission courses. Withdraws count as an attempt.
• Students admitted to the program must earn a grade of "C" or better in each required course within the Sport Management curriculum of which only two attempts per course will be allowed to earn the degree. Withdraws count as an attempt.
• Information regarding the application process can be obtained from the Wellstar College of Health and Human Services Advising Center.

Information regarding the application process can be obtained from the  Advising Center .

Sport Management Internships

Sport Internship Admission Criteria

• Students must complete all sport management core classes including SM 4900 (Grade of C or better) prior to beginning the capstone sport internship experience.
• Students must have an Institutional GPA of 2.5.
• Request submitted by the deadline

Internship for Academic Credit Request Procedures 

To request academic credit for your internship experience, you will need to do the following:  

• Submit a request for academic credit .
• You will need to include a specific job description and current contact information for your Internship Supervisor. Lack of sufficient job description may result in a denial of your request.  
• Have request approved by the Internship Coordinator and Career & Internship Advisor for the Wellstar College.    

You will receive an automated email when your request is approved/disapproved which will provide specific instructions for course registration.  

Required Hours 

To fulfill your internship requirement, you will need to work a minimum of 450 hours on site during the semester.  If your internship is remote, please make sure to detail how supervision and time logs will be reported.   

During fall and spring semesters, interns will average 28-30 hours per week over 15 – 16 weeks. 

During summer semester, interns will need to average 40+ hours per week (10 weeks). 

Students completing the internship during the Summer begin the first day of Summer classes (Maymester).  

Registration Process 

Once an application has been approved, course registration will be opened for the student.   Notification and instructions will be sent to the student’s KSU student email address. 

It is the responsibility of the student to officially ADD the specific internship course during early registration through Owl Express. Here are important points regarding course registration: 

• Owl Express will show the course (SM 4950) as CLOSED. An override will be provided to allow students to register for the “CLOSED” course. Students approved to register for internship will simply ADD the CRN for their specific course to their registration worksheet. 
• Students who intern at a location that is more than 50 miles from the KSU campus (1000 Chastain Road Kennesaw, GA) will be eligible for a waiver of certain institutional fees. This is a University System of Georgia Board of Regents Policy (7.3.4.2) and cannot be waived or amended by the Department of ESSM or KSU. You should notify the Director of Internships to receive more details if you believe you may qualify.

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20 Best Colleges for Sports Management – 2024

May 5, 2024

For teenage sports fans, it’s hard to imagine a more exciting major than sports management, a relatively new field that has grown in popularity in recent years. As part of a bachelor’s degree in sports management, students will take courses in business and finance along with more athletics-centered classes in sports psychology, sports law, and sports media. Many grads go on to work in a variety of capacities for professional and collegiate sports teams while others work in parks and recreation, youth sports coordination, or in sports and health club management. Some sports management programs are offered through highly-selective institutions like Rice or the University of Michigan, but the vast majority of schools with stellar sports management degrees accept more students than they reject. College Transitions’ list of the Best Colleges for Sports Management can get you pointed in the right direction toward the sports-related career of your dreams.

Methodology 

Click here to read our methodology for the Best Colleges for Sports Management.

Best Colleges for Sports Management

Here’s a quick preview of the first ten sports management institutions that made our list. Detailed profiles and stats can be found when you scroll below.

1) University of Michigan

2) Rice University

3) University of Texas at Austin

4) University of Miami

5) University of Florida

6) University of Georgia

7) Southern Methodist University

8) Florida State University

9) Texas A&M University

10) North Carolina State University

All of the schools profiled below have stellar reputations in the area of sports management and commit substantial resources to undergraduate education. For each of the Best Sports Management Colleges, College Transitions will provide you with—when available—the university’s:

• Cost of Attendance
• Acceptance Rate
• Median  SAT
• Median  ACT
• Retention Rate
• Graduation Rate

We will also include a longer write-up of each college’s:

• Academic Highlights – Includes facts like student-to-faculty ratio, average class size, number of majors offered, and most popular majors.
• Professional Outcomes – Includes info on the rate of positive outcomes, companies employing alumni, and graduate school acceptances.

University of Michigan

• Ann Arbor, MI

Academic Highlights: There are 280+ undergraduate degree programs across fourteen schools and colleges, and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) enrolls the majority of students. The Ross School of Business offers highly rated programs in entrepreneurship, management, accounting, and finance. The College of Engineering is also one of the best in the country. By degrees conferred, engineering (15%), computer science (14%), and the social sciences (11%) are most popular. A solid 56% of classes have fewer than 20 students.

Professional Outcomes: Within three months of graduating, 89% of LSA grads are employed full-time or in graduate school, with healthcare, education, law, banking, research, nonprofit work, and consulting being the most popular sectors. Within three months, 99% of Ross grads are employed with a median salary of $90k. Top employers include Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, EY, Morgan Stanley, PwC, Deloitte, and Amazon.  Within six months, 96% of engineering grads are employed (average salary of $84k) or in grad school. General Motors, Ford, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Meta employ the greatest number of alumni.

• Enrollment: 32,695 (undergraduate); 18,530 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $35,450 (in-state); $76,294 (out-of-state)
• Median SAT: 1470
• Median ACT: 33
• Acceptance Rate: 18%
• Retention Rate: 97%
• Graduation Rate: 93%

Rice University

• Houston, TX

Academic Highlights : Rice offers more than 50 majors across six broad disciplines: engineering, architecture, music, social science, humanities, and natural science. Programs in biology, biochemistry, cognitive science, and music are incredibly strong, while the School of Architecture and the George R. Brown School of Engineering are among the highest-ranking schools in their disciplines. One-third of computer science majors are female, almost twice the national average. Class sizes are ideally small with 66% containing fewer than 20 students and a median class size of only fourteen.

Professional Outcomes: Six months after graduation, 88% of Rice grads have found careers or a graduate school home. Companies that employ many recent grads include Deloitte, Capital One, JP Morgan Chase, Google, and Microsoft. Over one hundred alumni are also current employees of companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Amazon, Accenture, and Meta. Across all majors, the average starting salary is $73k. One-third of graduates move directly into graduate or professional school, with Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Columbia, and Berkeley being the most popular destinations.

• Enrollment: 4,494 (undergraduate); 4,178 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $78,278
• Median SAT: 1530
• Median SAT: 35
• Acceptance Rate: 9%
• Retention Rate: 94%
• Graduation Rate: 98%

The University of Texas at Austin

Academic Highlights: UT Austin offers over 150 majors, including those at the Cockrell School of Engineering, one of the most heralded undergraduate engineering schools around, and The McCombs School of Business, which dominates in the specialty areas of accounting and marketing. The computer science department is also top-ranked. In terms of degrees conferred, engineering is tied with biology (12%) followed by communication (11%), business (11%), and the social sciences (8%). The elite Plan II Honors Program is one of the best in the country.

Professional Outcomes: Within the College of Liberal Arts, six months after graduating, 68% of Longhorns are employed and 24% have entered graduate school. The for-profit sector attracts 65% of those employed while 19% enter public sector employment and 16% pursue jobs at a nonprofit. Major corporations that employ more than 500 UT Austin grads include Google, Meta, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, and Apple. Engineering majors took home a median income of $79k and business majors took home $70k.

• Enrollment: 41,309 (undergraduate); 11,075 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $30,752-$34,174 (in-state); $61,180-$69,310 (out-of-state)
• Median SAT: 1430
• Median ACT: 32
• Acceptance Rate: 31%
• Retention Rate: 95%
• Graduation Rate: 88%

University of Miami

• Coral Gables, FL

Academic Highlights : Over 100 undergrad programs are offered across nine schools, with the greatest number of degrees conferred in business/marketing (21%), health professions (13%), biology (11%), the social sciences (9%), communication (9%), and engineering (8%). The Miami Business School and the College of Engineering enjoy solid national reputations, and programs in music, marine science, communications, and architecture are also highly ranked. 52% of all course sections contain fewer than 20 students.

Professional Outcomes: Within six months of graduating, 98% of the Class of 2022 had positive outcomes, with 64% employed full-time and 34% in graduate school. Companies employing 2022 grads included Deloitte, Citrix, NBCUniversal, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citi, and Morgan Stanley. Across all majors, the median starting salary was an impressive $63k. 100+ Canes also can be found in the offices of Google, IBM, PwC, Apple, and Microsoft. The most frequently attended graduate school is typically Miami itself.

• Enrollment: 12,883 (undergraduate); 6,710 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $93,146
• Median SAT: 1410
• Acceptance Rate: 19%
• Retention Rate: 92%
• Graduation Rate: 84%

University of Florida

• Gainesville, FL

Academic Highlights: With 16 colleges and 100 undergraduate majors to choose from, educational experiences are exceptionally diverse. The Warrington College of Business and the Wertheim College of Engineering are highly respected, so it’s no surprise that those two programs confer the greatest percentage of degrees—12% and 14%, respectively. Biology (11%), the social sciences (11%), and health professions (8%) are next in popularity. 53% of sections enroll fewer than 20 students, and 33% of students partake in an undergraduate research experience.

Professional Outcomes: By graduation day, 66% of the Class of 2022 had already procured a first job. The top occupational areas were engineering (13%), health care (13%), computer science (5%), and marketing (4%). 200+ Gator alumni can be found at top corporations like Google, EY, Raymond James, Deloitte, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, and PwC. The average salary for all 2022 grads was $69k, with a high of $100k for computer science majors. Of those pursuing advanced degrees, a master’s degree was the most popular pursuit (63%) followed by law school (11%).

• Enrollment: 34,552 (undergraduate); 20,659 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $23,530 (in-state); $45,808 (out-of-state)
• Median SAT: 1400
• Median ACT: 31
• Acceptance Rate: 23%
• Graduation Rate: 90%

University of Georgia

Academic Highlights: UGA boasts seventeen distinct colleges and schools that offer 125+ majors. Business is the most commonly conferred undergrad degree, accounting for 29% of diplomas earned. It is followed by biology (10%), social sciences (8%), communication & journalism (8%), and psychology (7%). Top-ranked programs include animal science, business, communications, and public and international affairs. 49% of sections enroll fewer than 20 students, and no matter your major, UGA encourages you to conduct research with a member of the school’s faculty.

Professional Outcomes: 96% of the Class of 2022 was employed or continuing their education six months after graduation. Popular employers include Accenture, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Walt Disney Company, and Deloitte. Salaries vary between colleges; engineering grads had a median starting salary of $65k while journalism and communication grads reported a $50k median. In 2022, 24% of graduates enrolled directly into a graduate/professional degree program, with the most commonly attended schools including Columbia, Duke, Emory, Georgia Tech, Penn, and UVA.

• Enrollment: 30,714 (undergraduate); 9,893 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $28,142 (in-state); $48,538 (out-of-state)
• Median SAT: 1310
• Median ACT: 29
• Acceptance Rate: 43%

Southern Methodist University

Academic Highlights: In total, SMU offers 100+ majors and 85 minors. Thanks in part to an 11:1 student-to-faculty ratio, 56% of classes enroll fewer than 20 students. This career-minded student body gravitates toward pre-professional degrees, particularly in business (27%) and engineering (6%). SMU’s Cox School of Business is top-ranked and has especially strong ties to Wall Street. Programs in engineering, sports management, and the performing arts are also very well-regarded.

Professional Highlights: On graduation day, over 66% of recent grads already had their first jobs or graduate school destinations in hand. Six months later, that figure was in the mid-90s. Major corporations employing the greatest number of Mustangs are Lockheed Martin, AT&T, EY, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Deloitte, American Airlines, Accenture, Oracle, Amazon, and Goldman Sachs. In 2022, the average starting salary was $55k across all majors ($77k for Cox School of Business grads). In a typical year, 25% of seniors elect to immediately pursue an advanced degree.

• Enrollment: 7,115 (undergraduate); 4,727 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $89,676
• Median SAT: 1405
• Acceptance Rate: 61%
• Retention Rate: 90%
• Graduation Rate: 83%

Florida State University

• Tallahassee, FL

Academic Highlights: A wide range of baccalaureate degrees—103 to be precise—are available at FSU. The student-to-faculty is a 17:1, which translates into somewhat larger class sizes. Ten percent of sections contain more than fifty students, and 4% have more than 100. However, that is balanced by the 66% of sections that contain fewer than twenty students. Twenty-three percent of degrees conferred fall under the business umbrella. The social sciences (15%), psychology (8%), biology (8%), and homeland security (6%) are next in popularity.

Professional Outcomes: Eighty-three percent of job-seeking Seminole grads receive at least one offer of employment within three months of graduation. The top five sectors employing 2022 grads are (in order) finance, technology, marketing, health, and engineering. Roughly one-third of 2022 Florida State grads elected to immediately pursue admission into an advanced degree program; 75% of those who apply receive at least one acceptance. A typical graduating class sees over 100 students accepted into medical schools and over 200 accepted into law schools.

• Enrollment: 32,936
• Cost of Attendance: $25,762 (In-State); $39,692 (Out-of-State)
• Median SAT: 1300
• Acceptance Rate: 25%
• Graduation Rate: 85%

Texas A&M University — College Station

• College Station, TX

Academic Highlights: With nineteen schools and colleges and 130+ undergraduate degree programs, Texas A&M is a massive operation. As the name implies, there is a heavy emphasis on agriculture, engineering, and business, which all place well in national rankings and garner deep respect from major corporations and graduate/professional schools. Class sizes trend large, but 24% of courses enroll fewer than 20 students and personal connections with professors are entirely possible, particularly through the research-oriented LAUNCH program.

Professional Outcomes: On graduation day, 54% of students had already received at least one job offer and 22% were heading to graduate/professional school. Many Aggies go on to work at major oil, tech, and consulting firms; more than 500 are employed at each of ExxonMobil, Halliburton, Chevron, EY, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel, Accenture, and PWC. Starting salaries were strong—on average, College of Engineering grads made $80k and College of Agriculture & Life Sciences grads netted $54k. A&M is also the eighth-largest producer of law students in the entire country.

• Enrollment: 57,512 (undergraduate); 16,502 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $31,058 (in-state); $59,336 (out-of-state)
• Median SAT: 1270
• Median ACT: 28
• Acceptance Rate: 63%

North Carolina State University

• Raleigh, NC

Academic Highlights: NC State offers more than 100 majors and 120 minors. 64% of sections enroll 29 or fewer students. Engineering is the most popular area of concentration as 24% of Class of 2022 graduates earned a degree in that field. Business/marketing comes in second at 17% followed by biology (10%) and agriculture (7%). NC State has an exceptional regional reputation and an expanding national one with the College of Engineering near the top of many rankings. Programs in design, architecture, and animal science are also very strong.

Professional Outcomes: 54% of students graduating in 2022 had already accepted full-time jobs before exiting; 27% were heading to graduate/professional school. Members of that class reported an average starting salary of $62,024 (with a slightly higher median). Including all graduating years, the companies employing the largest number of alumni are Cisco, Red Hat, SAS, IBM, Lenovo, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel, Google, Deloitte, Facebook, and Salesforce. Many recent grads also work for the university itself and for the Wake County Public School System.

• Enrollment: 26,254 (undergraduate); 10,446 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $27,451 (in-state); $51,662 (out-of-state)
• Median SAT: 1340
• Acceptance Rate: 47%
• Graduation Rate: 86%

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Champaign-Urbana, IL

Academic Highlights: Eight of UIUC’s fifteen schools cater to undergraduate students. There are 150 academic programs offered, including those at the acclaimed Grainger College of Engineering and Gies College of Business. In sheer volume of degrees conferred, engineering and business/marketing are tied at 19%, followed by the social sciences (9%) and psychology (6%). 39% of sections are capped at 19 students. 29% of undergraduates work with a faculty member on a research project; another 22% have some type of fieldwork, practicum, or clinical experience.

Professional Outcomes: 95% of the members of the Class of 2022 landed at their next destination within six months of graduation, with 38% matriculating directly into an advanced degree program. 57% were employed full-time; the most popular sectors were finance, consulting, healthcare, electronics, and education. Corporations landing the most recent Illini grads were KPMG, Deloitte, Epic Systems, EY, PwC, and Amazon. The average salary across all Class of 2022 majors was an extremely solid $75,000.

• Enrollment: 35,120 (undergraduate); 21,796 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $35,926-$41,190 (in-state); $55,386-$63,290 (out-of-state)
• Median SAT: 1440
• Acceptance Rate: 79%
• Retention Rate: 93%

The Ohio State University — Columbus

• Columbus, OH

Academic Highlights: There are 200+ undergraduate majors and 18 schools and colleges housed within OSU. Business sees the greatest percentage of degrees conferred at 18% followed by engineering (15%), health professions (10%), and the social sciences (9%). It makes sense that so many flock to the business and engineering schools as they are among the highest-rated undergraduate programs in their respective disciplines. 40% of sections enroll fewer than 20 students, and approximately 20% of students gain research experience.

Professional Outcomes: Upon receiving their diplomas, 56% of Class of 2022 graduates were entering the world of employment while 17% were already accepted into graduate or professional school.  Hordes of Buckeyes can be found at many of the nation’s leading companies. More than 2,000 alumni work for JPMorgan Chase, more than 1,000 are employed by Amazon, and more than 600 work for Google and Microsoft. Of the grads who directly matriculate into graduate or professional school, many continue in one of OSU’s own programs.

• Enrollment: 45,728 (undergraduate); 14,318 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $27,241 (in-state); $52,747 (out-of-state)
• Median SAT: 1340-1450
• Median ACT: 29-32
• Acceptance Rate: 53%

Syracuse University

• Syracuse, NY

Academic Highlights: In total, 200+ majors and 100+ minors are spread across ten undergraduate schools/colleges. The School of Architecture, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and the Newhouse School of Public Communication are all revered names that carry a good deal of weight in their respective fields. The most popular majors include communication/journalism (15%), the social sciences (14%), and business (12%). Despite Syracuse’s size, class sizes are kept reasonably low; 63% contain 20 students or fewer.

Professional Outcomes: Six months after exiting the Carrier Dome for the final time in 2022, 59% of Orangemen and women found employment (92% related to their career goals) and 21% continued to graduate school. The companies employing the most ‘Cuse grads include major media/entertainment management companies like Conde Nast, Bloomberg, and Creative Artists Agency as well as big-name corporations like GE, KPMG, EY, Lockheed Martin, and Morgan Stanley. The average starting salary for 2022 grads was a solid $63k.

• Enrollment: 15,739 (undergraduate); 7,209 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $85,214
• Median ACT: 30
• Retention Rate: 91%
• Graduation Rate: 81%

Clemson University

• Clemson, SC

Academic Highlights: There are seven undergraduate colleges within the larger university. Class sizes are mixed, and many sections are smaller than you would expect for such a large university where the student-to-faculty ratio is 16:1. Fifteen percent of classes have single-digit enrollments, and 55% contain fewer than 30 students. Business and engineering also the most popular majors with a 21% and 18% market share of diplomas, respectively. The next most frequently conferred degrees are in biology (9%), the social sciences (7%), and health professions (7%).

Professional Outcomes: Within six months of graduation, 92% of 2022 grads had already entered the working world or were pursuing a graduate degree. The top employers of newly-minted diploma holders include Michelin, Amazon, Vanguard, and Wells Fargo. Computing and Applied Sciences reported a median starting salary of $62,000. College of Business graduates enjoyed median earnings of $60,000. Of the 19% of recent graduates directly entering grad school, the largest number retained their Tiger stripes by continuing their studies at Clemson.

• Enrollment: 22,566
• Cost of Attendance:

University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Amherst, MA

Academic Highlights: 110 majors are offered across eight undergraduate colleges, including the highly ranked Isenberg School of Management. Programs in sports management, architecture, computer science, and nursing are top-rated. Of all degrees conferred in 2022, business/marketing diplomas accounted for 14%, followed by biology (11%), social sciences (10%), psychology (8%), health professions (7%), engineering (7%), and computer science (7%). 47% of courses enroll fewer than 20 students, and 30% engage in undergraduate research.

Professional Outcomes: Six months after graduating, 65% of newly minted 2022 grads were employed full-time and 26% were attending graduate school part-time. The most populated industries are health/medical professions (13%), internet & software (10%), biotech & life sciences (4%), and higher education (4%). Companies presently employing 100+ Minutemen and Minutewomen include Oracle, Mass Mutual, Amazon, IBM, Google, Intel, Microsoft, PwC, Wayfair, and Apple. Boston is the most popular landing spot for graduates.

• Enrollment: 23,936 (undergraduate); 7,874 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $37,219 (in-state); $59,896 (out-of-state)
• Median SAT: 1380
• Acceptance Rate: 58%

Indiana University

• Bloomington, IL

Academic Highlights: IU offers 200+ majors. The university’s 18:1 student-to-faculty ratio is not bad for a school of Indiana’s size, and it does make an effort to keep undergraduate classes on the small side. While there are a number of introductory courses that transpire in giant lecture halls, 37% of all sections contain no more than 19 students. Business/marketing is the most popular major accounting for 30% of the total degrees conferred and biology is second at 9%. IU’s computer science degree program is the school’s third most frequently conferred degree at 8%.

Professional Outcomes: Class of 2022 grads reached their next employment or graduate school destination at a 94% rate within six months of receiving their degrees. The median starting salary for A&S grads was $41,000. In the Kelley School of Business, 97% were placed successfully within six months, and the median starting salary was $67,000. Among the most frequently attended graduate schools by recent grads are Indiana Bloomington (including its own law and medical schools), Purdue, Loyola Chicago, Northwestern, and Columbia.

• Enrollment: 35,660
• Cost of Attendance: $25,170 (In-State); $53,860 (Out-of-State)
• Median SAT: 1280
• Acceptance Rate: 82%

University of Minnesota–Twin Cities

• Minneapolis, MN

Academic Highlights: There are 150 majors available across eight freshman-admitting undergraduate colleges. 65% of class sections enroll 29 or fewer students. The most commonly conferred degrees are in biology (13%), business & marketing (11%), engineering (10%), the social sciences (10%), computer science (9%), and psychology (8%). The College of Science and Engineering and the Carlson School of Management have strong national reputations, and the chemistry, economics, psychology, and political science departments are also well-regarded.

Professional Outcomes: The top seven companies snatching up the largest number of recent grads are all companies headquartered in the state of Minnesota: Medtronic, Target, 3M, United Health Group, US Bank, and Cargill. Google, Apple, and Meta all employ hundreds of Twin Cities alumni. The mean starting salary for recent grads was $50k. With 130 graduate programs in science, art, engineering, agriculture, medicine, and the humanities, the University of Minnesota retains many of its graduates as they pursue their next degrees.

• Enrollment: 39,248 (undergraduate); 15,707 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $33,032-$35,632 (in-state); $54,446-$57,046
• Median SAT: 1370
• Acceptance Rate: 75%

University of South Carolina

• Columbia, SC

Academic Highlights: UofSC is a massive enterprise, with 16 colleges/schools within the larger university. Even so, 70% of all sections contain 29 or fewer students. 32% of students take the opportunity to earn a degree in the business/marketing realm from the superb Darla Moore School of Business. The international business program is also top-ranked. Other popular disciplines include health services (11%), biology (10%), engineering (6%), and communication and journalism (6%).  The South Carolina Honors College is extremely hard to get into and is one of the finest in the entire country.

Professional Outcomes: 79% of recent grads landed at their next destination within six months with an average starting salary of over $55,000. Within the School of Business, 87% of 2023 grads were employed within three months and the average starting salary was $69k. Top employers of recent classes included KPMG, IBM, Aramark, Bank of America, Vanguard, PwC, and Marriot. The majority of those continuing their studies in a graduate/professional degree program did so at the University of South Carolina; other popular landing spots are Duke and Wake Forest.

• Enrollment: 27,343 (undergraduate); 8,310 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $38,696 (in-state); $60,942 (out-of-state)
• Acceptance Rate: 64%
• Graduation Rate: 78%

University of Iowa

• Iowa City, IA

Academic Highlights: 200+ undergraduate majors, minors, and certificate programs are available across eight colleges, including the Tippie College of Business, which has a very strong reputation. The most commonly conferred degree is business (24%), with parks and recreation (10%), social sciences (8%), health professions (8%), engineering (7%), and communication & journalism (5%) next in popularity. Over half of its undergraduate sections enroll 19 or fewer students, and 30% of undergrads conduct or assist research.

Professional Outcomes: 96% of Class of 2022 grads found their first job or advanced degree program within six months of receiving their diploma. The most commonly entered industries were healthcare (23%), entertainment/the arts (14%), finance and insurance (11%), and marketing/PR (10%). Companies that employ hundreds of alumni include Wells Fargo, Collins Aerospace, Principal Financial Group, Amazon, Accenture, and Microsoft. The median salary for 2022 grads was $50,000. 28% of recent graduates went directly into graduate school; 76% remained at the University of Iowa.

• Enrollment: 22,130 (undergraduate); 7,912 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $28,846-$32,259 (in-state); $50,809-$54,822 (out-of-state)
• Median SAT: 1240
• Median ACT: 25
• Acceptance Rate: 85%
• Retention Rate: 89%
• Graduation Rate: 73%

Rutgers University — New Brunswick

• New Brunswick, NJ

Academic Highlights: Rutgers is divided into 17 schools and colleges, collectively offering 100+ undergraduate majors. 41% of class sections have an enrollment of nineteen or fewer students. The greatest number of degrees are conferred in business (20%), computer science (12%), engineering (10%), health professions (10%), biology (9%), and social sciences (7%). Rutgers Business School sends many majors to top Wall Street investment banks, and programs in computer science, public health, and criminal justice have a terrific national reputation.

Professional Outcomes: Upon graduation, 82% of Class of 2022 grads had secured a first job or were heading to an advanced degree program. 67% headed directly to the world of employment, where the companies hiring the largest number of grads included Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oréal, and JP Morgan Chase. Investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Citi also employ hundreds of alumni, as do companies like Verizon, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Novartis, Pfizer, and Google. The median starting salary across all majors was $70,000.

• Enrollment: 36,344 (undergraduate); 14,293 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $37,849 (in-state); $57,138 (out-of-state)
• Acceptance Rate: 66%

We hope you have found our list of the Best Colleges for Sports Management to be useful and informative as you continue your college search process. We also invite you to check out some of our other resources and tools including:

• AP Score Calculators 
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• Best Summer Programs 
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• Best Colleges by Major

Andrew Belasco

A licensed counselor and published researcher, Andrew's experience in the field of college admissions and transition spans two decades. He has previously served as a high school counselor, consultant and author for Kaplan Test Prep, and advisor to U.S. Congress, reporting on issues related to college admissions and financial aid.

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USM Tourism, Sport Management Faculty Collaborate with Trent Lott National Center on First Topgolf Facility in Mississippi

Tue, 05/07/2024 - 08:47am | By: Van Arnold

Dr. Wei Wang

University of Southern Mississippi professors Dr. Wei Wang and Dr. Chris Croft recently provided economic impact assistance to Topgolf on a project that brings the unique recreational venue to central Mississippi.

Wang (Hospitality and Tourism Management) and Croft (Sport Management) assisted with the Topgolf Tourism Project for Ridgeland, Miss. Topgolf initially requested assistance from USM’s Trent Lott National Center for Economic Development and Entrepreneurship.

Dr. Chris Croft

Trent Lott Center Director Brian Henson brought the professors on board to coordinate the project researching the potential impact of facility venue visitors within the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).  

Data analysis of the Ridgeland location, Topgolf historical data, population patterns, and facility venue design calculations were implemented to project Topgolf visitors' impact (both in-state and out-of-state). The research proposal assisted the Mississippi Development Authority ( MDA) to approve Topgolf’s Tourism Tax Rebate Application.

Located off I-55, northeast of the Renaissance at Colony Park. This marks the first Topgolf location in the State of Mississippi. Topgolf recently broke ground on the new development, which will be a part of Prado Vista and include a mix of residential and entertainment space. Todd Waldo, Director of Real Estate Development with Topgolf, coordinated the new construction location for Topgolf with a late 2024 anticipated opening of the Ridgeland complex.

The University and community collaboration project included multiple USM programs.

“We are delighted to offer research support for Topgolf's endeavor to establish its inaugural facility in Mississippi,” said Wang. “This state-of-the-art venue is set to draw tourism, enrich the quality of life for residents, and generate a positive economic impact for both the local area and the state as a whole.”

Croft added, “This was a great interdisciplinary research project with economic development, hospitality and tourism, and sport management collaboration, which aligns with a top priority of the College of Business and Economic Development’s mission to support economic development by advancing knowledge through influential scholarship and collaboration with our communities.”

Henson noted, “Dr. Wang and Dr. Croft, along with their team, did an outstanding job for our client. They were given a very short time frame in which to conduct the study and were able to make it happen. I want to thank them for their professionalism and attention to detail in helping make the new Topgolf facility a reality.”

Sport Management graduate assistants Austin Bourne and Cassie Lambert assisted with the project. Project coordination was led by the Trent Lott Center’s Heather Brown, and total oversight by Henson with Topgolf’s Waldo and Tray Hairston with Butler Snow LLP on the MDA process.

To learn more, visit:

Trent Lott National Center

Southern Miss Hospitality and Tourism Management

Southern Miss Sport Management

Categories: Business and Economic Development

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