Sport social responsibility

This chapter sets out to describe the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its application to the business of sport. Increasingly, sports teams and franchises operate as a business, with the inherent responsibilities as a business to stakeholders, investors, sponsors and the community at large. Therefore, there is now, more than ever before, increasing expectations that sport teams and franchises assume greater responsibility for their operation and the impact of their operations on their community, their fans and the physical space in which they operate. The concept of Sport Social Responsibility (SSR) derives from an increasing awareness that the business of sport does not operate within a vacuum where only the team, the spectators and the fan base are affected by the operation of the sport. Environmental concerns about the operation of sport, for example, are indicative of wider social concerns about the impact of business on the environment at large. This chapter discusses particular issues in relation to SSR and through two case studies looks at how sport managers can use public relations and communications practices to deal with these issues and the impact this can have on the operation of the sport as a business.