The concept of sport in social sciences is defined in many different ways. However, aspects such as health care, improvement of physical fitness and performance, concern for one’s physique, well-being, as well as the desire for competition and fun are often emphasized. Sport also promotes very deep values such as perseverance, cooperation, friendship, loyalty, and is associated with the ethos of honor and adherence to fair play rules. It therefore plays a huge role in the educational aspect. Today’s sport, however, is not just about classic values and innocent fun. It is a social phenomenon that is subject to constant changes resulting from the development of civilization and social, cultural, technological, and economic changes. It is increasingly linked to business and is subject to processes of professionalization and commercialization. The rivalry of athletes enjoys the interest of many people, which causes the involvement of media, sponsors, and many other entities in this field. According to a report by the ARC Rynek i Opinia research institute in 2005, over 40% of Poles are interested in sports (Figure 1). A similar study, conducted by Media-Sportl on a group of Poles under 50 years of age, shows that as many as 73% declare such an interest, of which 46% in a constant and decisive manner.
Studies on this topic conducted in other parts of the world yield comparable results. The demand for entertainment, and consequently for all products associated with it, is enormous. People still, and perhaps even more so, crave “bread and circuses”. It is therefore no wonder that the sports market is developing very dynamically, especially over the last dozen or so years. Contributing to this state of affairs are: an increase in the number of viewers watching sports events, growing media interest, increasingly higher value of turnover and profits generated in this market, the development of sports sponsorship, the globalization of sport, and concern for health and physique. As predicted by the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, the value of turnover in the global sports market (defined as the value of sales of television rights, tickets, club products, and sponsorship) will increase by 37% between 2008 and 2012, to 141 billion USD. This will mean an average annual growth of 6.5%. The greatest dynamics are expected in the European market, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. As for the size of the market, the United States will remain number one with a turnover of 69.1 billion USD, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa will account for 46.9 billion USD, while in Asia, Latin America, and Canada, 19.4 billion USD, 3.9 billion USD, and 1.3 billion USD are expected, respectively. Also interesting are studies on employment in this sector. Entities operating in the sports market of the United States employed 4.5 million people at the end of the nineties, and in Great Britain – 400,000 people. The Australian sports market accounts for 217,000 employees in over 11,000 business entities, which together generated about 1.2% of GDP. Of course, the presented data are highly estimated, nevertheless, they show the vastness of transactions concluded and prove the degree of commercialization and the scale of the sports market in the world.
In addition to commercialization, globalization in this area is also a very significant phenomenon. Sports organizations operate in international markets, clubs are looking for both athletes and new sales markets in various corners of the globe, and are trying to improve the efficiency of their operations. The involvement of transnational corporations in this field of social life is also growing. Many international investors place their capital in sports organizations, some of them are also listed on stock exchanges, and entities from different parts of the world become their shareholders. Global sports events are also becoming increasingly important.
The article comes from the “Logistyka” magazine 3/2009.