Sport Governance: Challenges, Developments, and Future Pathways

The field of sport governance has been increasingly scrutinized due to a slew of doping incidents, corruption scandals, and match-fixing events, particularly involving prestigious organizations like the Olympics and FIFA. These issues, combined with the state's increased involvement in sport and attempts to restructure its operations through New Public Management (NPM), have necessitated a focus on governance that prioritizes equality, integrity, transparency, and sustainability. Efforts to tackle these challenges have seen various entities, including sports organizations, the corporate sector, and academia, converge to explore political, legal, and policy-based solutions. Despite substantial research from diverse disciplines, substantial gaps remain, due in part to a dominance of international perspectives focusing on the Global North and an emphasis on sport development rather than sport for development.

This Research Topic aims to explore the effectiveness of governance measures within sports, considering questions like the persistence or evolution of governance issues, and the potential transition to a post-governance era in sport. By fostering interdisciplinary dialogue, the objective is to scrutinize the impact of governance reforms and assess whether new challenges have emerged, if old problems persist in new forms, and if sustainable governance models are achievable.

To gather further insights in the broad and complex landscape of sport governance, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
• State, Public Policy, and the Shifting Role of Government in Sport Governance
• Global Inequalities in Sport Governance
• Equity, Inclusion, and Representation
• Environmental Governance and Sustainability in Sport
• Governance Across Levels: Macro, Meso, and Micro
• Evidence-Based Governance: Monitoring, Evaluation, and Policy Making
• Sport for Development
• Professional Sports
• Civil Society, Corporate Influence, and the Role of NGOs
• College/University Sports
• Advocacy
• The Future of Governance in Sport in an Era of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

We invite submissions from a variety of disciplinary, theoretical, and methodological approaches that address these pertinent questions in sport governance.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Registered Report
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: sport governance, sport politics, equality in sport, sports policy

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.