Dear Colleagues,

Sport is one of the most popular social activities in the world. It is also one of the most growing industries from an economic standpoint, with a +7% annual growth over the last 5 years (source: PwC, 2019). The sport sector is at the crossroads of economic, political, and social issues. For this reason, sport organizations have to consider sustainability a major concern. The year 2020 has particularly brought this question to light: postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games because of the pandemic, debates on stadium cooling at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, withdrawal of the sponsorship contract with Huawei by the French football player Antoine Griezmann, influence of the Black Lives Mater movement in sport, etc. What stands out from these examples is that, due to their high level of media exposure and their importance in many people’s everyday life, sport organizations have both a clear interest and a compelling duty to engage in sustainable initiatives (Trail and McCullough, 2019). This is why scholars have intensified their focus on sport-related sustainability issues over the last few years, notably within two main areas: (mega)-sporting events and professional sports.

First, the legacy of major sporting events has become a major issue (see Thomson, Cuskelly, Toohey, Kennelly, Burton, and Fredline, 2019). For instance, several authors aim to identify the social impact of such events (civic pride, sense of belonging, host-city image), as well as the influence on sport participation (hosting mega-events could positively influence sport participation and provide an answer to overweight, obesity, diabetes, or heart diseases). Others publications have assessed the environmental impact of these events (Olympic Games are known to emit 3.4 million tons of CO2, the Football World Cup emits 2.75 milion tons of CO2, etc.). Some others have also discussed the strategies of event managers to limit the negative impact, for instance, of encouraging public transportations, or considering sport facilities that can be dismantled after the event.

Professional sport clubs or franchises have followed a similar approach for the last 10 years (Trendafilova, Babiak, and Heinze, 2013). Because they gather, every week, thousands of fans in stadiums, because they travel thousands of kilometers every seasons, because they would like not to be perceived as sport organizations without any positive influence on people’s or fans’ everyday lives, they identify strategies to develop their organization in a sustainable manner.

This Special Issue focuses on sustainability in sport. Its general aim is to provide an up-to-date analysis in this field. Submissions should explicitly speak to one or more of the following themes:

• Eco-conception and management of sport facilities;
• Eco-conception of sporting goods;
• Legacy of sporting events (social, environmental);
• Sustainable volunteer management;
• Sustainable sponsorship;
• Cause-related marketing;
• Engagement and greenwashing perception;
• Engagement of governing bodies and sport federations;
• Sustainable sport leisure and tourism.

References

Thomson, A., Cuskelly, G., Toohey, K., Kennelly, M., Burton, P., & Fredline, L. (2019). Sport event legacy: A systematic quantitative review of literature. Sport management review, 22(3), 295-321.

Trail, G. T., & McCullough, B. P. (2020). Marketing sustainability through sport: testing the sport sustainability campaign evaluation model. European Sport Management Quarterly, 20(2), 109-129.

Trendafilova, S., Babiak, K., & Heinze, K. (2013). Corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability: Why professional sport is greening the playing field. Sport Management Review, 16(3), 298-313.

Dr. Christopher Hautbois
Prof. Dr. Michel Desbordes
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• sustainability
• event
• professional sport
• leisure sport
• sporting goods
• sport facilities
• sport federations