princple of sport and leisure manaement

• Sport

  Physical exertion and competitive games that involve skills and strategies, typically organized and governed by rules and regulations. Can be individual or team-based, ranging from recreational to professional levels.
• Leisure


  Time and activities that individuals engage in voluntarily and for personal enjoyment, relaxation, or self-fulfilment. Unstructured free time for personal choice of activities.
• Three core concepts of leisure

  • Leisure as time
  • Leisure as activity
  • Leisure as state of being
• Leisure as time


  • Moments or periods when one is not occupied with work, obligations, or responsibilities, such as evenings, weekends, vacations, and holidays.
• Leisure as activity


  • Enjoyable and voluntary activities engaged in during free time, such as reading, gardening, playing sports, watching movies, or going to a museum.
• Leisure as state of being

  • Mental and emotional state characterized by relaxation, contentment, and a sense of fulfilment, where one feels at ease, stress-free, and mentally refreshed.
• Factors influencing leisure participation

  • Personal and family influences (age, gender, ethnicity, education)
  • Social and circumstantial factors (time availability, income, socio-economic class)
  • Opportunity and leisure participation (access, awareness)
• General socio-economic factors affecting sport & leisure industry

  • Population growth
  • Growth of ethnic and minority groups
  • Ageing population
  • Income and inequality
  • Fragmented population
  • Health
• Trends in the leisure industry

  • Technology (AI)
  • Environment awareness
  • Wellness/retreat
  • Immersion with nature/digital detox
  • Mindfulness/meditation
  • New leisure activities (gaming, e-sports)
• Leisure is a complex concept, not just free time, and involves principles of free and informed choice with appropriate opportunities. Leisure managers need to understand leisure to satisfy customer aspirations and realize its potential benefits for individuals and society.
• Commercial sector


  • Commercial operators managing commercial activities for profit (e.g. public houses, ski holiday companies)
  • Commercial operators managing not-for-profit or public sector facilities/activities (e.g. community sports clubs, public parks and gardens)
• Objectives of commercial sector

  • Profit maximization
  • Customer satisfaction
  • Brand building
  • Resource optimisation
  • Compliance and regulation
  • Partnerships and sponsorships
• Commercial sector objectives


  • Major difference is to achieve financial profit and an adequate return on investment
  • Both commercial and not-for-profit organizations need to attract sufficient clients, customers or members or they will fail
  • Public & not-for-profit managers increasingly use some of the skills and techniques of commercial operators (e.g. market research, targeted promotion, product innovation and development)
  • Competition is fierce and many companies fail due to leisure being a volatile market and changes in leisure spending adding to this uncertainty
• Strategies to increase profit

  1. Diversifying product/service offerings

  2. Pricing strategies

  3. Partnerships and sponsorships

  4. Loyalty programs

  5. Corporate partnerships
• Size structure of commercial leisure companies

  • Ranges from small, independent businesses to large multinational corporations
  • Oligopoly structure characterized by interdependence and uncertainty, with companies able to fix prices and prevent price competition
• Key drivers for the commercial leisure business

  • Time (consumer time constraints, leisure convenience)
  • Money (pricing and affordability, economic conditions)
  • Government regulations (licensing and permits, alcohol and tobacco laws, safety and accessibility)
  • Technology (online booking and reservations, e-commerce and mobile apps, virtual and augmented reality)
• Major commercial leisure industries

  • Eating and drinking out
  • Betting & gambling
  • Sport
  • Cinema
  • Theatre
  • Nightclub
  • Theme parks
• Commercial providers of facilities, services and products for leisure consumption have by far the greatest influence on people's use of leisure time, compared to other providers
• Commercial businesses have to make profit or in the end they go out of business
• Factors determining commercial leisure success

  • Accessibility and location
  • Range of facilities and activities
  • Catchment area and market competition
  • Quality of products and services
  • Investment in new products
  • Pricing
  • Promotion
  • Catering and social opportunities
  • Facilities and services for different market segments
  • Car parking
• Commercial sectors whilst having to maintain profitability, do not operate in isolation from other sectors, with government being a key influence on commercial businesses both in terms of facilities and constraints
• Government involvement in sport and leisure

  • Regulation (safety, health, alcohol and tobacco)
  • Oversight (protect consumers from fraud practices, unfair pricing)
  • Funding (grants, subsidies, financial support for local sports clubs, recreational programs, facility construction and maintenance)
  • Promoting community well-being (public health campaigns, initiatives to encourage physical activity and healthy lifestyles)
• Central government's role


  • Does not typically provide leisure services directly, but has a coordinating policy function
  • Concerned with matters of national interest (e.g. national sport teams, national parks, world heritage sites)
  • Responsible for government policy on arts, sport, tourism, libraries, museums, broadcasting, creative industries, press freedom and regulation, licensing, gambling, historic environment
  • Makes decisions on national policy and sets out the legal framework for its regional and local networks, agencies and institutions
• Local authorities' role


  • Provide facilities where there is a direct payment by the user (e.g. swimming pools, playing fields)
  • Leisure managers are essential to ensure effective use by the public and efficient use of public money
  • Enable leisure provision indirectly through planning decisions and by acting in an enabling capacity
  • Support for youth and community services and organizations (e.g. making school facilities available)
• Examples of government regulations

  • Rules governing radio, television and press coverage
  • Age requirements for watching certain films or drinking alcohol
  • Hygiene standards for restaurants
  • Safety standards for funfairs, rides, slides, sporting events, concerts and festivals
• Local authorities


  Provide facilities where there is a direct payment by the user, e.g. swimming pools, playing fields
• Leisure managers


  Essential to all facilities, to ensure effective use by the public and efficient use of public money
• Local authorities enable leisure provision indirectly

  Through planning decisions and by acting in an enabling capacity
• Ways local authorities enable leisure provision


  • Support for youth and community services and organizations
  • Making school facilities available for classes
  • Providing capital and annual grants to community associations and other social groups
  • Planning authorities assisting with availability of land and resources
  • Giving and withholding planning consent for recreational facilities
• Shared priorities between central and local government

  • Raising standards across schools
  • Improving quality of life for children, young people, families at risk and older people
  • Promoting healthier communities by targeting key local services - health and housing
  • Creating safer and stronger communities
  • Transforming the local environment
  • Meeting transport needs more effectively
  • Promoting the economic vitality of localities
• Government influence on sport & leisure provision

  • Direct provision
  • Laws and regulations
  • Funding support
  • Policies implemented through national and local authorities
• Rationale for government intervention in leisure

  • Beneficial individual and social effects of leisure, including health, moral behavior and social control
  • More recently focused on social benefits and costs, including health, economic importance, excellence, social inclusion and social control
• Leisure managers cannot escape responsibilities and constraints imposed by government
• Types of third sector organizations

  • Neighborhood groups
  • Youth groups
  • Women's groups for welfare
  • National organisations including for children's play, sports, arts, heritage, tourism and environment
  • Environmental organisations
  • Young people's church groups
  • Scouting and guiding
• Advantages of charitable status

  • Government body can be built on a widely representative basis
  • Management autonomy, empowerment, independence and control
  • Easier to establish partnerships
  • Financial and forward planning flexibility
  • Voluntary endeavor and community commitment
• Disadvantages of charitable status

  • Non-charitable activities not allowed
  • Raising capital resources is difficult
  • Meeting operational expenditure can be difficult
  • Constant fundraising often required
  • Staff over-commitment likely
  • Charity trustees' commitment can be excessive
  • Public misconception is a risk
• Importance of third sector organizations

  • Give people the chance to participate and the opportunity to become involved in all levels of organization and management
  • Provide the opportunity to serve
  • Linked particularly with the public sector (clubs, societies and associations)
  • Voluntary clubs offer individuals a group identity
  • Voluntary and public sectors play an important relationship at national and local levels
• Managers must be aware that the third sector holds many of the keys to individual self-fulfillment, one of the main goals of effective leisure management
• The third sector is extremely large and diversified
• Practical activity (Individual)


  1. Interview a couple of volunteers in a sport or leisure organization

  2. Find out: 1) Why they volunteer, 2) What benefits they get out of it, 3) How important it is for them, 4) Are your findings consistent with the literature

  3. Your findings should be no more than 2 pages