The article “The Special Features of Sport: A Critical Revisit” was written by Smith and Stewart (2010). According to the authors, sports are unique institutions due to their resemblance to business and administrative practices and processes. Strategy and human resources are two practices that describe the exclusive features of sports management. Similarly, features of sports such as its focus on consumer behaviour, strategies used by sports managers, human resource management, regulatory regimes, human culture, performance management, improving the links between sports and government, organizational structure, and improving organizational culture all contribute to its uniqueness. The authors have also suggested that other than the managerial process, sports are also culturally and commercially unique.
Smith and Stewart (1999) have identified the four interrelated dimensions of sports related to management, as sports is a heterogeneous and transitory experience; it has variable quality, a fixed-supply schedule, and gives importance to winning over making a profit. All these features add to the uniqueness of this institution.
One of its features includes the continuous tension between winning and profit-making. Fans of sports have a strong passion for the sportsmen and sports itself. This loyalty of fans puts pressure on the participants that they have to win and continue their tradition. At the same time, players and stakeholders also focus on profit-making. These two poles create tension between tradition and performance, which is an exclusive feature of sports. Other administrative principles and practices of sports include its concern with enhancing its market share, reinforcing and supporting the brand, and maximizing profits.
Another important and distinctive feature of sports is the transformation of the sports field into a workplace. The focus of sports management has been the shift from success in the field to revenue generation and profit making. However, the most significant administrative practice in sports organizations is its idiosyncratic features. Sports and effective administrative processes also share a common platform for branding, product innovation, market expansion, and value creation. Furthermore, strategies that will focus more on beating opponents and sharing revenues are also effective ways to foster this institution. The sports managers are now focusing more on the players’ salaries, increasing payroll, and considering players as assets; although this might have affected its actual beauty, it has still made it unique from its previous form.
The authors concluded that although social and economic development transformed this institution into complex structures that generate millions of dollars in revenue, it has now been converted to a more diverse system of structures. It has now become a business, and not recognizing it as a business will badly influence it; also, it is advisable to use organizational principles and procedures to strengthen it as an organization.
References
Smith, A. and Stewart, B. 2010. The special features of sport: A critical revisit. Sports Management Review, 13, pp. 1-13.
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