Sports Entrepreneurship

This book introduces the structure, economic arguments, and business strategies for entrepreneurship in sport. Here, the entrepreneurial process is usually initiated by organizations, people or governments who are embedded in both economic and social contexts. The development of technologies that have enhanced the diffusion of information and the creation of new international markets has impacted sports entrepreneurship activities. The goal of this book is to introduce readers to emerging issues in sport entrepreneurship and management. The book focuses on the role of entrepreneurship in the sports context by examining how to leverage the opportunities that arise from networks and optimize resources by identifying where they can most effectively be put to use. As a unique discipline, sport entrepreneurship helps to identify the conditions under which and the processes in which upcoming business ventures need to be pursued. The book will be useful for sports organizations, athletes and government organizations promoting the use of entrepreneurship to generate competitive advantages on the global marketplace.

This book features international authors discussing the role of entrepreneurship and innovation in the sports context. It focuses on topics such as the role of entrepreneurial marketing in sport, how technological innovation has changed the way sport is played and viewed, the globalization of sport as a product and service, the new types of sports that have emerged, athlete entrepreneurs and their related business endeavors and how sport influences innovation in other industries. The main themes of the book include: 1) the development of sport entrepreneurship and innovation, 2) entrepreneurship and sport, 3) innovation in sport, 4) internationalization and entrepreneurial behavior in sport, 5) entrepreneurial sport marketing, 6) sport in entrepreneurial universities and 7) the future for sport entrepreneurship and innovation. This interdisciplinary book will appeal to entrepreneurship, innovation and sport management scholars, students and practitioners.

Sport Entrepreneurship: An Economic, Social and Sustainability Perspective is about innovation, competitiveness and futuristic thinking. This work focuses on how digital technology is driving transformations in the sport industry, enabling readers to understand the shift in sport towards integrating more entrepreneurial activity.

The business side of sports isn’t just the established terrain of NFL, NBA, and MLB teams and their billionaire owners. Entrepreneurs are launching dynamic new businesses that are transforming the broader sports landscape. What are the up-and-coming opportunities and high-growth areas for start-ups today? This book is for anyone who dreams of starting a sports business. Christopher Mumford explores the state of the game in data analytics, sports betting, eSports, youth sports, fitness, and the fan experience. He surveys the key players in each sector, identifying possibilities and constraints for new entrants. Interviews with figures such as the creator of a “Bloomberg platform for soccer,” a professional sports bettor, and the founder of a fantasy-sports-focused analytics company add vital insight. Mumford also shares the stories of his own sports start-ups and offers advice based on these experiences. Sports Entrepreneurship details practical step-by-step methods for turning an idea into an enterprise. Mumford guides readers through an actionable framework: map out interests and goals, recognize opportunities, get feedback from users, and accelerate growth. Written for a broad audience, from practitioners seeking to jump-start their next big idea to students in sports management and entrepreneurship, this book is an indispensable guide to new opportunities in the sports industry.

This book revisits the traditional general approach to sport policy by adopting an entrepreneurial perspective. The respective chapters, all written by recognized experts, link a fragmented collection of treatises on entrepreneurship, public policy and sport entrepreneurship to develop a coherent, unified perspective on policy-making. The book’s central argument is that, while in the past, sport policy focused more on governance and political elements, these aspects can also be embedded into a ‘policy entrepreneurship’ perspective. To date, most sport policy research has also tended to pursue an organizational behavior or political science approach. Breaking with that trend, the book incorporates the nascent sport entrepreneurship literature into this approach. The new strategies proposed here offer valuable resources for public policy planners and sports managers alike, two groups who need to work together to build better policy initiatives.

Sport and Entrepreneurship combines perspectives derived from business history and sports history, focusing on the important but relatively unexplored relationship of entrepreneurship and sport. This important volume offers clearer definitions of both sports products and sports entrepreneurship, gives due regard to social entrepreneurs, and assesses the continuing relevance of Hardy’s pioneering study from the 1980s. Hardy himself provides an introduction to the volume, and chapters by Wray Vamplew and Dilwyn Porter supply an overarching theoretical framework, offering new ways of identifying and describing sports-related entrepreneurial activity. Each chapter explores a particular case study, focusing on specific examples of entrepreneurship as it has been practised in a variety of sporting contexts from the nineteenth to the early twenty-first centuries, ranging from 19th century equestrianism, to 20th century ice hockey, and football in the 21st century and covering entrepreneurship in North America, Europe and the United Kingdom. Each, in its own way, adds depth and complexity to the discussion. Bridging the gap between sports history and business history, too often seen as separate spheres, Sport and Entrepreneurship will be of great interest to scholars of sport history, business and sport, business history, and entrepreneurship. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport.

This timely book takes both a practical and academic perspective of innovation in sport management, exploring the role of entrepreneurship in sport. With its interdisciplinary approach, it provides a holistic overview of the ways in which sport is both innovative and entrepreneurial.

This book features international authors discussing the role of entrepreneurship and innovation in the sports context. It focuses on topics such as the role of entrepreneurial marketing in sport, how technological innovation has changed the way sport is played and viewed, the globalization of sport as a product and service, the new types of sports that have emerged, athlete entrepreneurs and their related business endeavors and how sport influences innovation in other industries. The main themes of the book include: 1) the development of sport entrepreneurship and innovation, 2) entrepreneurship and sport, 3) innovation in sport, 4) internationalization and entrepreneurial behavior in sport, 5) entrepreneurial sport marketing, 6) sport in entrepreneurial universities and 7) the future for sport entrepreneurship and innovation. This interdisciplinary book will appeal to entrepreneurship, innovation and sport management scholars, students and practitioners.