P23 Public and Societal Value of and through Sport

Panel chairs

Corresponding chair and review group chair

• Gianluca ANTONUCCI, DEA, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy, gianluca.antonucci@unich.it

Chair 

• Hiroko KUDO, Faculty of Law, Chuo University, Japan

Co-Chairs

• Co-Chair: Elisabetta TRINCHERO, SDA, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy
• Co-Chair: Gabriele PALOZZI, Dept. Management & Law, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy
• Co-Chair: Joyce LIDDLE, Centre for Policy and Practice, University of Durham & Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, UK

Description of the topic

According to the EU White Paper on Sport (COM, 2007), public authorities, also working together with private organisations, should contribute to promoting sport activities for all. Public sector bodies have always had a direct and/or indirect involvement in the provision of sport, having the more responsibility in developing grassroot sport rather than professional one. Public bodies definitively ought to be proactive in sustaining local communities by encouraging engagement through sport activities, thus related in favouring physical activities for health, and social interactions for inclusion and wellbeing.

This is possible since the direct involvement of public bodies in promoting active recreation through sport, can actively contribute to the improvement of citizen’s health (including those with disabilities); to the creation of safer and stronger communities; and also in improving youngsters’ education. Sport can be seen, indeed, as a booster for health, social inclusion, social connectedness and community well-being. It can also be useful a policy in addressing social and economic inequalities within different localities.

The indirect involvement of public bodies in sport, sees them engaged in assuring proper implementation of both professional and amateur sport events, dealing with several responsibilities, including safety, security for traffic management, and collaboration on the construction of institutional facilities for events. These deal also with aspects related to social, economic, and environmental sustainability, being all these factors linked to the general theme of the legacy of the sport events.

Moreover, grassroot sport could be considered as a lever for public management to support citizens’ relationships and their quality of life. Public bodies ought to be proactive in sustaining local community social growth, by encouraging sporting activities with the twofold aims of fostering physical wellness and facilitating social diversities and interactions.

Last but not least, the COVID19 pandemic showed that sport can be seen also as a strategic factor of resilience to help in resisting the virus, and to strengthen both physical and psychological human being energies.

Sport policy delivered by the public sector would include several aspects related to the core topics of IRSPM 2025, from promoting social integration to developing national identity. According to the European Commission (2006), sport is the largest voluntary non-governmental organisational activity in Europe. These aspects are strictly related with civic engagement and social capital. Moreover, apart from the well known aspects regarding inclusion (COM,2007) sport activities are also considered for their impact both on people health and mitigation of climate change because of its capacity of promoting sustainable lifestyle. In this respect, sport can be a critical element in satisfying some of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

All the above considered, and in line with the Conference theme, this panel seeks both theoretical and empirical contributions that tackle the issue of the public management of sport, and grassroot sport in particular as a leverage for civic engagement, and also as a factor of wellbeing and sustainable lifestyle.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the followings:

• The different aspects concerning the governance of sport.
• Social and/or economic outcomes of public sector involvement in sport
• ESG issues in the realisation of mega sport events
• Public and Private partnership in infrastructural investment on Sport facilities for grassroots and professional sports
• Public and Private partnership in the realisation of mega Sport Events
• How can sport add “public and social value”?
• How sport can be linked to other policy fields to create more sustainable communities and community well-being/healthy living.
• Sport and the resolution of social and community issues and equality and inclusion through sport.
• Active ageing through the support of sport and physical activities.
• Sport initiatives as support of urban regeneration projects
• Sport as lever for reducing gender gap
• Sport as a critical element in satisfying some of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• The capacity of sport to address social and economic inequalities within different localities