#GoodGovernanceSport Resources

Sport has evolved dramatically in the last 20 years. At the elite level there has been a transformation in the commercialisation of sport. Major sporting events attract millions of viewers, hundreds of thousands of spectators and generate significant revenues. Sponsorship and merchandising activity has also grown exponentially.

Media interest in sport has risen to new highs and the recent emergence of social media networks means sport is now subject to a greater and swifter level of scrutiny and public interest than ever before.

Elite sporting competition, lifestyle adjustments and other initiatives have helped to fuel interest in grassroots participation in sports in Europe. An increasing number of people want to be involved in sport at all levels and in different capacities. This has led to more interest and intervention from national governments in sporting matters and the activities of sports bodies including verification of whether sports bodies are fit for public funding.

Globalisation, increased cross border activity, the need to comply with international federations' regulations and operating within an uncertain legal framework have all challenged the sports movement in Europe. In particular, the need to comply with an evolving and increasingly complex body of national and EU laws has made the development and implementation of sports regulatory policy more challenging.

The integrity of sport has been subject to significant challenge over recent years, inter alia given the growth of sports betting. Match-fixing, corruption and other criminal activities have arisen in different sports in various territories across Europe and beyond. Such activities have highlighted the vulnerability of sport to match fixing and other corrupt practices. Sporting bodies are no longer able to deal with the threat and challenges to sporting integrity alone. The assistance of regulators, national governments and law enforcement agencies with their additional powers and investigative authority is needed by sports bodies to allow them to tackle the threat of match fixing and other corrupt activities, as well as appropriately structured relationships with betting operators on areas such as bet types.

In identifying good practice in the context of good governance for sports bodies it is important to be pragmatic, flexible and proportionate. Many different sports bodies have considered issues of good governance in their own unique context. However, this initial set of recommendations seeks to outline top level principles covering the whole sport movement (as opposed to only major governing bodies or event owners), address professional and amateur sport, embrace team sports and individual disciplines, assist large and small sports bodies and not deter volunteers from taking part in sport.

In the present section you can find different tools and resources, created in the framework of #GoodGovernanceSport #ErasmusPlus project, aiming to find the way of analysing, collecting and promoting the practices for proper visibility of the decisions taken, decision making stakeholders, transparency of public funding in sport organizations. #GoodGovernanceSport project team will be happy if the templates and tools are useful for your sport entity to empower Good governance in your activities.