Building inclusive sport systems: Governance, policy, and intersectional perspectives

The study of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in sport has gained increasing attention as athletics and sport organizations become pivotal arenas for negotiating questions of identity, access, and representation. Across levels of governance—from local clubs to international federations—sport continues to reflect and reproduce societal inequalities shaped by gender, race, sexuality, disability, and class. Recent state and national efforts to restrict transgender participation, ongoing disparities in leadership representation, and debates over inclusive organizational practices underscore the urgent need for empirical and theoretical inquiry. Scholarship from sport sociology, organizational studies, and gender research highlights both progress and persistent gaps in understanding how structural arrangements and cultural norms intersect to shape participation and power in sport. Yet, despite growing policy attention, there remains limited knowledge about how inclusive governance frameworks can be effectively implemented and sustained — and much of the existing literature remains descriptive rather than grounded in theory. This Research Topic therefore places particular emphasis on contributions that engage explicitly with theoretical or conceptual frameworks (e.g., institutional theory, critical race theory, intersectionality, feminist organizational theory, governance and policy frameworks), rather than atheoretical or purely descriptive accounts.

This Research Topic aims to build an interdisciplinary conversation around how sports organizations conceptualize, implement, and evaluate DEI principles, grounded in theory-driven analysis. It seeks to bring together scholars examining the relationships between governance structures, policy environments, and social identities to identify, through theoretically informed research, the mechanisms that foster or hinder equity. Central goals include clarifying how sports institutions navigate political and cultural pressures, exploring the effects of inclusion policies on athletes and administrators, and generating evidence-based insights that can guide more equitable practice and policymaking. By integrating multiple disciplinary perspectives and theoretical lenses, the collection aspires to advance theory while producing actionable knowledge for sport leaders and policymakers facing complex issues of diversity and inclusion.
This Research Topic focuses on the structural, political, and intersectional dimensions of inclusion in sport organizations. We particularly encourage submissions that are explicitly grounded in or that develop theoretical frameworks, rather than atheoretical descriptive studies. To gather further insights across levels of sport governance and contexts, we welcome contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

o Policies and governance mechanisms supporting or restricting inclusion
o Structural barriers and enablers of equity in sport leadership and administration
o Intersectional approaches to identity, access, and representation in sport
o Political and legal influences shaping inclusion debates and policy outcomes
o Organizational responses to evolving DEI mandates and social pressures
o Cross-national and comparative analyses of inclusive sport systems
o Methods and metrics for assessing diversity and inclusion outcomes
o Voices and lived experiences of marginalized groups in sport participation and management
o Theoretical and conceptual advances in understanding governance, equity, and inclusion in sport

Appendix: We welcome original research articles, reviews, policy analyses, and perspective pieces, with a preference for submissions that are clearly grounded in a theoretical or conceptual framework.