Analysis of the Public and Private Sports Industry

Analysis of the Public and Private Sports Industry Public, private and voluntary sectors in the sports industry, advantages and disadvantages of the leisure centre being in the public sector, how the local leisure centre can meet the aim of getting more local clubs to use its facilities. Introduction â€Å"Since the opportunity to participate in sport or recreation requires facilities, the central task of organisations, and associated individuals, is to provide a service which focuses on people and which satisfies that need.† [1] The sports industry has changed beyond all recognition since the beginning of the 1990’s in each of the public, private and voluntary sectors. The impetus has come from top level government policy with the creation of the UK Sports Council and the formation of the chief sporting bodies such as Sport England offering both funding and structure to the previously ad hoc nature of leisure and recreation in modern Britain. Moreover, the lure of professional sport has also irrevocably changed in tan dem with the structural changes in amateur sport with the result that there is, at the dawn of the twenty first century, more people are taking an active part in sport, which has further increased the pressure on local services such as leisure centres. There are though vast differences between the way that the public and private sector sports providers are run and funded as shall now become apparent. The Private Sector With regards to the sports industry, the private sector refers to those leisure services that are funded by private capital and open only to private membership. This can mean anything from specialist professional sports clubs to health and fitness clubs to local sports teams that have been established and sponsored by local and national businesses alike. The advantages of this kind of sporting industry are predominantly economic with the funding of private sports clubs historically far outstripping the economic resources available to equivalent public sector sports se rvices. Certainly in the 1970’s and 1980’s, private sector sports industries were far more popular and productive than their public sector counterparts mirrored in the elevated sporting achievements of private school sporting institutions as opposed to the relative failings of the same public (comprehensive) school sports bodies. There are, however, inherent disadvantages to sports and leisure services that rely exclusively on the private sector for funding. First and foremost, there are no guarantees that the source of that funding will remain constant for any fixed length of time. Benefactors are subject to the ups and downs of the free market economy, which can result in sharp reductions – as well as rises – in the level of funding provided. In addition, any leisure service that is inexorably tied to the private sector also inevitably suffers from the lack of community spirit that can only be adequately garnered through association with the local publi c authorities. Thus, while the advantages to sports services in the private sector appear on the surface to be all encompassing, the reality is that the lack of stability that characterises all facets of the private sector economy hampers the sustained growth and popularity.