Easy 2-3 Paragraph Discussion Board post for my Creativity and Innovation in Sports class!

Ethics and Sport Entrepreneurship 8

8.1 Introduction

Sport is part of the social fabric of society and plays an important role in fostering

ethical behavior. This is evident in Austin (2017: 2) stating that there are “promi-

nent moral failings that exist in and around sport”. Ethics is an important issue in

sport and is constantly changing due to technological advances. The ethics of sport

changes with new knowledge developed about appropriate codes of conduct.

However, ethics is a diverse and debatable topic that needs to be understood

according to type of sport, cultural environment and existence of social problems.

Hervieux and Voltan (2016: 3) define social problems as “socially constructed and

based on conditions and conduct deemed troublesome by individuals and groups”.

In sport there are social problems that create ethical issues, which depend on the

environmental context.

The ethics of sport refers to the ways of regulating behaviours and expected

conduct in games involving physical or mental activity. Sport ethics is a distinctive

discipline that plays an important role in influencing other sport fields and is

entrepreneurial in three main ways. Firstly, through deliberate action about the

need for change and innovative thinking about the role of ethics in sport. This

means that there can be a purposive approach to integrating entrepreneurship in

sport ethics to provide a way to understand future behavior. This involves looking at

actions sport entities are taking in terms of being more proactive about future ethics

issues. In addition, it helps provide a sense of vision about the role ethics plays in

the development of sport. Secondly, there are unplanned or accidental forms of

entrepreneurship in sport ethics. This occurs when inadvertently there are changes

required in the understanding of ethics in sport due to technology advances. As

technology is altering quickly there needs to be societal changes about ethics. This

means often sport ethics is reactive instead of proactive about decisions they make

in terms of regulations. Thirdly, there are evolutionary forms of entrepreneurship in

sport ethics. This means that there are developments about people’s perceptions of

sport ethics in terms of how it is embedded in society. Some beliefs about ethics in

# Springer International Publishing AG 2018 V. Ratten, Sport Entrepreneurship, Management for Professionals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73010-3_8

111

sport are traditional and culturally based that take time to change. However, other

values are tied to the way sport is seen in society.

There is assumption that socially motivated types of sport such as community

and non-profit are ethically sound. This is often not the case due to the strategies and

politics behind the offering of sport to the public. The question at the heart of the

intersection between sport ethics and entrepreneurship is how are sport ethics

evolving based on entrepreneurship? In this chapter I argue that ethics in sport is

fundamentally entrepreneurial. The goal of this chapter is to bring entrepreneurship

into the sports ethics literature. Thus, in this chapter I focus on sport ethics from an

entrepreneurship perspective and anticipate this field will develop in the future. In

this chapter there is an overview of sport ethics that then is linked to entrepreneur-

ship. The chapter begins by providing a summary of key sport ethics issues and

doing so opens the field up to an integration of entrepreneurship perspectives. I

hope that this chapter is only the beginning of an ongoing discussion about

entrepreneurship and sport ethics thereby fostering more work on the intersection

of sport ethics and entrepreneurship. In this chapter, I go beyond just looking at

sport ethics and entrepreneurship as disparate fields but by providing a more

integrated approach into how they affect each other. The chapter ends by presenting

some suggestions about future directions concerning entrepreneurship and sport

ethics.

8.2 Ethics

Ethics is a controversial topic as its definition changes according to context. Some

people view ethics as a minor issue due to the need to outperform competitors at any

cost in sport. This leads to ethical misconduct viewed as mistakes rather than

conscious action. In addition, unethical action can be viewed as necessary for the

teams benefit. The way ethics is perceived is constantly changing and is a fluid

concept. There are challenges in managing ethics in sport due to the reliance on

self-reporting and peer pressure. Whilst some unethical behavior such as cheating

or doping can be tested it can depend on the timing and availability of regulators to

enforce it. This was evident with Lance Armstrong the multiple winner of the Tour

de France bike race who constantly kept hidden his unethical behavior. There was

also discussion with Lance Armstrong how other cyclists were doing the same thing

so the question became whether it was really cheating. The controversy of Lance

Armstrong meant there were unethical judgments on his previous performances that

might have been ethically sound but nonetheless were perceived as cheating. This

leads to it being difficult to evaluate ethics in sport and the ramifications of

unethical conduct.

The demands of high performance sport and electronic participation in sport

require a new way of understanding ethical behavior. There are different reasons in

sport why people adhere to certain obligations and this depends on the type of sport

under investigation. Shogun and Ford (2000: 52) states in sport “participants may

abide by rules because coerced, to maintain an image as a ‘good’ competitor, for

112 8 Ethics and Sport Entrepreneurship

experience, or because of a desire to honour a perceived agreement with

competitors”. The reasons for ethical conduct link to the notion of sport being an

activity that favours fairness in competition. The fairness depends on the type of

sport in terms of whether it is regulated or unregulated. In regulated sports there are

rules of the game that are needed and help compare performance. This includes tacit

or unwritten rules about appropriate behavior in sport. Thus, natural competition

ensures the best person or team wins in sport. Unregulated sport also has moral

obligations due to the informal nature of the competition. This can also include

competition with oneself rather than others in sport. In addition, there are unethical

values found in sport that are part of the culture. This includes playing against

unequal opponents when the chance of having a fair game is low. This creates moral

dilemmas in sport, which are an important element of ethical management

practices.

8.3 Ethics and Sport Entrepreneurship

There needs to be a more fluid understanding about the interaction of entrepreneur-

ship and sport ethics as they have practical implications. This is the result of there

being pressing issues that need to be discussed in terms of entrepreneurship and

sport ethics that will influence the future scholarship concerning sport entrepreneur-

ship. It is surprising that little research has connected entrepreneurship to sport

ethics, since it influences change in the sport industry. Entrepreneurship in the

forms of new businesses are featured prominently in discussions around sport

ethics. However, there is a gap in the sport literature in combining ethics issues to

entrepreneurship.

Chell et al. (2016: 623) states “entrepreneurship has been bedeviled with myths”.

These myths impact ethical issues in entrepreneurship as there are assumptions

made that often might not be relevant to current society. Entrepreneurship in sport

ethics involves considering new types and reasons of behavior based on emerging

trends. Whilst research might consider entrepreneurship as a newcomer to the field

of sport ethics, it has been an important influencer of activity. Ethics in a way is

fundamentally about change, which is at the core of entrepreneurships research.

Moreover, the expansion in entrepreneurship research has coincided with an

increase in sport ethics studies but they have typically been seen as disparate and

unrelated fields. There is more sport policy concerning ethics and initiatives around

diversity and gender equality in sport.

Sport entrepreneurship has not received much academic attention until only

recently. Sports that are unregulated often have rogue behavior and encourage

unethical conduct. Sport has been commended for ignoring race and religion in

the pursuit of a fairer playing field but there is still some degree of discrimination in

the form of unethical conduct. This means that some sports particularly adventure

sports pride themselves on their risk taking activity and propensity to push

boundaries. For this reason, whilst adventure sports have become more regulated

there is still the perception that unethical behavior is part of the sport. This means

that some sports are open avenues to unethical conduct due to their link to

8.3 Ethics and Sport Entrepreneurship 113

performance. Thus, a distinguishing feature of entrepreneurship is the ability to

integrate innovativeness in the sport context. Russell and Faulkner (2004) discuss

how entrepreneurship is a form of chaos in the lifestyle of certain industries. This

means that the sport industry utilizes entrepreneurship as a way to link risky activity

to the pursuit of business ventures. Risk often involves ethical questions about the

appropriate form of behavior given the circumstances.

To date, there has been a lack of research about sport ethics and entrepreneurship,

which implies there is an ample opportunity for more research on this topic. It is

interesting to see whether there are noticeable differences between sport entrepreneurs

and other types of entrepreneurs in terms of their ethical behavior. There might be a

need to stimulate more ethical conduct amongst sport entrepreneurs. Thus by

integrating an entrepreneurial perspective into sport ethics it can yield a more integrated

understanding of the field. This will help support more ethical business conduct

amongst sport entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs are a core component of the sport industry. The future of the sport

industry is based on ethical conduct so it is important to understand the behaviours

of entrepreneurs. Sport entrepreneurship is a distinctive field of entrepreneurship

that demands a special approach to ethics. Although there has been research on

ethics and sport, little research has focused on entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship

involves behavior concerning business activity. Thus, the process of entrepreneur-

ship involves interpreting the environment and its effects on individuals and

society. Currently ethics in sport is focused on the management literature with little

linkage to entrepreneurship. This has inhibited a more holistic understanding of the

role entrepreneurship plays in sport ethics.

Edgar (2013: 1) states that sport provides a way “metaphysical and normative

problems are articulated”. This is due to sport being part of the culture and having

an impact on society conditions. Sport has typically been governed by rules and

physical activity although some sports instead utilize mental fitness (Edgar 2013).

The sport industry has a large degree of economic and social power that means it

should have ethical responsibilities. In addition, due to its impact on communities it

has a moral duty to ensure ethical conduct. This is important as ethics involves

consideration about business strategy and decisions making in sport.

Often sport is conducted through actions that are interpreted by players. This

means that rather than verbal communication the emphasis in sport is on physical

action. The actual playing of sport involves non-verbal communication but the

commentary is mostly verbally-based. Edgar (2013: 8) states that sport “takes the

materials, ideas and fundamental experiences of our cultural existence, and plays

with them”. This means that sport is a cultural aspect that involves unwritten rules

that are based on the cultural context of the environment.

There needs to be new interpretations of sport ethics based on changing technol-

ogy and needs of society. This means entrepreneurship can provide a way to

revitalize sports ethics to make it more progressive. Sport organizations need to

use more entrepreneurial approaches in their dealings with sport ethics. A way to do

this is to include more proactive strategies rather than have a passive stance towards

ethics. This can include anticipating trends and issues in sport that will cause ethical

dilemmas.

114 8 Ethics and Sport Entrepreneurship

Sport is viewed as pure when there is a no artificial interference from other

sources. At the heart of ethics in sport is the role of equal opportunities. Konig

(1995: 249) defines equal opportunities as “the equal position of both athletes

before the competition with the same changes to win, despite the intended equality

after the competition brought about by the code of victory/defeat”. These equal

opportunities have been hampered by unethical conduct in sport such as cheating

and doping. The forms of unethical conduct can be formal and informal depending

on the circumstances. Formal ethical violations include match tampering by

officials or umpires whilst informal include the taking of banned substances.

Performance improvement is the aim of most unethical conduct and this is

influenced by technological innovation. Thus, sport regulators need to take an

entrepreneurship approach in terms of how they handle unethical conduct. How-

ever, it can be hard to evaluate ethics in sport due to constant change from new

medical and scientific advancements.

As sport management scholars have started to incorporate more ethics into their

research, they have in turn contributed to an improved understanding of the role of

sport in society. The field of sport ethics has experienced significant growth that has

coincided with more general interest about ethical issues such as corporate social

responsibility and environmental management. This has led to more research on

sport ethics focusing on initiatives around sustainability that today are more

strategically important for sport organizations. As part of the increased interest in

business ethics there are some promising new research areas linking it to entre-

preneurship. Whilst past research looked at sport ethics, business and entrepreneur-

ship as separate research areas, this chapter will propose combining theme for

future enquiry. This includes using entrepreneurial thinking to maximize the poten-

tial of sport ethics in terms of its relevance for business. In addition, it

acknowledges that sport can be used as a strategic vehicle to implement better

business ethics principles. Thereby, enabling a closer sport management link

between ethics and entrepreneurship that can contribute to academic discourse.

The impact of entrepreneurship in sport management in terms of the ethical

issues is brings has received scant scholarly attention. New technology and less

reliance on public funding in sport have meant that sport organizations are under

more pressure to be competitive. This is evident in the limited time and resources

available to sport organizations to come up with new ideas. Many areas of a sport

organization concern ethics from sponsorship of sport stadiums to the use of

taxpayer money. Thus, the combination of both public and private finance in

sport gives rise to a number of ethical challenges. Some areas of sport particularly

non-profit organizations face scrutiny about how to grow in an ethical manner.

Sometimes there are forced ethics measures and implications of ethics in sport

due to regulations. This enables sport organizations to navigate ethics by adjusting

their management practices. Thus, ethics in sport involves individuals questioning

its relevance in contemporary society. Sport ethics is a result of the morals and

expected behavior required in society. In times of economic uncertainty the role of

ethics in sport is exacerbated due to financial concerns. The austerity measures

caused by the global financial crisis of 2008 are still evident in the ethical guidelines

of sport organizations (Parnell et al. 2017).

8.3 Ethics and Sport Entrepreneurship 115

Dey and Steyaert (2016: 627) states “ethics has had a dubious career in the

domain of entrepreneurship studies”. This is due to the perception by many of

entrepreneurship as being unethical as it involves risk taking. However, entre-

preneurship can and should be ethical as it relates to business practices. There has

been an increase in studies linking entrepreneurship to ethics due to the need for

business to behave in a socially responsible manner. Entrepreneurship often

involves value creation and enables better work prospects. For this reason,

sub-fields of entrepreneurship such as social and women’s entrepreneurship tend

to emphasise more ethics issues. Social entrepreneurship combines both non-profit

and profit objectives in a business endeavour. Hence, there is an overt linkage with

ethics in social entrepreneurship due to the acknowledgement of the need to help

disadvantaged members of society.

Increasingly business is marketing its social initiatives in activities as a way to

highlight their social role. This helps with businesses that need to report their social

indicators to be part of industry groups. There are also negative connotations

between entrepreneurship and ethics that are evident particularly in public policy

reports. This has meant ethics has been viewed skeptically in entrepreneurship

studies due to the need for business to focus on financial gain at the expense of

social needs (Dey and Steyaert 2016). When a business starts a new venture there is

often a power play involved particularly with large businesses. This means that

large businesses or multinationals can have more power in the market due to their

existing relationships. In emerging and developing economies there has been some

criticism of the ethical practices of large businesses in terms of entrepreneurship.

This is due to many large businesses being from developed countries and having a

different culture. This creates ethical issues in terms of the businesses they are

developing in countries outside their home market. Part of this perception is

subjective as there are different connotations on what is considered moral behavior.

Entrepreneurship has been typically about business development that involves

change, which can be viewed negatively. Often government policy or help is

needed in entrepreneurial business ventures that create ethics issues when bribery

is involved. Moreover, the lobbying of government officials for support on business

ventures is viewed by some as being unethical.

Ethics involves behavior that can be subjective and influenced by environmental

constraints. In the sport context ethics is practiced through the actions of athletes,

coaches and managers. This involves action that when conducted in a creative and

proactive way exhibits signs of entrepreneurial leadership. Part of the process of

ethics involves criticizing or reviewing past behavior as a way to conduct better

actions in the future. Existing relationships in sport need to be managed in terms of

ethical behavior as the actions of others can have flow on effects.

There is a team structure evident in many sports, which means the ethical conduct

of one person will affect others. The knowledge a person has about events or

circumstances influences their ethical behavior. There is debate about the parameters

of ethical conduct in sport due to differences in opinion about what constitutes ethics.

The foundations of sport are built around ethics but there is a continuum of good to

bad ethical practices. Traditionally most of the ethics violations in sport occurred at

the individual level but they can also occur at the team level. This occurred with the

116 8 Ethics and Sport Entrepreneurship

New England Patriots who were accused of spying on the field plays of another

football team. In their case the use of cameras to record the plays of another football

team was considered unethical. However, the response from the National Football

League to this conduct was considered by some as not being hard enough given the

impact of the conduct on the performance of the team. This means that it is often hard

to penalize unethical conduct in sport as there is some uncertainty about the effects it

has on performance.

There are many moral issues associated with ethics in sport. Recently Colin

Kaepernik in the National Football League knelt during the playing of the American

anthem in protest of racism in sport. This action was copied by others in different

sports as a form of protect against racial conduct both in sport but also non sport

activities. There has been some debate about the use of sport to protest against

racism, gender inequality and other issues. In addition, the use of sport to market

products such as alcohol and gambling has been raised as an ethical issue by some

sport policy analysts. This is due to the role sport has in people’s lives especially

young people who may be more susceptible to marketing campaigns. In the past

cigarette advertising was used extensively in sport including through sponsorship

agreements and billboard advertising. Now cigarette advertising in banned in many

sports where it was previously a source of revenue including cricket events. Benson

and Hedges a cigarette company previously sponsored cricket events in Australia

but this has since ceased. Some sports utilized anti-smoking campaigns sponsored

by the government in their advertising. An example is the Quit campaign by the

Victorian government in Australia to encourage people to stop smoking by promot-

ing it at the Bells beach surfing context. In the National Football League there has

also been the use of athletes to provide anti-violence towards women campaigns. As

athletes are often viewed highly in society their endorsements about certain practices

can have a big effect.

Recognition about entrepreneurial ethical behavior in sport has emerged belat-

edly in the academic literature. The differing kinds of ethical conduct in sport are

evident in the Olympics, which promotes the event as bring together different types

of sport with international participation. The positive impacts are in terms of

promoting sport as a vehicle for international peace and collaboration but there

are negative side effects from the politics involved in hosting the event. The Rio de

Janeiro Olympics of 2016 enabled more attention placed on Brazil but the side

effects included the displacement of communities to make way for the building of

new stadiums.

Sport organizations vary in how much they emphasise ethics, which is consid-

ered as appropriate behavior given moral and societal duties. Some sport

organizations such as community or non-profit are focused almost exclusively on

ethical ways to conduct sport. This is the result of ethics being a byproduct of sport

and an easy way to encourage a more open and inclusive society. Sport is seen by

some as a language or form of communication. This means that conduct in sport

will be viewed as a way to influence positively other parts of society. Sport

entrepreneurs apply ethical principles to many of the challenges they face in the

marketplace. Entrepreneurial ethics is a way sport can adapt to the market but also

create social value.

8.3 Ethics and Sport Entrepreneurship 117

Sport when it is ethically managed has the potential to contribute to a more

harmonious society. Increasing attention is directed towards ethics in sport and its

importance in affecting other parts of society. It has been emphasized that the

appraising of ethical guidelines in sport can be difficult due to different

conceptualizations of what is ethical conduct. This means that ethics is inherently

entrepreneurial due to its changing nature and role in sport. Ethical conduct is

required in sport because rules and guidelines must be followed as part of fair play.

The backdrop of competition in sport, encompassing a gap between performing and

non-performing clubs has implications for entrepreneurial ethics. There are often

cultural conditions that affect the ability of some sport teams to behave ethically.

The intention of entrepreneurial ethics is to assist sport clubs and athletes perform

within guidelines. Thus, the aim is to bestow sport clubs with the ability to utilize

ethics in a positive way.

Sport practitioners need to value ethics due to the potential effects it can have on

athlete and team moral. Some sports are more prone to ethical questions particularly

those concerning animals. Horse racing is amongst the most popular sports but some

animal rights activists suggest that it includes unethical conduct due to the treatment

of animals. This is reflected in racehorses being put down after their competitive

career has finished. Another sport often highlighted by animal rights activists is

greyhound racing. This is due to the dogs being taught to race and being breed

particularly for this reason. Illegal dog fighting is a related sport that has been a source

of controversy. However, some sports have changed from being unethical and radical

to mainstream sports. This is evident in the Ultimate Fight Championships with its

use of mixed martial arts being amongst the highest worldwide growth sports.This

chapter can be a starting point for further discussion on entrepreneurial sport ethics.

Sport entrepreneurs come up with new ideas to issues in sport that are different

to current practices. This is due to sport playing a key role in communities and the

use of ethics can bring about a better overall result. Sport entrepreneurs are active at

the management level by directing ethical objectives. This enables change to occur

through entrepreneurial action that incorporates an ethical stance. The impact of

ethics on sport management is a well recognized stream of research. The search for

entrepreneurial ways to respond to ethical concerns in sport is less known but an

important source of competitive advantage.

Sport is considered as an important way to encourage social cohesion through

healthy activities that encourage wellbeing. Entrepreneurship captures many of the

change and forward thinking outlook needed in sport ethics. People are attracted to

sport due to the passion and connection they feel to the game and athletes. Sport is

considered as wholesome as it is marketed in that way. However, the glamour and

money involved in sport makes it subject to unethical behavior.

The culture of sport has distinct behaviours that are in accordance with entre-

preneurship such as aggressiveness and risk taking behavior. This had led to sport

organizations needing to participate in ethical conduct in a way that reflects their

cultural conditions. In addition, ethics is reflected in the way sports people behave

and interact with the community. This means the practice of ethics is important to

sports entrepreneurship as it is a component of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

118 8 Ethics and Sport Entrepreneurship

There are moral dilemmas faced by sport organizations based on their position in

society. Often government authorities engage with both public and private sporting

bodies in order to understand the impact of moral transgressions. Despite this cross-

partnership collaboration sport ethics is a vexed question and still under studied.

For sport entrepreneurs, the ethics issue remains problematic due to uncertain

aspects about its implications. This is noted by sport organizations perceiving ethics

to not be critical to the overall functioning of their team.

Scholarship related to sport ethics has been dominated by medical and technology

issues. This is not surprising given the amount of money spent on new sports

products and services. This logic is based on the increasingly technological sophis-

ticated sport services that are linked to the internet. For many years there has been

considerable interest about the way artificial intelligence will change sport and this is

reflected in ethics issues. From the perspective of sport organizations less attention

has been placed on entrepreneurship. This is interesting as sport is inherently

entrepreneurial and there is much to be studied about ethics. Entrepreneurs as

practitioners strive to have a place in the market by developing new ideas that are

likely to have successful outcomes. Shilbury et al. (2008: 217) conceptualizes sport

development as being “about participation and promoting the opportunities and

benefits of participation”. People experience sport in different ways depending on

their interests in being a participant or observer. Sport can foster exchange of

knowledge and information amongst stakeholders that can lead to innovation.

Often the development of regions and states is derived from sport related activities.

Schulenkorf (2017: 243) states “sport is a conduit to achieving wider development

outcomes rather than an end in itself”.

Given the buzz around entrepreneurship in the economy, it seems fair to say that

the field of sport entrepreneurship will continue to experience significant growth. In

order to harness existing knowledge in sport there needs to be more appreciation of

how entrepreneurship can contribute to the development of the field. Over time,

entrepreneurship in sport will be more strategically planned as a way to engage in

long term development. In the past, entrepreneurship was considered as an ad-ho or

by-product of sport. In the future more notice of how entrepreneurship occurs in

sport will be known.

There are different philosophies in sport that effect ethics. For some competition

means winning at any costs including through cheating or immoral activity. The

responsibility is on the referees or regulators to catch the unethical conduct rather

than the perpetrators. This means there is some ambiguity when ethics is interpreted

differently by people. An example is the football inflation rate tampering case by

the New England Patriots, who deliberately under-inflated footballs in order to give

their team an advantage in the game. Tom Brady the quarterback from the New

England Patriots was suspended for a number of games but ultimately his team won

the Super Bowl and was named the most valuable player in the game. Hence, the

unethical behavior seemed to have a positive effect, which further encourages

others to engage in the same kind of conduct.

Gamesmanship is a term used in sport that has ethical implications depending on

the context and extent of the behavior. For some, sport is about politics and to win

8.3 Ethics and Sport Entrepreneurship 119

there needs to be some manipulation of conduct for the aim of winning. This is

evident in faking an injury that was popular in football before referees started to

penalize players who seemed to be over emphasizing their injury. There is now

more ability through replay technology to see whether a player has actually been

injured. In addition, there are name calling in sport as part of the psychological

warfare that goes on in sport. This has been considered as part of the game but

recently there has been a backlash against this kind of conduct especially when it

concerns gender or race. In the Australian Football League an infamous incident

was in 1993 when St Kilda player Nicky Winmar lifted his jumper during a game to

point to his Aboriginal skin in response to racial abuse from the crowd at a game.

This incident resulted in the AFL creating an anti-racist policy that tried to educate

and inform players and fans that racism was not tolerated in the sport. The AFL has

also tried to educate people about homophobia and transphobia by starting pride

games that encourage equal equality.

There are ethical issues associated with the environmental impact of sport events.

This stems from the crowing and amount of people coming to a place to see a sport

event. Often sport events in natural environments such as those in parks or in the

ocean cause disruption to the existing animal and plant life. This congestion can

have detrimental long term effects to an area so the sport events need to be managed

more sustainably. Local communities have responded to these environmental

concerns by tying to be more involved in the sport event. Despite the negative

environmental effects there can also be positive effects in terms of more media and

attention placed on an area. This helps a region gain funding and sponsorship from

their association with a sport. An example is World Surfing Reserves, which has

named specific surfing spots as places that need special environmental protection.

Bells Beach Surfing Reserve located 1 h from Melbourne has a national park next to

the beach and limited tourism development. This is in contrast to the Gold Coast in

Queensland that has emphasized tourism development through skyscrapers and

large amounts of apartment buildings. Thus, sports events have a destination

image that needs to be managed in the appropriate manner.

The destination of some sport events such as yacht racing need to take place in a

big area but others is limited to stadiums or smaller spaces. This has caused some

security issues associated with the number of people able to attend a sports event.

Whilst some see sport as a vehicle for change and argue everyone should have

access to it there can be restrictions based on the amount of financial resources

required to play or watch the sport. For example, sports such as tennis and golf are

viewed as elitist sports and this represents an ethics issue as not all segments of

society can play the sport. Thus, there needs to be an integration of commercial

goals and social transformation in the hosting of sport events.

The novelty of sport means there are specific qualities it has that impact on the

way opportunities are pursued. The process of sports entrepreneurship involves

change through the innovative use of resources. There is entrepreneurial behavior in

sport that enables continued innovation in existing contexts but also the establish-

ment of new business opportunities. The capacity of sport organizations to engage

in risk depends on how they recognize opportunities. Sport entrepreneurship

120 8 Ethics and Sport Entrepreneurship

involves entrepreneurial activity within the sports context. Increasing studies on

sport are acknowledging that entrepreneurship is a key contributor to the creation of

new opportunities. The development of sport is dependent on exploiting

opportunities. Entrepreneurship has outcomes for the way sport is delivered and

for its development. There is a paucity of research on the way entrepreneurial ethics

are conducted in both the public and private sport sector. One of the biggest

challenges for sport organizations is to find new opportunities that can enhance

their market position. Sport has substantial social and economic value and is

recognized as a key component of communities. Many regions emphasise sport

as being part of the social fabric in enabling a community spirit to develop. Sport

can provide a way for groups of people to come together and connect.

8.4 Looking Ahead

The sport context provides a range of contexts for investigating the role of entre-

preneurship and ethics. The sport sector plays a key role in integrating new

technology and medical breakthroughs that have ethical dilemmas. Therefore,

sport leaders play a crucial role in making sure ethical guidelines are adhered to

but also respect emerging technologies. The increase in sport technology

innovation alongside increased ethical responsibility of sport organizations makes

it more important for firms in sport ethics. The viability of sport organizations refers

to their need to act ethical but also to innovate. Sport organizations need to develop

strategies to attract innovation whilst safeguarding ethical principles. Previous

research has focused on the role of sport ethics but has not linked it to entrepreneur-

ship as there are challenges of sport ethics in keeping up to date with emerging

technology. This has often resulted in ineffective ethics policies that resulted in bad

governance practices. As government funding to sport changes there is a need for

more independent funding of sport ventures that brings with it ethical challenges.

To overcome ethics issues sport organizations need to decrease their financial

dependence on public institutions and incorporate more entrepreneurial funding.

I suggest that entrepreneurship can provide opportunities for sport organizations

to keep up to date with emerging technology in an ethical manner. Academics can

provide some suggestions about the use of entrepreneurial ethics in other sectors

that can then be applied to sport. Therefore, entrepreneurial ethics utilized in sport

can enable the development of research partnerships between academic and prac-

tice. Given the interest in sports developing ethical guidelines in a new way may

help benefit other sectors of the economy. Sport organizations need to respond to

the ethical issues they are facing and develop new mechanisms to cope with change.

This will have an impact to the sport industry but also related sectors. This chapter

offers an entrepreneurial perspective to sport ethics. I hope the impact of sport

ethics and entrepreneurship will further stimulate research. The goal of this chapter

was to fuel interest in the need for a more entrepreneurial approach to sport ethics.

Sport entrepreneurship is a newly developed research field that is rapidly gaining

acceptance in both the sport management and entrepreneurship disciplines. In the

8.4 Looking Ahead 121

future ethics and sport entrepreneurship will continue to gain prominence in the

academic literature. Entrepreneurship is one of the fastest growing fields of busi-

ness so it is natural to assume sport entrepreneurship will increase in prominence. It

can be expected that the role of ethics in sport entrepreneurship will be deserving of

more attention. There are nuances in sport that are different to other industries that

need to be progressed in the academic literature. It is timely to focus on ethics in

sport entrepreneurship due to the increased interest in gender and sexuality dis-

crimination. There is more emphasis on equality and support of diverse groups of

society. Ethics can make a positive difference in sport as it enables a reflection

about changes and perceptions of expected behavior. Sport is a popular form of

activity to watch and participant in but cannot solve all societal problems. Instead

sport can encourage more ethical conduct by educating people about best behavior.

The field of sport entrepreneurship can incorporate an ethics perspective in order to

contribute to a more interdisciplinary understanding of the nexus of sport with

entrepreneurship. From an ethical perspective, sport is a way to address inequality

and to foster better outcomes.

Researchers are encouraged to develop better measurement tools to evaluate the

entrepreneurship in sport ethics. Finally, it must be noted that this chapter reports on

the role entrepreneurship plays in sport ethics. Therefore, the findings are focused

on the impact of innovation and change in sport ethics. This chapter will provide

valuable insights for future sport managers wanting to utilize more entrepreneurial

ethics. Future research needs to shed light on the ethics issues in sport and the

interrelationship with entrepreneurship.

There is still much work to do about understanding the role of ethics in sport and

how to nurture entrepreneurship. It is important to advance the current literature on

sport ethics by investigating entrepreneurial behavior. Future generations will

benefit from a more ethical form of sport participation. Thus, more research effort

is needed on how to make sport organizations respond more entrepreneurially to

ethical challenges. This might be done through targeting the cycle of ethics by

learning about future trends. In addition, the intensity of ethics in sport remains

subject to fluctuations. A meaningful research agenda is to focus on sport ethics

from an entrepreneurial perspective. The lack of research about entrepreneurial

effects of sport ethics does not represent what is occurring in the marketplace.

8.5 Conclusion

The relationship between sport ethics and entrepreneurship is the focus of this

chapter. This chapter provides insights on the impacts of entrepreneurship on sport

ethics policy through an investigation of how the research fields are linked. This

chapter will contribute to the limited body of knowledge about the role of entre-

preneurship in sport ethics by presenting a novel approach to understanding sport

ethics by including an entrepreneurial perspective. This chapter contends that ethics

and sport entrepreneurship have an interactive relationship and continues the

discussion of sport entrepreneurship evident in the other chapters by going beyond

current thinking of ethics to incorporate a more innovative perspective. The chapter

122 8 Ethics and Sport Entrepreneurship

highlights how in order to stimulate sport entrepreneurship there needs to be more

interest in ethics. There is no definite answer as to how entrepreneurial forms of

ethics are utilized in sport. Therefore, this chapter attempts to provide a starting

point about how entrepreneurship is useful in a sport setting.

The outcome of this chapter are central to the acknowledgement of ethics being

fundamental to the overall reputation of sport organizations. The future role of

entrepreneurship in sport ethics will benefit from a more holistic approach. This is

due to ethics defining the way sport is perceived in society. The findings of this

chapter are noteworthy due to the development of a comprehensive understanding

about the role entrepreneurship plays in sport ethics. This chapter has addressed the

sport ethics-entrepreneurship nexus, and suggests that there will be more interest in

this topic in the future. The stated aim of this chapter was to focus on entrepreneur-

ship in sport ethics. The role of ethics has been researched widely in the business

management literature but less in the sport entrepreneurship context. This has

resulted in uncertainty about how sport ethics can be innovative, risk taking and

proactive in the marketplace. There is room for sport entrepreneurs to utilize ethics

as a way to solve business and societal problems. This chapter has discussed the role

of ethics in sport entrepreneurship by taking a novel perspective about future

developments. This chapter contributes to the entrepreneurship and sports manage-

ment fields by adding an ethical perspective that is needed given the importance of

the global sport industry to the economy. The issue of ethics needs to be continually

investigated in terms of its application to sport. It is important to understand the

ethical issues in sport and how they can be changed based on entrepreneurship.

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