Evolution of Sports Management

Evolution in the sports industry has led to the industry becoming more complex and highly competitive. Today, sports teams, facilities, events, and federations pursue effective management practices to ensure sustainability and competitiveness at the high level. Given that there is so much at stake in the sports industry, effective management of sports has gained considerable significance: Evolution of Sports Management.

Some of the roles of the managerial function of sports organizations include overseeing the organization, making strategic decisions, and efficiently utilizing organizational resources. Some of the trends resulting from the evolution in sports management include the application of technology and data analysis.

Technology

Driven by the emergence of the Internet and digital technologies, technology has become indispensable in most sports. Technology has had a multi-pronged impact on sports. Firstly, with technology and digitization, fans can follow their favorite teams and athletes from across the world. Whether it is watching live matches or following highlights on social media platforms such as YouTube or Facebook, technology has enhanced the visibility of sports teams and athletes globally (Frevel et al., 2022).

Consequently, managers of sports organizations must take advantage of technology proliferation to generate extra revenue for their clubs (Qi et al., 2024). While creating team structures and making hiring decisions, managers should create teams dedicated to enhancing a team’s visibility on social media networks. Digital teams will, among others, generate digital content, manage digital platforms, and manage interactions in social media platforms.

Another impact of technology revolves around its application in training activities. Frevel et al. (2022) aver that human limits seem to have been reached in sports activities. Going forward, future limits to athletic performance will be determined less and less by an athlete’s innate physiology, but more by scientific and technological advances.

To a large extent, gains in most sports in the future will be determined by technology (Frevel et al., 2022). However, it is worth noting that the incorporation of technology to bolster athlete performance raises critical ethical questions.

Apart from influencing athlete management, technological advancement also affects organizational management. Historically, sports have been largely managed as public or voluntary organizations with limited commercial or professional institutions (Frevel et al., 2022). The growth of the sports industry over the past decades has led to increased pressure for sports organizations to embrace market mechanisms in sports management. Embracing market mechanisms has been necessitated by, among others, the desire to overcome the weaknesses associated with running non-profit organizations.

Some of the weaknesses of non-profit organizations that have since been overcome following the adoption of market mechanisms include resource insufficiencies, amateurism (giving managerial roles to well-meaning individuals instead of professionals), and paternalism, whereby decision making and resource allocation followed the interests of the most influential members of a sports organization (Frevel et al., 2022). To successfully manage these changes, sports organizations will need to increasingly rely on technology, with their work being guided by innovation and entrepreneurship.

Data Analysis

According to Bai and Bai (2021), the era of big data has brought with it an unprecedented impact on the development of the sports industry. Big data services such as health data, training analysis, and performance data help athletes in their daily training and in coming up with game-winning strategies. The resultant data from data mining initiatives offers sports managers an insight into performance improvement initiatives. For instance, the American Men’s Professional Basketball League has a complete data analysis system (Bai & Bai, 2021).

The data system records raw data insights such as the trajectory of players in the field of play, which is then converted to valuable information. From a managerial perspective, sports big data is used in decision-making. For instance, hiring and firing decisions for coaches in most professional football clubs are influenced by information gathered from big data. Following the end of a season, executive managers in most sports clubs resort to data analysis to make decisions regarding the tenure of their managers.

Apart from performance analysis, big data may also be used in fan engagement and marketing. For instance, ticketing data can provide insights into the optimal locations for holding sports events (Yue et al., 2025). If holding events in certain locations leads to fewer fans attending, then the management can make the decision to hold the events elsewhere. Besides, sports big data on fans can help managers craft and implement marketing campaigns that will reach the largest audiences.

Conclusion

In summary, sports management has evolved over the past decades, posing notable implications in managerial practices in modern sports organizations. One of the current trends that affects the management of sports organizations is technological advancement. Technological advancement and digitization have led to the adoption of market mechanisms in the running of sports organizations. Appointees to managerial positions are no longer based on passion, but on meritocracy and professionalism.

Besides, managers consider the influence of digitization and social media networks during the structuring of sports organizations by hiring professional social media managers. Also, since it has emerged that technological tools can improve individual performance, managers must acquire the right technological tools. Another notable trend is data analysis, which is leveraged when making hiring and firing decisions. Also, data analysis is used to segment and target a team’s fan base, enhancing its marketing prospects.

References

Bai, Z., & Bai, X. (2021). Sports big data: Management, analysis, applications, and challenges. Complexity, 2021(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6676297

Frevel, N., Beiderbeck, D., & Schmidt, S. L. (2022). The impact of technology on sports – A prospective study. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 182(121838). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0040162522003626

Qi, Y., Sajadi, S. M., Baghaei, S., Rezaei, R., & Li, W. (2024). Digital technologies in sports: Opportunities, challenges, and strategies for safeguarding athlete wellbeing and competitive integrity in the digital era. Technology in Society, 77(1), 102496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2024.102496

Yue, B., Li, C., Hu, H., Shao, R., & Zhang, X. (2025). Harnessing big data in sports content: Current applications and future directions. In Proceedings of the 2025 4th International Conference on Big Data Economy and Digital Management (BDEDM 2025) (pp. 32–40). https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-710-6_5

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Research relevant literature and create an essay on the evolution of sport management and its impact on modern athletic organizations, specifically in relation to organization and administration of sport entities. Discuss at least two key trends and their implications for future sport managers.

Evolution of Sports Management

Length: This assignment must be 3-5 pages (excluding the title and reference pages).

References: Include at least 4 scholarly resources.