ABSTRACT
The concept of governance in relation to sport has attracted increased attention in recent years from policy makers, researchers and industry stakeholders. This is both a product of the concern to develop appropriate standards of corporate behaviour among sport organisations and recognition that the state cannot be responsible for the delivery of universal forms of provision in areas of policy such as sport and other social domains. To date, these two issues have largely been treated separately within the mainstream media and by researchers. The purpose of this chapter is threefold. First, it provides an overview of the application of the concept of governance in the sport industry before briefly exploring the nuanced nature of governance as it applies in diverse sporting contexts. Second, it provides an analysis of the limitations of formal governance systems in these various sporting contexts focusing on macro-level issues such as regulation and enforcement challenges in federated networks, and micro-level issues such as regulating director behaviour and ensuring ethical standards are upheld in the governance of sport organisations. Third, and finally, the chapter reviews the relationship between sport policy and governance, in particular the increasing influence of the state via sport policy on the governance of sport and the implications this has for the independence of sport.
