Sport Governance and Regulation

Convenor: Mr Sean Hamil
Teachers: Mr Sean Hamil, Geoff Walters
Assessment: A two-hour examination (75%) and a coursework essay of a maximum 2500 words (25%). The deadline for the coursework is 16th March 2012 (Absolute Cut-Off deadline – 6th April 2012)

Aims

This course analyses the governance structures of sport organisations which have been established to enable them to carry out their core management and regulatory functions, making extensive use of case-studies to illustrate the analysis. Whilst the material in the Sport Economics module focuses on the external regulatory functions of sport governing bodies and leagues, notably as they were utilised to organise sport competitions, in the Sport Governance & Regulation module the focus is on examining the internal organizational structure of sport organisations. Critically, the module employs various theoretical perspectives relating to generic corporate governance theory, and more specifically theoretical material relating specifically to sport governance, to assess the extent to which the structure of various sport organisations is appropriate for the strategies adopted by those organisations;  and more specifically to assess to what extent these structures allow the sport organisations to meet the needs and expectations of their various stakeholders.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this course, students will:

• Be familiar with the governance challenges facing sport organisations as they seek to meet the needs of their various stakeholders, and be able to present some policy alternatives as to how they might organise themselves most effectively to meet these challenges.
• Be familiar with the different organisational structures in the sport industry, in particular those of the Olympic Movement, and of FIFA (the governing body of world football).
• Have a thorough understanding of the complexity of the challenges facing senior management and key stakeholders in sport organisations in terms of the corporate governance design of their organisations, and how these organisational designs e.g. board design, stakeholder management systems etc., allow sport organisations to operate to maximum effectiveness.

Background reading

• FGRC (2001-2006) The State of the Game: The Corporate Governance of Football Clubs, Birkbeck, Football Governance Research Centre Research Paper Series – available at http://www.sportbusinesscentre.com/resources
• Hoye, R and Cuskelly, G (2007) Sport Governance, London: Elsevier.
• Chappelet, J-L and Kübler-Mabott, B (2008). The International Olympic Committee and the Olympic System, Routledge.
• Tacon, R.; Trenberth, L. & Walters, G. (April 2010). Good Governance in Sport: A Survey of UK National Governing Bodies of Sport. Birkbeck Sport Business Centre – available at: http://www.sportbusinesscentre.com/images/NGBGovernanceReport