The relationship between sport and the natural environment is bidirectional and critical to the production of sport products, events, and experiences. Researchers have studied sport and the natural environment within the various subdisciplines of sport management. However, given the changing climate and mounting public concern for the environment, there is pressure to reconsider the relevance and significance of the natural environment, which is taken for granted in managerial contexts. Reflecting the importance of the natural environment, the robustness of the current literature, and the potential for the future, we propose a new subdiscipline of sport management called sport ecology. Thus, we proposed, in this paper, a definition for sport ecology, (re)introduced key concepts related to this subdiscipline (e.g., sustainability, green), and highlighted the leading research that serves as the foundation for sport ecology. We concluded with a discussion on the ways sport ecology can inform—and be informed by—other subdisciplines of sport management.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework surrounding the typology of environmental sustainability efforts made within the sport industry. We draw from multiple theoretical frameworks (i.e. institutional theory and diffusion of innovation) to understand the increased similarities of environmental sustainability efforts through organizational learning as environmental sustainability efforts become more purposeful and sophisticated across the sport industry. The paper uses examples from various sport organizations and leagues to classify the efforts of sport organizations into waves of sport environmental sustainability efforts and important implications arising from them.

Research question: The sport industry has deepened its commitment to implementing and deploying environmental sustainability initiatives. However, until this study there were no uniform ways to evaluate these efforts. To this end, the purpose of this study is to create and test the sport sustainability campaign evaluation model among sport participants of a 10-mile run event. Research methods: We tested the fit of the sport sustainability campaign evaluation model using 531 participants of a community run. Results and Findings: Needs, values, internal constraints, and points of attachment explained 52.1% of the variance in attitudes toward the campaign. Attitudes, external constraints, past behavior and all of the indirect effects of the other variables combined, explained 74.2% of the variance in participating in sustainability initiatives. Sport professionals can use this model to assess environmental sustainability campaigns and promote attitudinal and sustainable behaviors. Implications: The findings of this study have important implications for sport managers and marketers as they create and further advance their organization’s sustainability campaigns. Understanding the needs and values of sport participants can help marketers and managers determine how those needs and values affect positive attitudes towards the campaign. Increasing the positive attitudes towards the campaign, while minimizing the negative influence of external constraints to act sustainably, can increase sustainable behavioral intentions and thus increase the success of the sport organization’s sustainability campaign. This model can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of sustainability campaigns to influence attitudes and behaviors of sport participants.

A paradox exists between the ways sport organizations evaluate their economic impact, compared with their environmental impact. Although the initial sustainability and corporate social responsibility efforts of sport organizations should be celebrated, it is appropriate to call for the next advancement concerning the assessment and measurement of environmental sustainability efforts in sport organizations. Specifically, there is a need for improved and increased monitoring and measurement of sustainable practices that include negative environmental externalities. To usher this advancement, the authors first reviewed the extant research and current industry practice involving environmental impact reporting in sport. Second, the authors proposed a conceptual framework that expands the scope of environmental assessment to be more comprehensive. As such, this expanded, yet more accurate, assessment of environmental impact can identify specific aspects of the event and the inputs and outputs of the before and after event phases that can be curtailed or modified to reduce environmental impacts of sport events.