Purpose/Rationale Aquatic and leisure facilities (ALFs) play a central role in leisure time physical activity (LTPA) delivery for older adults, with aqua aerobics offering distinct physical, psychological, and social benefits. However, programme sustainability is under threat due to workforce shortages and structural barriers. While prior research has examined swim instructors and lifeguards, aqua aerobics as a discrete offering remains underexplored.Design/Methodology/Approach Focus groups with industry professionals (n = 43) across Australia explored aqua aerobics workforce and structural constraints within ALFs, guided by leisure-constraints theory and workforce sustainability literature.Findings Aqua aerobics faces significant workforce challenges, including high staff turnover, limited training pathways, and low organisational recognition. The programme is often marginalised within ALFs due to structural barriers and programme information (i.e. naming conventions) that constrain participation, workforce growth, and broader programme appeal.Practical Implications Simplifying instructor training, strengthening mentoring systems, and rebranding to modernise and broaden programme appeal could improve recruitment, retention, and overall programme attractiveness.Research Contribution The study extends understanding of workforce sustainability in community leisure settings by highlighting how workforce challenges and structural barriers intersect to constrain programme viability.Originality/Value Addressing these issues through targeted workforce and organisational strategies is vital to sustaining aqua aerobics and supporting older adults' ongoing engagement in LTPA.
This systematic review examines how digital technologies are transforming governance in physical and sport education, with particular attention to decision-making, stakeholder collaboration, and policy implementation. Addressing a critical research gap, the study develops an integrated conceptual framework to support the transition from traditional governance models to data-driven systems. A PRISMA-based search was conducted across Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, identifying 38 peer-reviewed studies published between 2022 and 2024. Studies were selected according to predefined inclusion criteria and assessed for methodological quality.The findings indicate that tools such as artificial intelligence, e-learning platforms, and data analytics enhance transparency, inclusivity, and evidence-based governance. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain, including digital literacy gaps, infrastructure disparities, and concerns over data security and privacy. By synthesizing emerging trends, the review offers targeted policy recommendations and practical strategies for building governance models that are resilient, adaptive, and context-sensitive.The study contributes original insights by bridging conceptual theory with applied practice, extending existing governance frameworks through the lenses of stakeholder and neo institutional theory. It highlights the potential of digitalization to create a governance paradigm that is inclusive, flexible, and ethically grounded.
Purpose/Rationale Norwegian youth football is caught in a tension between grassroots and elite football, and in this study, we ask how many transfers we find in Norwegian youth football, how these transfers are structured and how they come about.Design/Methodology/Approach Data of all transfers (N = 24,552) in Oslo for players aged 13-19 from 2009 to 2023. Prevalence is analyzed through frequencies/proportions. Structures are analyzed with network methods.Findings We find a high and increasing number of transfers. The number of transfers is higher in male than female football; the increase comes from male football, and transfers in female football remain stable. Male football is more centralized and clustered than female football. We also find increases in both centralization and clustering.Practical implications As such, our results suggest that youth football for boys in Norway is increasingly caught up in a complex of forces, requiring explicit values, strategies and policies to be handled.Research contribution Transfers are likely due to intricate patterns of micro, meso and macro factors: Individuals and clubs with varying motives, sport policies aiming for both inclusion and performance and trends supporting professionalization and commercialization.Originality/Value The first broad study of transfers based on high-quality quantitative data.
PurposeOlympic mascots are powerful symbols of identity, culture, and commercial appeal, yet their impact varies across different Games. This study explores the factors that make Winter Olympic mascots memorable by analyzing audience discussions.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines the factors contributing to the memorability of Winter Olympic mascots by analyzing discussions on Reddit and YouTube, significant platforms for public opinion and user-generated discourse.FindingsThe analysis identified five key dimensions shaping audience perceptions of Winter Olympic mascots: cultural local identity, emotional design, aesthetic clarity, nostalgic resonance, and character depth with storyworld potential.OriginalityThis study provides a novel framework for understanding mascot appeal by analyzing large-scale user-generated content on Reddit and YouTube, offering fresh insights into the dynamics of Winter Olympic mascots.
Sport plays an important role in society, contributing to social cohesion, economic activity, and public health. The relationship between physical activity and improved health outcomes is well established, particularly in preventing major non-communicable diseases. Public investment in sport, through infrastructure, sport organizations, and participation support, may influence population health by promoting physical activity. This study examines the relationship between sport ecosystem indicators and cause-specific mortality across Portuguese regions between 2015 and 2021. Sport participation and infrastructure capacity are captured using the number of registered athletes, number of sport clubs, and regional public sport investment. Health outcomes are measured using age-standardized mortality rates per 100,000 population for circulatory system diseases, diabetes mellitus, mental and behavioral disorders, endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases, and respiratory diseases. Using panel regression models with fixed effects and lagged sport indicators, results suggest that stronger sport ecosystems are associated with lower mortality rates across several disease groups, particularly circulatory and metabolic-related diseases. Associations are stronger when exploiting cross-district variation, suggesting that long-term structural differences in sport ecosystem development may be linked to population health outcomes. Although causal relationships cannot be established, results provide evidence consistent with an important role for sport policy within broader public health strategies.
Purpose: This study explores how capacity for change enables or constrains organizational change in nonprofit sport organizations and includes three research questions: (1) What capacity sources are nonprofit sport organizations using to engage in organizational change? (2) Which sources are perceived by these organizations as more important? (3) How do these sources enable or constrain organizational change? Methodology: A multiple case study was conducted with five Canadian national sport organizations. Data included 49 semi-structured interviews with staff and Board members and 151 documents, which were analyzed thematically. Findings: Results highlighted how five sources of capacity for change - financial, human, relationship and network, infrastructure and process, and planning, development, and research - enabled and constrained change processes in NSOs. Practical Implications: The findings offer a framework for assessing and leveraging capacity for change. Practical recommendations are offered for each source of capacity for change. Research Contributions: This study refines financial and human resource conceptualizations while advancing a more multidimensional view of capacity for change. Originality: This study contributes to emerging discussions about how nonprofit sport organizations can more effectively navigate complex, resource-constrained change environments.
This commentary examines how ticket pricing for the FIFA World Cup 2026 operates as a political economic mechanism that structures access to sport mega-events. Drawing on scholarship on commercialisation and the moral economy of sport, the paper analyses FIFA's adoption of dynamic pricing, tiered ticketing, and official resale markets within the North American context. While these mechanisms are justified through market-based logics of demand, scarcity, and revenue maximisation, the commentary argues that they actively shape who is able to attend the tournament. By situating ticket pricing within FIFA's broader revenue model and the commercial opportunities of WC26, the article demonstrates how access to the World Cup is increasingly determined by purchasing power rather than principles of inclusivity traditionally associated with the tournament. The integration of official resale markets further intensifies inequalities by institutionalising speculative pricing and extending commercialisation into the governance of participation itself. More broadly, the commentary highlights how ticket pricing has become a central site through which access, inequality, and commercial priorities are negotiated within contemporary sport mega-events.
Purpose/RationaleThe aim of the study was to identify how organizational managers model consumer experiences in esports, gaming, and virtual environments. This study aimed to model consumer experiences and propose relevant changes to experience concepts.Design/Methodology/ApproachInterviews with 15 individuals with significant business experience in the investigated environments were conducted in this qualitative study. Participants were asked to indicate how consumer experiences are modeled and how the virtual environment in esports and gaming is developed.FindingsThe analysis revealed five main themes of the concept of experience: Education, Entertainment, Escapism, Esthetic, and Environment. The Environment was identified as comprising fundamental subthemes essential to experiences in virtual environments and was considered an overarching context. In the context of esports, gaming, and virtual environments, consumers experienced flow and peak experiences.ContributionThis study contributes to the limited literature on experience in esports, gaming, and virtual environments, emphasizing the need to develop theoretical models that adapt to the evolving requirements.Originality/valueThe expansion of the traditional experience framework through the introduction of Environment captures the spatial, immersive, and interactive dimensions of virtual environments. Integrating qualitative insights, this study offers a novel theoretical foundation for modeling consumer experiences in esports, gaming, and virtual spaces.
Purpose/RationaleElite football academies are typically evaluated through compliance checklists, outcome metrics, and individual player ratings - instruments that do not assess the organisational conditions through which adaptive expertise is produced. This paper introduces the Adaptive Capacity Index (ACI), a composite structural diagnostic for academy governance.Design/Methodology/ApproachAdopting a theory-building design, the ACI operationalises five structurally derived pillars - Constraint Diversity Density, Temporal Plasticity, Cross-Domain Integration, Transfer Robustness Mechanisms, and Feedback-Learning Coherence - into a hybrid geometric-arithmetic aggregation model with weakest-link penalisation. Fifteen indicators were selected against three explicit criteria: theoretical relevance, documentary observability, and managerial actionability.FindingsThe ACI yields a transparent multi-dimensional score (ACI/100), a five-pillar structural profile, and explicit weak-link identification. Sensitivity analysis shows that the ACI's diagnostic conclusions are stable across plausible parameter variations.Practical ImplicationsThe ACI equips sport managers with a governance instrument to audit organisational architecture, identify developmental misalignment, and prioritise redesign in elite academy environments.Research ContributionThis paper contributes to sport management scholarship on football academy governance, organisational design, and composite diagnostic instrumentation.Originality/ValueTo our knowledge, the ACI is one of the first structural diagnostics simultaneously grounded in ecological theory, organisational systems thinking, and sport management scholarship.
Digital media transformation has significantly reshaped communication practices within international football, including the announcement of national team squads before major tournaments. Squad announcements previously functioned as routine administrative disclosures distributed through press conferences and official federation statements. Contemporary football organisations have transformed such announcements into cinematic and platform-oriented media events designed to maximise audience engagement, emotional interaction, and global visibility. Drawing upon examples from the 2026 FIFA World Cup preparations, this commentary examines how squad announcement videos operate as strategic tools for fan engagement, national branding, and commercial communication. Attention is given to platformised audience interaction, symbolic national representation, and the commercialisation of pre-tournament visibility within digital sport ecosystems. Findings suggest that squad announcements have become integrated communication assets embedded within contemporary sport media culture.
Purpose To examine how MLSE LaunchPad program participants perceive and differentiate the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) and MLSE LaunchPad brands, and how their experiences shape connections with MLSE and the professional sport franchises it also owns. Design This exploratory, qualitative study employed a critical social science perspective. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with MLSE LaunchPad program participants (n = 34). Findings Participants perceived MLSE LaunchPad as a distinct, autonomous entity, with experiences shaped by its inclusive environment rather than MLSE affiliation. MLSE was viewed primarily as a resource provider, and franchise fandom operated independently, highlighting limited brand association transfer within the portfolio. Practical implications Professional sport organizations should not rely on brand affiliation alone to drive engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Instead, they should prioritize sub-brand autonomy, inclusive environments, and participant-centered programming, recognizing that meaningful impact and loyalty are built through lived experiences rather than corporate brand visibility. Research contribution This study advances sport management scholarship by integrating brand architecture into CSR and SFD contexts, demonstrating that sub-brands can develop independent identities and that brand equity transfer is not guaranteed, thereby challenging assumptions of unidirectional influence from corporate sport brands to community initiatives.
Purpose/Rationale: This paper presents a novel conceptual framework to better understand the multifaceted sustainability demands facing National Sport Organisations (NSOs). It addresses a gap in existing literature by building on the traditional triple bottom line (TBL) - consisting of Profit (which we modify to Propensity), People, and Planet - and then accounting for the unique sport-specific logics of Participation and Performance. This is what we term the '5Ps'. These often conflicting but sometimes synergistic sustainability logics interact and shape decision-making.Design/Methodology/Approach: Drawing on institutional logics and complexity theory, we develop a theoretically informed novel conceptual framework consisting of five conceptually distinct sustainability logics. This theoretical approach allows for a holistic analysis of how these interrelated sustainability logics - as context-bound instantiations of broader sustainability demands - operate simultaneously to shape organisational behaviour.Findings: The framework reveals the complexity of the sustainability demands both facing and operating within NSOs, reflecting, in part, their position within wider national and international sporting ecosystem. We outline how these five sustainability demands can act as intertwined logics, influencing organisational strategy and decision-making.Practical Implications: Our findings offer a more holistic understanding for managers and policymakers within NSOs, helping them recognise and strategically manage the competing sustainability demands they face. The framework provides a tool for developing more effective and integrated sustainability strategies that account for complex NSO environments specifically, and not-for-profit/public value sports organisations, more broadly.Research Contribution: This paper contributes to the sport sustainability literature by moving beyond siloed or subset views of the sustainability demands facing NSOs by providing a comprehensive, integrated framework that holistically accounts for the simultaneous and dynamic nature of NSO viability.Originality/Value: This paper advances literature by providing a novel synthesis of sport sustainability, primarily focusing on NSO contexts. It offers a unique lens for examining the dynamic nature of sustainability demands in sport and provides a set of empirically testable propositions to guide future research and practice.
PurposeThis study was developed to explore inclusive leadership influence on psychological safety and its relationships among innovative work behaviors and the well-being of sport employees.MethodologyData was collected from 224 managerial sport employees in the United States and analyzed using structural equation modeling.ResultsThe results indicated that inclusive leadership positively influenced psychological safety, which in turned enhanced both innovative work behaviors and well-being. In addition, we found that innovative work behaviors were positively related to well-being.ImplicationsThe authors provided additional insights to sport managers on how they play a critical role in developing a psychologically safe environment for their employees.Research contributionThe authors establish that by enhancing inclusive leadership, psychological safety is a valuable concept for sport employees, simultaneously promoting well-being and innovation.
Purpose: A running boom has emerged in recent years as more individuals recognize the health and well-being benefits of running. However, the mechanisms underlying the relationship between leisure-time running and subjective well-being (SWB) remain unclear. This study examines how running behaviors are associated with life satisfaction through distinct psychological mechanisms. Methodology: Data were collected from participants in a running event (N = 404). Structural equation modeling with bootstrapping was employed to test the mediating role of multiple psychological mechanisms. Findings: Minutes per week spent running had significant indirect effects on life satisfaction through positive emotion, relationships, and accomplishment. Running club membership also had a significant indirect effect on life satisfaction through positive emotion and relationships. Practical implications: The findings help to better understand the psychological underpinnings of the contemporary running boom and suggest that running programs, applications, and events should emphasize pleasurable experiences, social connections, and goal achievement to enhance participants' life satisfaction. Research contribution: This study advances leisure and well-being research by identifying the relative importance of distinct psychological mechanisms linking leisure-time running and life satisfaction. Originality: This study integrated context-specific PERMA and leisure involvement in a single analytical model.
Purpose/RationaleEnsuring fan security (e.g. fear of terrorism, hooliganism) and related costs are an important issue at major sport events. This study examines the association between fans' safety perceptions and their wellbeing and intention to revisit. Drawing from the total economic value framework, it offers monetary (actual use and optional) values for perceived safety using the wellbeing valuation approach.Design/Methodology/ApproachIn the context of the UEFA EURO 2024, data from ticket holders living in Germany (n = 6,789) and abroad (n = 6,598) were collected using an online survey.FindingsRegression results show that safety perceptions in Germany, in the Host City, and at the event have a significant positive association with fans' wellbeing and their intention to revisit the Host City and Germany. Actual use values are lower than optional values.Practical ImplicationsEvent stakeholders need to recognize the high economic values of safety perceptions, reflecting fundamental human needs and yielding implications for economic and social sustainability. Policy makers can use these estimates to justify security costs.Research ContributionThe wellbeing valuation approach was applied to safety perceptions, hence intangibles beyond sport participation and volunteering.Originality/ValueThis study is the first to offer monetary values for fans' safety perceptions.
