A social perspective of sports-based entrepreneurship

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314 Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 12, No. 3, 2011

Copyright 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

A social perspective of sports-basedentrepreneurship

Vanessa Ratten

Palumbo Donahue School of Business

Duquesne University,

464 Rockwell Hall, 600 Forbes Avenue,

Pittsburgh, PA 15282, USA

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: In this paper I develop the concept of sport-based entrepreneurship

and argue that it provides a potential social orientated strategy for thedevelopment of sports-related businesses. I maintain that this emerging form ofentrepreneurship is usually inherent in the management of sports, whichtransforms sport-based organisations into an entrepreneur and enterprise. Thispaper draws on interdisciplinary approaches from the entrepreneurship andsport management literature to discuss the social entrepreneurship inherentwithin sports-based organisations. The sport sector provides an exploration ofthe contextual boundaries of social entrepreneurship and provides a usefuldiscussion on the innovation, risk taking and proactive activity. Theimplications for sport organisations involved in social entrepreneurship arestated and the importance of governments around the world to promote socialentrepreneurship in sport are highlighted. In addition, suggestions for futureresearch are stated that highlight the role of sport-based entrepreneurship theoryfor examining social change.

Keywords: sport entrepreneurship; sport-based entrepreneurship; innovation;social entrepreneurship; small business.

Referenceto this paper should be made as follows: Ratten, V. (2011) A socialperspective of sports-based entrepreneurship, Int. J. Entrepreneurship andSmall Business, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp.314326.

Biographical notes: Vanessa Ratten is an Assistant Professor in StrategicManagement and Entrepreneurship at Duquesne University, United States. HerPhD (University of Queensland) examined alliances in the technology industry.Her research interests include technological innovation, entrepreneurship andsport. She has published in numerous journals including the Asia PacificJournal of Marketing and Logistics,International Journal of Entrepreneurshipand Small Business, Journal of High Technology Management, European

Journal of Innovation Management, Journal of Management & Organisation,International Journal of Educational Management, Thunderbird InternationalBusiness Review and the International Journal of Innovation and TechnologyManagement.


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A social perspective of sports-based entrepreneurship 315

1 Introduction

The role of entrepreneurship in the sports context is an undeveloped research area. In this

paper, sport-based entrepreneurship is endogenous to an enterprise and the process of

entrepreneurship in the sports context. This interdisciplinary perspective of sport-based

entrepreneurship that includes the sport management and entrepreneurship literature is

important so that a new theoretical framework can be developed. Entrepreneurship has a

significant role in the sport sector as sport marketers and managers play an important role

in planning and leading their businesses. The sport sector has become a significant part of

the global business industry landscape and is one of the largest and fastest growing

industries worldwide. The worldwide consumption of sporting goods which are one of

the fastest growing segments of the sports industry is estimated at US$256 billion

(National Sporting Goods Association Research Newsletter, 2007). In the USA, the sport

sector is twice the size of the US auto industry and seven times the size of the movieindustry (Sports Business Journal, 2007). In the UK, the sport sector has an annual worth

of almost 17 billion (Total Sport Promotion, 2007). In Australia, the entire sport,

recreation and leisure industry is worth approximately AUD$65 billion (Australian

Bureau of Statistics, 2006).

Sport-based entrepreneurship involves innovative activity that encourages economic

growth. This innovation can include profit seeking and risk seeking activity by an

entrepreneur (Hardy, 1996). Entrepreneurship is important to sport as consumer demands

change and business needs to constantly innovate. Entrepreneurship in sport is timely as

there is an increasing trend towards entrepreneurial behaviour by sports leagues.

Understanding the drivers underpinning sport-based entrepreneurship is particularly

salient as entrepreneurial behaviour has the potential to change the status quo in the

delivery and production of sport.The concept of sport-based entrepreneurship is defined in this paper as a sport-based

organisation acting corporately as both entrepreneur and enterprise. Sport-based

entrepreneurship is therefore the result of a process in which an organisation involved in

sport acts entrepreneurially. Sport-based entrepreneurship is a promising strategy for

fostering innovation and development. The purpose of this paper is to develop a theory of

sport-based entrepreneurship as an alternative representation of how entrepreneurial

activity can be utilised with regards to the sport context.

2 Importance of entrepreneurship

The words entrepreneur and entrepreneurship have become buzzwords but there is no

universally accepted definition (Chrisman et al., 1998). Most definitions of

entrepreneurship refer to it in economic terms related to the entrepreneur (Drucker,

1995). An entrepreneur is a person who uses all of the factors of production (e.g.,

physical, human and financial resources) together to make a good or service (Sawyer et

al., 2004). Therefore, an entrepreneur is a person who locates and puts new ideas into

effect and uses these factors of production to be profitable (Baumol, 1993). Entrepreneurs

are people who demonstrate initiative through the creation and recognition of

opportunities (Spencer et al., 2008). Schumpeter (1965) defined entrepreneurs as a person

who exploits market opportunity through technical or organisational innovation. These


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316 V. Ratten

opportunities form part of entrepreneurship as they lead to innovation (Bolton and

Thompson, 2000). Innovation is fundamental to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship andis a defining characteristic (Hitt et al., 2001).

Entrepreneurship involves the management and assumption of risk of a business or

enterprise. Entrepreneurship as a discipline and area of study has increased significantly

in the past decade as researchers, practitioners and public policy analysts encourage

entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurship creates new wealth, improves competitiveness

and stimulates the economy (Spencer et al., 2008). Entrepreneurship is the engine that

drives the success of an economy (Morrison et al., 1999).

Entrepreneurship in sport occurs though five major ways (Schwarz and Hunter,

2008). The first is by understanding consumers through market research and the

management of information systems. The second is by managing logistics related to the

products and services, which includes supply chain management. The third is by

managing the promotional aspects of a business, which includes advertising andsponsorship. The fourth is through operating specialised sport areas such as retail

management and electronic commerce. The fifth is by recognising the domestic and

international sport sub-sectors. As entrepreneurship occurs in sport through a variety of

different ways, the focus in this paper will be understanding the process of sport-based

entrepreneurship with a specific focus on social elements.

Entrepreneurship allows entrepreneurs to innovate by discovering and meeting

unfulfilled needs that assume a degree of risk and uncertainty in order that assembling

businesses can undertake change (Schneider et al., 1995). These business ventures

include new start-up businesses, established businesses that want to reinvigorate or

governmental/ non-profit organisations wanting to explore business opportunities in both

private and public sectors (Wickham, 2004). Entrepreneurship is therefore a result of

business expanding their efforts by a coordinated team of individuals (Terjesen, 2008).

Entrepreneurship can involve the creation of organisations (Gartner, 1988) or the

formation and development of new ventures (Wiggins and Ruefli, 2005). The most

common characteristics of entrepreneurship are opportunity seeking (Shane and

Venkataraman, 2000), achievement oriented (Turan and Kara, 2007) and visionary (Kao,

1989). These characteristics of entrepreneurship have been included in a variety of

entrepreneurship definitions. Wennekers and Thurik (1999) focus on organisations in

their definition of entrepreneurship as being the ability and willingness of people within

and outside organisations to create new economic opportunities. Shane and

Venkataraman (2000) define entrepreneurship as a three stage process involving the

discovery, evaluation and exploitation of opportunities. Entrepreneurship is thus integral

to the success of a business and creates sustaining prosperity for people and organisations

involved in it (Henry et al., 2003). As globalisation and competition presents many

challenges and opportunities, entrepreneurship may hold the key to success (Hisrich andPeters, 1998). In particularly, as entrepreneurship is pervasive and includes people and

organisations its role in sports is important to create a competitive advantage for

businesses that are involved in it.

3 Sport-based entrepreneurship

Sport-based entrepreneurship is the process of creating value. This value includes the

innovativeness, proactive nature and level of risk taking inherent in the activity (Holt et


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al., 2007). Sport is one of the largest worldwide industries and impacts many other

sectors such as technology and education. In the sport context, entrepreneurs develop

organisations and encourage new product development (Hardy, 1996). Sport-based

entrepreneurship impacts society, the economy and enterprise in a variety of ways. New

products are developed, promotional approaches are changed and social change results

from sport-based entrepreneurship. There is a growing economic disconnect between

consumers and professional sport teams particularly in times of economic distress

(Araton, 1998). The sport industry has business cycles that depend on the economic

climate. The current economic climate worldwide has lead to an upheaval in global

markets that has eroded business and consumer confidence (Futterman, 2008). These

challenging economic conditions serve as a catalyst for entrepreneurship (Peredo and

Chrisman, 2006). Entrepreneurship allows desirable outcomes to result from the need to

recognise opportunities in changing economic times (Yusuf and Schindehutte, 2000).

Therefore, an entrepreneurial approach can provide a mechanism to weather economiccrises as entrepreneurs are more willing to assume risk and be alert to opportunities

(Schneider et al., 1995).

Businesses in the sport sector are repositories of entrepreneurship as they try to

innovate in order to promote a competitive edge to customers and find a niche market

(Berrett et al., 1993). Sport products and services that are developed through

entrepreneurship include stadium leases and monopolistic broadcasting rights (Mason,

1999). In addition, predetermined geographic territories and player contracts can be

changed through innovative new ways of thinking (Zorn, 1994). As sport often has a deep

emotional attachment to fans through athletes and teams, the connection to the

community and economy is required, which is influenced by the long product life cycle

curve of most sport products (Chalip, 2004). The sport product is affected by three key

issues: commodification, delocalisation and its place in the recreation/entertainmentsector of the economy (Euchner, 1993). Sports products have become commodities

through the professionalisation of many sports leagues. In addition, famous sports stars

such as Tiger Woods and David Beckham have become commodities and have been

entrepreneurial through the large variety of products that they sell such as perfumes, golf

courses and clothing lines. Delocalisation of sports products has occurred through many

professional sports leagues becoming global phenomenons such as Liverpool Football

League and The New York Yankees. The entertainment sector has meant that sport

competes with movies, attending the theatre or renting a DVD. Therefore, consumers use

discretionary income to make entertainment purchase decisions and have many different

entertainment options with sport being one.

As sports organisations face challenges from increased entertainment options and the

advent of accessible digital technology it becomes increasingly important to deliver value

(Sweeney, 2007). Value is created by entrepreneurial firms that produce spillover effectsencouraging regional employment growth rates (Van Praag and Versloot, 2007).

Entrepreneurs contribute to the economy by increasing a person utility level and in sport

this impacts employment generation, productivity and innovation (Lechner and Schmidt,

2002). Therefore, to an individual and organisation, sports affect daily lives. Sport has

been studied from a variety of different disciplines including economics, marketing,

psychology, philosophy and sociology (Olivier, 2006). Sport has to a lesser extent been

studied from an entrepreneurship perspective but as the need for innovation increases,

entrepreneurship creates a competitive advantage for sport to deliver value. This paper


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proposes that sport-based entrepreneurship is a way to understand and sustain sports

organisations. As entrepreneurship offers direction to business leaders who want toincrease their companies social and economic performance (Wolcott and Lippitz, 2007),

sports-based entrepreneurship links both the sport management and entrepreneurship

literature. Sport based entrepreneurship occurs in a number of ways including people

watching sport, organisations involved in sport and athletes competing both

recreationally and professionally.

In this paper, I propose sport-based entrepreneurship as a promising strategy for

fostering economic development. Sport-based entrepreneurship involves the organisation,

operation and risk activity for a sport-related business venture. Sport-based

entrepreneurship is interdisciplinary as both sport management and entrepreneurship are

combined in order that new theories, frameworks and models can be developed. New

ways of thinking about entrepreneurship can be devised by focusing on sport as an

enterprise and entrepreneur. Sport-based entrepreneurship involves innovation, risk andproactive behaviour of an organisation and each of these elements will now be discussed.

3.1 Sport innovation

Innovation is important as it promotes change and adaptation (Schwarz and Hunter,

2008). Innovation occurs through a number of different ways in sport such as changing

the rules of a sport game or incorporating new franchise structures in professional sports

leagues (Mullin et al., 2007). Product and process innovation have occurred in sport and

both are important components of sport-based entrepreneurship. Product innovation in

sport can include sport-related clothing, trading cards bearing athlete likeness (Mullin et

al., 2007), sports related materials and equipment and nutritional and health products.

Product innovation has become particularly important with sport computer games as

gaming companies focus on developing new games that include a number of different

sports. The Wii gaming console that allows users to interactively play sport games is an

innovation that has gained in popularity. Another popular sport based innovation is

fantasy sport, which allows people to choose professional sport players to play pretend

games on the computer. Extreme sports have also innovated traditional sports by using

different equipment and technology (Schneider et al., 2007). Innovative new extreme

sports include high altitude rock climbing and big wave surfing.

Product innovation in sport has also involved extreme sports with the sport of surfing

evolving to include kite surfing and rowing to include whitewater kayaking. Products in

sport such as clothes and merchandise have also changed due to differing demographics.

The ageing population has meant that sports stars themselves are playing for a longer

time span. This growing market often called the zoomers as they are baby boomers who

are innovative has caused sports companies to change their products. An example of thisis the action sports industry that targets older customers through higher priced labels

(Tran, 2008).

Process innovation has occurred to a large extent in sport through changing

promotional approaches. Much sport advertising now occurs through the internet or

celebrity endorsements. In addition, people now receive information about sports games

through their cell phones or online. New venues, ticket sales, giveaways and education

are all processes that have changed due to different demands of both businesses and

consumers together with technology advances (Ross and Sharpless, 1999). Innovation in

sports occurs differently with slightly declining sports sectors such as skiing the


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innovations being more process orientated, whilst in fastly expanding sectors such as

snowboarding the innovations are more product oriented.

3.2 Sport risk

Risk taking in sports occurs in a variety of contexts. There is risk for sport businesses

going into new geographic markets and franchise or ownership risk (Parks and Zanger,

1990). Generally most people or organisations participating in sport are themselves risk

takers and the uncertainty in sport can also add an additional element of risk (Kedar-Levy

and Bar-Eli, 2008). Depending on the context of sport there is a degree of social risk such

as a football game between two rival countries. Risky activities in professional sport can

include market capitalisation, operating history, competition, experience, team

competitiveness, credibility, relocation and business activities (Friedman and Mason,

2007). Innovative risk may result from changes in sport such as advertisements or playinga sport. This may decrease the number of spectators or people watching or playing a

sport. Examples of innovative risk in extreme sports are free diving (Olivier, 2006).

A characteristic of entrepreneurs is their risk taking proclivity and this applies

particularly to sports teams. Sports teams and their owners often take risks by offering

multimillion dollar contracts to athletes by assuming continued strong performance and

minimal negative publicity by off field behaviour. Sports teams often face the risk of

developing and promoting a player only to lose them to another team. There is also

ownership risk from rising franchise fees, expansion costs and unstable broadcast fees.

For some sport team owners their ownership risk is that they might not make a financial

profit because they are more interested in the ego, fun and power that go with being a

sport team owner. Sports teams more recently have been involved in risk by entering

international markets. Professional sports teams such as the National Hockey League areaggressively entering Europe, the National Basketball Association has expanded to China

and the Indian Premier League has enlarged cricket in India.

Sports leagues have been entrepreneurial by partnering with broadcasters to promote

their brand image amongst fans (Eastman and Newton, 1996). In addition, many large

corporations have purchased naming rights of sport stadiums that potentially has the

added benefit of transferring the spectators positive liking of the sport to the sponsors

brand (Bennett, 1999). Being a sports team owner brings a variety of benefits including

images of being healthy and innovative but can also involve risk. An example of this

happened in Manila where a real estate developer gained instant credibility from

purchasing a team in the Philippine Basketball Association but assumed financial risk for

the team (Hookway, 2003). Direct connections from owning a sports team resulted from

the structural embeddedness of the network. This occurs by the sports team giving

sponsors access to network resources and to piggyback from media relationships such astelevision and press coverage.

3.3 Proactive sport behaviour

A proactive approach is a feature of the entrepreneurial nature of sport. In order to

compete sports organisations change through leadership and proactively keeping advance

of technology trends. Sports organisations proactively recruit talent for high school,

college and professional teams. In order to survive long term, sport promotes healthy


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eating and fitness for overall health benefits. Changing environmental events has caused

more sports organisations to be proactive with regards to sustainability initiatives such asgreen buildings, the use of recyclable material and renewable energy.

The organisers of many mega sport events such as the Olympics and World Cup are

very proactive in encouraging city citizens to be more environmentally friendly during

the games by refraining from driving in peak traffic times (Madden, 2007). Sports events

organisers have been proactively seeking to combat marketing tactics by businesses that

are not official sponsors. These tactics have been referred to as ambush marketing as

organisers other than the official sponsors piggyback on publicity from a sporting event

(McKelvey and Grady, 2008). An example of ambush marketing is what Kentucky Fried

Chicken did during the 2008 National Football League Super Bowl. The National

Football League proactively spoke out against Kentucky Fried Chicken who offered

US$260,000 to a charity if a player performed a chicken dance following a touchdown

on the field. The National Football League felt that Kentucky Friend Chicken wasconducting ambush marketing rather than the consumer-generated marketing campaign

that had been originally intended.

Entrepreneurship in sport has occurred through television and broadcasting rights. As

innovative ways of televising sport have become available there is a global linkage

between sport and television (Rowe, 1996). Entrepreneurial M-form structures for global

media firms have arisen, which are characterised by managers driving a top-down

international expansion strategy (Eisenmann and Bower, 2000). An example of this type

of entrepreneurship in sport is News Corporation, whose strategy was to use sport to

become a global media empire. News Corporation purchased the Fox network in

Australia and its British Sky Broadcasting affiliate purchased the television rights to the

National Football League and the British Premier League football.

4 Social entrepreneurship and sport

Social entrepreneurship is defined in the sport context as an organisation pursuing a

social goal as well as achieving financial benefits. Governments around the world

promote social policies such as having a healthy lifestyle and community participation

through sports-related activities. Entrepreneurship particularly in developing countries

occurs through social networks that provide motivation and support to encourage social

activities (Peredo and Chrisman, 2006). Social problems can be solved through sport

(Ball, 2005). Entrepreneurship often includes risk taking and profit seeking activity that

does not have a social mission (Johannisson and Monsted, 1997). However, social factors

in business activity are becoming more important in sport such as having a civic duty and

a love of sport as well as a concern for some profit (Hardy, 1996).Entrepreneurship occurs in a variety of settings often influenced by social structure

(Dana, 1995). Social entrepreneurship in the sports sector occurs through innovative

programmes. Ashoka an organisation that provides support for social entrepreneurs has

partnered with Nike through its changemaker programme. This programme encourages

collaborative competitions such as sport for a better world that encourages people to

think about innovative ways that sport can promote social change. Previous winners of

this competition have included using football to fight against aids in South Africa and

giving cell phones to youth in Brazil as a way to promote social and job opportunities in

sport. In the USA, Ashokas changemakers programme has been involved in the


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development of sports coaches at urban school playgrounds to teach children how to play

sport as a way of facilitating social development. Sport events like the World Cup or

Olympics have been used by cities to address social issues (Kott, 2005). One of the most

famous examples of the use of sport to promote social change is during the apartheid era

in South Africa, cricket teams from around the world refused to play the South African

team because of the racial issues surrounding apartheid. Sports teams have also acted

entrepreneurially by being involved in clean up campaigns that enhance a communitys

image by promoting the removal of rubbish and the gentrification of urban areas.

Well known entrepreneurs and organisations have engaged in social entrepreneurship

by donating to sports through social ventures and collegiate activities. T. Boone Pickens

donated US$165 million to his alma mater Oklahoma State Universitys athletic

department in order to update sporting facilities and programmes at the university. In

addition, universities in the top six athletic conferences in the USA raised approximately

US$3.9 billion during 20022007 for athletic facility improvements.Social change in sport is also a result of institutional entrepreneurship. In baseball,

institutional entrepreneurs have changed the traditional business model by introducing

innovations that created competitive pressures on other teams (Chacar and Hesterly,

2004). Athletes from disadvantaged backgrounds have promoted social change in sport in

addition to institutional innovation. The Dodgers baseball team opened up professional

baseball to African American athletes by recruiting Jackie Robinson in 1947, which

broke the colour barrier in Major League Baseball in the USA. Encouraging people from

different backgrounds and religions to compete in sport is also part of social

entrepreneurship. Sport has facilitated the process of racial integration by sports teams

more concerned about winning than ethnicity of players (Goff et al., 2002). Sport

entrepreneurs have figured out that ethnicity of an athlete doesnt matter if it gives the

team an advantage in terms of revenues and recognition (Goff et al., 2002). In Australia,aboriginal athletes like Evonne Cawley in tennis have encouraged social change by

promoting sport to indigenous athletes. Social change in sport has resulted in more

minority groups such as females participating in sport-related activities (Moore et al.,

2001). Females represent a large percentage of total NASCAR fans and also participate

heavily in NASCAR fantasy games on the internet (Roy and Goss, 2007). In order to

encourage female athletes from Muslim countries to compete in the Olympics, a group

called the Atlanta-Sydney-Athens Plus was formed (Garvie, 2006).

Social change in sport has been facilitated by environmental changes such as

implementing sustainability initiatives into business operations. Sustainability includes

looking beyond the financial bottom line to include social and environmental issues that

everyone involved in sport including consumers, businesses, manufacturers, local

authorities and event organisers can benefit from. Sustainability therefore in the sports

context incorporates environmental initiatives for societies benefit by both people andorganisations. Recent sustainability initiatives in the National Football League include

encouraging sustainable building developments that uses recyclable material and energy

efficient designs (Falt, 2006). There is also an increasing concern amongst professional

sports leagues about environmental degradation caused by sports events (Sweeney,

2007).

Sport is a powerful tool for companies to venture beyond sponsorship into social

causes. There are social representations of sports brands as they project their image into

their immediate community (Ferrand and Pages, 1999). For brands to be sustainable they


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must conform with societal expectations and also minimise negative environmental

impacts. Partnering social and environmental concerns with a financial objective havebeen referred to as the triple bottom line. The triple bottom line approach has become

ubiquitous with sustainability initiatives, which are a cornerstone of social

entrepreneurship. Sport has a direct responsibility to be sustainable as it is often practiced

outdoors and requires large infrastructure (Lau et al., 2004).

Social entrepreneurship utilises sport as a way to encourage solutions to social issues.

Right to Play is an international non-profit organisation that uses sport to improve health

for people affected by global poverty. Another example of a sport entrepreneur

encouraging social change is professional sports players such as basketballer Kevin

Johnson who created an organisation designed to develop young people into community

leaders. This organisation is an example of a sports person partnering with a community

organisation in order to create a collaborative social programme.

Social entrepreneurship in sport can also occur when there is sports team ownershipby a community. An example of this is in the UK in which MyFootballClub.com is a

web-based organisation that has a web-community with more than 30,000 members from

122 countries. MyFootballClub.com used a web-community ownership structure with

members paying a yearly fee to part own Ebbsfleet United, a football club.

Social entrepreneurship in sport can also be through technological innovations. Sport

is a driver of innovation and technology has changed the needs of sport teams and

athletes. Examples of technology-based entrepreneurship in sport include the photo finish

system developed to electronically record finish lines in sport, or the replay system used

by umpires to double check sports results. More recently, Motus Corporation has

invented a new fitness training vest that uses wireless motion to help athletes achieve a

better performance. Another innovation is the start up firm Yoonew which has created a

stock market for sports tickets (Schorow, 2008). A more well known example of

technology-based entrepreneurship is the collaboration between Nike and Apple to

include an Apple iPod nano digital music player in Nike shoes. Adidas has also been

involved in a similar type of technology-based entrepreneurship project through its

collaboration with Samsung to have a sensor in running shoes that is linked with an

online workout journal. Many sports organisations like the Australian Institute of Sports

Applied Research Centre focus on technology-based entrepreneurship by emphasising the

technology or innovation that will have a direct performance outcome for their athletes.

Athletes with disabilities have benefited from technology-based sport entrepreneurship as

the development of new materials, engineering and surgical techniques have given them

more opportunities to participate in sport (Castonguay, 2008).

5 Implications and suggestions for future research

This paper has examined the role of entrepreneurship in sport by focusing on the role of

social change. Innovation in sports has encouraged social entrepreneurship to develop.

More research is required to learn more about the role of sports-based entrepreneurship in

facilitating social change and this could prove beneficial to practitioners, academics and

public policy planners. There has been a rapid growth in the sports industry during the

past decade that has coincided with more concern globally about social issues.


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Future research needs to examine in more detail social entrepreneurship from a sports

perspective. Whilst there are many studies that have discussed the role of social

responsibility in sports, less large scale empirical studies have been conducted on the

antecedents and processes of sport social entrepreneurs. There are many practical

examples of sport social entrepreneurs in the media but it would be interesting to examine

whether the sport context changes the types of social entrepreneurship that occur. For

example, a longitudinal study could examine the number, types and demographics of

social entrepreneurs involved in sport who appear in the media.

The theoretical framework of sport-based entrepreneurship developed in this paper is

helpful to link academic discussion to practical implications. As discussed in this paper

sport-based entrepreneurship incorporates innovation, risk taking and proactive

behaviour. Therefore, entrepreneurship and sports management academics can use this

theoretical framework to test it in a number of different sports. From a practitioner

perspective this paper is helpful for management professionals to understand theentrepreneurial motives that are sport-specific. This can allow managers of sports-related

businesses to look for opportunities to promote social entrepreneurship that facilitates

collaboration between business, people and governments.

Sport-based entrepreneurship is also influenced by the different activities that

encompass sport. Sport fans consume sport for a variety of reasons including

entertainment and family fun (Wann et al., 2008). This means sport-based

entrepreneurship needs to be examined depending on motivational reasons for

consumption but also whether international differences exist in the type of

entrepreneurship that occurs. The types of sport played worldwide differ according to a

persons culture (Kwon and Trail, 2001). More research work is required on

understanding whether sports-based entrepreneurship is the same worldwide or what type

of cultural influences impact on the entrepreneurial nature of sports. The increasedcommercialisation and professionalism of sports worldwide has meant that the social role

of sport has also risen. Therefore, sport-based entrepreneurship provides a way to look at

the importance of social entrepreneurship in increasing sport popularity (Ratten, 2010).

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A social perspective of sports-based entrepreneurship

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