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Research

Here, we cover all research related to sport and the natural environment: the recent, the relevant, the revolutionary.

Our goal is to synthesize sport ecology research in one place, so researchers and practitioners have access to the latest information.

If you would like more information about any of the studies included here, please contact our team!

For students: We will help you find the original work (full length texts). Get in touch.

For academics: if you've published something about - or related to - sport ecology and we've missed it, get in touch.

Note: The SEG does not own the intellectual rights nor copyright to the texts discussed herein. We share summaries of relevant research, and cite the original work, to make academic articles more accessible to people outside the academic community.

This database is searchable - Start here

Ecological economics and sport stadium public financing (2017)

This paper presents the concept of ecological economics (which is based on the premise that every economic activity has an associated throughput of matter and energy) and the authors argue that municipalities may be in a position to require all publically funded facilities to engage in environmentally friendly behaviors and initiatives. If we accept the premise that there are limits to growth, it follows that controls and management of growth should follow. There are two ways

Legitimizing sustainability efforts through strategic partnerships (2016)

This article advances that strategic alliances among environmental groups and sport organizations are critical for achieving legitimacy when it comes to sustainability. Such alliances can not only provide legitimacy but also have the potential to increase revenue and customer loyalty. Furthermore, sport organizations can utilize the expertise of different environmental groups, while these groups in return can benefit by entering new markets. CITE: McCullough, B. P., Trendafil

Sense of place and environmental sustainability in sport (2016)

Despite significant efforts by sport organizations to reduce their environmental impacts, fan engagement efforts have produced mixed results regarding increases in participation in sustainability initiatives. This paper proposes that sense of place (i.e. an attachment manifested through our experiences with a particular setting or space that bestows that space value in one's mind) can be leveraged to increase participation in such initiatives, thereby decreasing the environm

Formation and function of a collegiate athletics sustainability committee (2018)

This study explores cross-sectoral social partnerships (CSSP) in the context of a Green Team at a university, 11 interviews were conducted over the course of two weeks in March 2016. Participants included five Athletics representatives, one student-athlete, and personnel from non-Athletics departments including a concessionaire, three members from the university Office of Sustainability, and an employee from the Waste Management department. The encouragement from the universi

Recycling intentions among youth baseball spectators (2011)

This study examined the value-action gap, that is- the gap between people's attitudes and their behaviors, in the context of recycling at baseball games. A pilot study was first conducted with university students to refine the survey instrument, then the survey was administered to 129 attendees at a youth baseball tournament. Participants completed a questionnaire that asked them to provide their demographic information and to respond to items measuring theory of planned beha

A conceptual model to understand engagement in green initiatives (2010)

Three common factors within institutional theory—political, functional, and social—serve as major themes that can strengthen or erode commonly held traditions, beliefs, or values within an organization. Drs. McCullough and Cunningham apply these factors to environmental sustainability initiatives in sport organizations. Several propositions are advanced, as inciting factors, moderating factors, and outcome variables. Inciting factors: 1: Political pressures from external stak

What influences sport spectator recycling behaviours? (2013)

In this study, Dr. Brian McCullough explored the attitudes of sport spectators towards recycling at sporting events, the ways subjective norms influence spectators' intentions to recycle at a sport event, and the role of perceived behavioral controls in influencing recycling at a large sport event. 16 interviews were conducted with event attendees of a university football game. Respondents were asked: - “Do you recycle when you attend Public University’s home football games?

Community-based social marketing in a recycling intervention with tailgaters (2015)

This study explored the effect of a community-based social marketing campaign on the recycling behaviors of tailgaters at a college football game. In this case, there were no recycling opportunities in the main parking areas, nor in the stadium. In spaces surrounding the stadium (e.g. public parks and streets) there were also no recycling options. At this university, for various reasons, the tailgater population is relatively consistent from event to event and season to seaso

A content analysis of environmental sustainability in sport journals (2011)

A content analysis of the academic literature in sport management was conducted using 21 English-language refereed journals, to examine the scope and depth of research on environmental sustainability. Interestingly, only 17 of the 4,639 articles reviewed directly addressed environmental sustainability. Six of the articles were published before 2000, and the other 11 articles were published between 2000 and 2008. All 17 studies were qualitative. The main theme of the work was

Assessing environmental performance at an international multi-sport event (2010)

This study assessed the environmental performance of the International Children's Games (ICG). The environmental performance assessment was completed using the Sport Event Environmental Performance Model (SE-EPM), which was adapted to suit the unique context of a sport event (e.g. 'company' was changed to 'Games'). Each participant in the study rated items in the SE-EPM, then additional data was collected through 15 interviews with members of the event's middle and upper mana

A framework for debating the future of environmental sustainability in sport (2011)

It is widely accepted that sustainable development is challenging as the concept is vague and ambitious, context-specific, and complicated. As a result, it can be difficult to define and subsequently achieve environmental sustainability. This paper advances a framework for debating environmental sustainability within the sport sector. This framework has two main dimensions: ‘‘constraints within the natural environment’’ (Busch & Hoffman, 2009, p. 295) and ‘‘action aimed at co

Environmental sustainability in sport facility management (2010)

This consensus-seeking study surveyed facility managers over three iterations to identify trends in the current state of environmental sustainability in facility management. The results indicate that environmental sustainability (ES) negatively affects and challenges sport facility management with several issues. Some of the key challenges included: - a need for strategies and tools to achieve a reduction in the consumption of resources, - ES training, - sourcing ES produc

Considering the social impact of sustainable stadium design (2015)

Despite the growing focus on sustainability in the realm of sport, environmentally friendly sport facilities represent less than 40% of new stadium constructions in North America. This study is based on 13 interviews with architects, with results indicating that the environmental movement has influenced decision making among sport organizations.The hope for the future is that more facility owners will adopt sustainability designs within their sport facilities. CITE: Kellison,

Sustainability communication in North American pro sport leagues (2010)

This study examined the websites of 126 professional sport teams in the United States (33 from NFL, 31 from each of NHL, NBA and MLB) to understand how sport organizations communicate their triple-bottom-line initiatives and sustainability practices. The content of each website was individually analyzed for evidence of- or reference to- sustainability efforts along 12 categories: energy use, water usage, pollution/emissions, waste, building/grounds, compliance/accountability,

Going green in baseball – a case study of the SK Wyverns (2016)

This study examined the marketing of a pro baseball team in South Korea and their green campaign. Specifically, the event examined the environmental, social, and economic gains of the community of of Korean baseball through this campaign. Interviews were conducted with 12 constituents of the green marketing campaign, and the author participated as an observer at seven separate trips to the team's stadium and to meetings. Additionally, corporate documents were collected and an

Trends in winter tourism and future challenges (2008)

540 skiers from Vienna, Austria were surveyed to understand winter sport tourists' activity and destination choice, and to estimate shifts in customer demand with climate change. The study found that skiers have a strong preference for destinations with natural snow. In winters with low snow, resorts in high (altitude) destinations gain importance and travel distances lose relevance (i.e. people will travel further if it means they can ski in better conditions, which tend to

Governance of Olympic environmental stakeholders (2018)

Major stakeholders in the environmental management of the Olympic Games include: the IOC, organizing committees (OCOGs), local governments, environmental organizations, and sponsors. The IOC employs a variety of coercive, frameworking, and voluntarism policies to encourage participation in environmental management by these stakeholders along with the Host City Contract. However, many of these governance policies have few true enforcement mechanisms in place. CITE: Ross, W. J.

Managing cross-country skiing under climate change: Austria and Finland (2011)

A survey-based study was administered to skiers in Austria and Finland to examine preferences for various climate adaptation strategies (e.g. skiing at a different location, skiing at a different time, substituting a different activity). It is less risky for Austrian destinations to introduce technical adaptation (e.g. indoor skiing, artificial snow), as well as to expand into additional activity offerings (e.g. snowshoeing), compared to Finnish destinations. The main explana

Marketing pro-environmental venues (2014)

Standardized open-ended interviews were conducted with 10 professional sport administrators familiar with their organizations’ sustainable facility design and initiatives (only LEED certified facilities were included). - A primary theme extracted in the interviews was the hope of reaching out to nonfans in the community. The teams’ perception that they can use social activity such as environmentally conscious building to attract new consumers suggests that they see a strong i

Why sport industry firms should embrace environmentalism (2006)

This essay presents three reasons why sport industry firms should embrace environmental responsibility as a management competency: 1) Ethical reasons, which consist of two main considerations and apply not just to firms in the sport industry but to all organizations. 2) Sport organizations have a unique relationship to their customers. 3) Embracing environmental responsibility can lead to economic benefits for the organization. The two main aspects of this advantage are c

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NEW! Research Round Ups.

Each time our team members attend an academic conference to present our work, we will aim to share a Round-Up of the relevant new research here.

First installment:

NASSM 2020 Research Round-Up