Government Funding for Sports Development

Funding is a crucial resource for policy actors. Financial resources like grants and subsidies are instruments that governments use to fashion their actions in the policy life cycle. Governments are financially involved in sport in many ways, such as financing sport facilities development programs, elite training facilities, sport (mega-)events, grassroots sport and elite athlete development, and more. Government funding of sport governing bodies (SGBs) is essential for supporting and influencing the operations of SGBs and their affiliated sport organisations, as well as implementing public sport policies. This chapter discusses the trends and the persistent issues relating to the funding process of SGBs identified from current empirical work, stressing some issues of financial vulnerability and reduced autonomy, transparency, and accountability. Future research directions to further inform sports development on government funding of SGBs are presented.