Zusammenfassung

Sports organizations and their members and events are often dependant on a mix of revenues including public and private subsidies. Therefore, it is in the clear interest of European tax payers, corporate companies and sports fans that sports organizations govern their affairs in an efficient, transparent, accountable and democratic manner. To achieve better governance in sport, many sports organizations need to revise their internal and external mechanisms to cope with the ongoing commercialisation, professionalisation and globalisation of sport. The procedures of policy making as well as precautionary administrative measures to avoid cases of corruption, mismanagement and fraud in the future are increasingly important. Last, but not least, public awareness and involvement in issues of governance in sport is of great importance to secure good governance of sports organizations. Although no one-size-fits-all reform solution exists, many underlying structural reasons for mismanagement and corruption are similar in different sports organizations. Therefore, the project partners wish to analyze the governance structures and standards in a number of international sports organizations and develop a set of guidelines that sports organizations can use as benchmarks and implement in respect of their own traditions, experiences and autonomy. The project will produce an increased knowledge of the actual standards of governance in a number of important international and European sports organizations as well as a set of guidelines for good governance in sport. These guidelines will not only have the potential to impact the daily practice of sports organizations, but also to improve the awareness level and debate about governance in sport among important stakeholder groups such as media, public authorities, fans, sponsors and athletes. Furthermore, the project will analyze how future sports governance debates and networking between stakeholders can be organized regularly in the EU across sports disciplines and professional boundaries as a complementary support to the functioning of sport's own independent bodies.