Chapter 1 The History of Sport Management

1. Chapter 1
The History of Sport
Management

2. Introduction
Roots of Sport Management Structures
• Management structures include clubs,
leagues, professional tournaments
• Primary theme of chapter
– Evolution resulting from broad social changes
and/or to address specific issues
• Secondary themes:
– Honest play and inclusion

3. The Club System
• England
– Birthplace of modern sport and sport
management
• 18th century
– Development of sport clubs with limited
membership
• 19th century
– Continued club evolution with standardizing of
rules, settling disputes, and organizing
schedules

4. Thoroughbred Racing
• Races drew broad and diverse audience
– No admission charged
• Local club system initially
– Racing existed for entertainment only, not
financial gain
• 1830s
– Rail system allowed horses to compete
nationally
• Desire of owners to breed and train fast horses and
the increasing complexity of gambling lead to
more complex club system

5. The Jockey Club
• Settled disputes, established rules, determined
eligibility, designated officials, regulated breeding,
and punished unscrupulous participants
• Organized, sponsored, and promoted local events
• Met need for a strong national governing body to
establish rules, standards, and a mechanism for
resolving disputes
• Served as model for wider sport management
practices in England

6. The Modern Olympic Games
• International club event, with little resemblance to
ancient Olympic Games
• First Modern Olympics in 1896, but the revival can be
traced back to at least 1850 with club-based Olympic
festivals in England
• Founder Pierre de Coubertin, inspired by English
revivals and Victorian notions of character building
and peace movements through sport, introduced
concept of amateur Olympic Games every 4 years

7. Present-Day Club Structure
• Commitment to serve broad membership and
manage elite sport enterprise
• Clubs organize youth teams and academies, adult
recreational leagues, and social events for members
• Large built-in memberships and loyal fan bases
• Characterized by nonprofit status and exclusive
membership
– Augusta and male-only membership
• Change from European club system to U.S. league
system

8. American Structures
• European club system did not suit the United States
– Lack of aristocratic tradition and prohibition
against gambling
• Evolution of harness racing, sport of the common
person
• Better spectator sport
– Sprint vs. 4-mile race; horses could compete
daily, large field of competitors
• Managed by track owners and race promoters
– Willing to create spectator interest for sport
• Issues of race fixing, management lacking
credibility

9. Leagues
• Baseball was first to adopt league system
• Cincinnati Red Stockings: First pro team
• Some teams in the league paid and some did not—
created controversy
• 1871: Creation of National Association of Professional
Baseball Players
• Importance of “breakeven” financial interests of
individual clubs
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10. William Hulbert
• Czar of baseball
• 1876: Took over management of National League
of Professional Baseball Players
• Believed stability achieved only if teams were run
like businesses
• Teams should compete against each other and not
collude
– Understood that without strict rules forcing
honest competition, collusion would occur

11. William Hulbert (cont.)
Also believed:
• Owners must take some financial risk:
– Abandoning seasons early to prevent losses in
short term eroded long-term faith of public
• Owners must field competitive teams to be
profitable.
• Integrity of baseball was suspect as long as the
players’ honesty was questionable:
– Gambling prohibited and ticket prices raised

12. Success of League
• Excitement of pennant race
• Favorable media attention
• Appealed to fans’ loyalty and pride in their
cities
• Early form of revenue sharing
• Rules that distributed talent

13. Leagues Today
• Successful contemporary commercial sport
leagues depend on consolidated league play with
strong centralized control and regulation
• Audience has changed
– Public’s perception of locus of honest effort
resides more with the players than with
ownership structure
• Single-entity structures: MLS, MLL, AFL

14. Professional Sport Tournaments
Professional Golf
• Early golf professionals were
instructors and caddies.
• Professional leagues failed to capture
public interest or attract golf
professionals.
• Attempts to generate gate revenues at
tournaments failed.
• Stability of tournaments was achieved
when prize money was put up by
companies and corporate sponsors.
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15. Corcoran’s Tournaments
• Fred Corcoran: Architect of golf tournament
• Golf tournament was medium through which
celebrity, politician, manufacturer, charity,
town, or product gained exposure
• Used athletes and golf tournaments to sell
advertising space to the public
• Bing Crosby and Bob Hope created charity
golf tournaments in pro-am format for WWII
fund-raising

16. Corcoran’s Tournaments Continue
After War Ends
• Good business = Tax deductions
• Charities encourage volunteers and good publicity
for tournaments
• Golf equipment manufacturers paid Corcoran to
create golfer association and arrange tournaments
using prize money as player payments to reduce cost
of hiring player representatives
• 1950s press changes policy and begins naming
tournament sponsor not location = free publicity

17. Tournaments Today
• Golf tournaments have evolved into corporate
celebrations of golf and products
• PGA Tour viewed as private group
– Set rules of eligibility
• Associations not as exclusive as private clubs
(Casey Martin)
• Trend moving away from nonprofit private
associations and toward marketing agencies and/or
broadcast media

18. Importance of Women
• Heraea Games:
– The Sixteen Women
• Intercollegiate Sport:
– Christine Grant and Judy Sweet
• National Intramural-Recreation Sports
Association (NIRSA):
– Anette Akins, Mary Daniels, Juliette Moore

19. Importance of Women in Sport
Management
• Sport management industry:
– Effa Manley of Newark Eagles (Negro League)
– Billie Jean King (WTT, WSF)
– Lesa France Kennedy (NASCAR)
– Stephanie Tolleson (IMG)
– Dawn Hudson (PepsiCo)

20. Academic Field
• Continuing growth of sport industry and its
importance to numerous sponsors and institutions
created demand for the systematic study of sport
management practices.
– 1957: Walter O’Malley
– 1966: James Mason; first master’s program at
Ohio
– 1971: University of Massachusetts

21. Academic Field (cont.)
• Current status
– More than 210 programs nationwide
– North American Society for Sport Management
(NASSM)
– Program evaluation
– Globalization
• Sport management degree programs
throughout Europe
• SMAANZ
• EASM