The limits of polycentric governing regimes: Preventing athlete abuse in the United States

The egregious, global problem of athlete abuse, particularly the physical and mental manipulation and exploitation of young athletes, continues unabated. Within the United States, high profile media cases such as the USA Gymnastics scandal led to the passing of specific legislation which restructured and empowered the U.S. Centre for SafeSport to end athlete abuse. Despite these developments, significant challenges remain, with many stakeholders questioning SafeSport's ability to keep athletes safe. We theorize recent developments through a polycentric governance lens, demonstrating how ongoing events can be explained by poorly conceived structural arrangements and inadequate processes that have led to ineffective co-ordination across the regime. Findings present the challenges with the analysis examining causes and the implications for the future of SafeSport.