Sport Management
Our Research
In recent decades, sport as a social and cultural phenomenon has undergone major changes. International elite sport has continued its expansion as a global entertainment phenomenon. Increasing commercialisation, professionalisation, digitalisation and sportification have resulted in a multi-billion industry and an international labour market. In the wake of these changes, knowledge requirements have increased, not least in economics, law and the art of managing and organising sports activities.
At the national level, the picture is more complex. Large parts of Swedish sport are still organised as a classic popular movement based on voluntary commitment and democratic principles. However, the conditions vary greatly for the national federations and local associations that are part of the sports movement. Here, commercialised federations and elite clubs in popular team sports such as football, ice hockey and floorball coexist with smaller sports whose activities are almost exclusively financed through voluntary efforts and public subsidies.
Our research perspective
The Sport Management research group has been formed to generate research-based knowledge and new perspectives on the conditions, organisation and management of sport in an increasingly changing world. We are interested in sport management in a broad sense: from analyses of coaching philosophies in children's and youth sport to studies of the conditions and circumstances of elite sport at the highest international level. We investigate major overarching processes of change, such as the increasing globalisation, commercialisation and professionalisation of sport, but also the everyday conditions for small, non-profit sports clubs at the local level. We study sports policy, spatial issues, ethics and values, and the positive effects of sport on society in terms of public health, social integration and meaningful leisure activities – but we are also interested in its challenges in terms of exclusion, environmental impact, match fixing, sportswashing, doping and criminal infiltration.
Sport Management is about the art of managing and leading sporting activities in a changing world. It is about being able to make strategic and considered decisions based on knowledge of the role of sport in society, its strengths and opportunities, as well as its challenges. It is about understanding the diversity and complexity of sport. Our research group contributes such knowledge and perspectives.
