Sport Management and the Environment: New Challenges for Research and Practice Sylvia Trendafilova

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Sport Managementand the Environment New
Challenges forResearch and PracticeSylvia
Trendafilova
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• Two Vital Trends
• in the Sport Industry

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increasingenvironmentalfocus
Trend 1
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Trend 2

• increasing participation in outdoor recreational
  sports

Increased U.S. Participation in Outdoor
Recreational Sports (in thousands)
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Two Types of Environmental Initiatives

• To reduce the ecological footprint of sports
• Sports as means to raise environmental awareness

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Why Sport Environment

• The environment affects sport
• Air/water/noise pollution
• Indoor air quality
• Climate change - extreme weather patterns may
  make it difficult to engage in sport
• Habitat/biodiversity loss - loss of natural areas
  affects sport

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Why Sport Environment

• Sport affects the environment
• Development of fragile ecosystems for sport
  activities
• Noise and light pollution from sport
• Consumption of natural resources
• Emission of greenhouse gasses by consuming
  electricity and fuel
• Soil and water pollution from pesticide use
• Waste from construction, spectators, and/or
  participants
• Overuse
• Overwhelm local ecosystem and/or local processing
  systems
• Soil compaction
• Erosion
• Loss of biodiversity
• Decrease in vegetation density

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The Illustrative Case of Disc Golf

• PDGA (Professional Disc Golf Association)
• WFDF (World Flying Disc Federation)
• The World Games (under the patronage of the IOC)
• One of the fastest growing outdoor sport
  activities

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Disc Golf around the World
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Disc Golf in the USA
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Disc Golf
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Environmental Management Research (using disc
golf)

• Study 1
• Assessing the ecological impact due to the sport

• Study 2
• Identifying the problem behaviors associated with
  the degradation

• Study 3
• Exploring the subculture of disc golfers

• Study 4
• Design, implementation, and evaluation of an
  intervention program

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Disc Golf Courses
Pease Park
Zilker Park
Mary Moore Searight Park
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Study 1 - Method

• Vegetation density plot method
• Soil compaction soil compaction tester
• Soil erosion erosion pins

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Study 1 Results forsoil compaction and erosion

• Significant difference in soil compaction
  between areas around baskets and away from
  baskets
• t(10) 2.31, p 0.04
• t(10) 3.15, p 0.01
• t(10) 3.91, p 0.003
• Significant difference in soil erosion between
  areas around baskets and away from baskets
• t(14) 4.32, p 0.001
• t(8) 4.03, p 0.004
• t(8) 2.89, p 0.02

Close to baskets
Away from baskets
Close to baskets
Away from baskets
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Study 1 Results for vegetation density
Pease Park
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Study 1 Results for vegetation density
Zilker Park
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Study 1 Results for vegetation density
Mary Moore Searight Park
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Study 1 - Conclusions

• Disc golf is associated with
• decrease in vegetation cover
• increase in soil compaction
• soil erosion

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Study 2 - Method

• Field observations
• Weekly visits to the parks - 4 months
• Frequency of behavior occurrence - observed
  during 2 hour sessions

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Study 2 - Results

• Problem behaviors that might be modified
• Dragging bags on the ground
• Using trees as targets for practice
• Problem behaviors that are intrinsic to the game
• Trampling
• Hitting trees during the course of the game

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Study 2 - Conclusions

• There are player behaviors that exacerbate the
  environmental degradation associated with disc
  golf
• Some of those behaviors are modifiable, and would
  not affect the essence of the sport
• Others if modified would change the essence of
  the game and will be used as comparative
  behaviors during the intervention

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Study 3 - Method

• Ethnographic method
• Informal interviews and casual conversations
• Field observations

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Study 3 - Results

• Lack of knowledge and awareness about the
  negative effect disc golf has on the environment
• Sense of ownership of the park
• Family and fun oriented atmosphere
• Subcultural values

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Study 3 - Conclusions

• Disc golf is a social subworld
• Friendship and social interactions are very
  important
• The subculture provides a lever through which to
  address environmental problems

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Study 4 - Method

• Brochure distributed to all three parks
• Multiple base-line design

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Study 4 - Results
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Study 4 - Conclusions

• Desired behaviors did not require much effort to
  perform and were rather simple
• Increased knowledge and awareness eliminated the
  barrier for achieving desired outcome
• High value placed on disc golf and willingness to
  preserve the sport
• Intervention targeted at the antecedent
  conditions of behavior

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Implications forFuture Research

• Theoretical issues
• Collective action
• Subcultures as levers
• Other practical foci
• The design of strategic pre- and post-evaluation
  management plans
• Sport as means to increase environmental awareness

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Implications forFuture Research cont.

• Other sport contexts
• Events
• Facilities
• Other sports

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Implications forTeaching

• Enhance existing curricula
• Event and facility management
• Impact assessment (pre- and post-)
• Adoption of green technologies
• (Social) Marketing
• Influencing the behaviors of sport participants
  and fans
• Using sport as a venue/vehicle to drive home
  environmental messages
• Sport policy
• Specific course(s) on sport and the environment

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Sport Managementand the Environment New
Challenges forResearch and PracticeSylvia
Trendafilova