Special issue editors
- Chan Hyeon Hur, Florida International University, chur@fiu.edu
- Walker J. Ross, The University of Edinburgh. walker.ross@ed.ac.uk
- Argyro Elisavet Manoli, Università degli Studi du Bergamo, argyroelisavet.manoli@unibg.it
Sustainability has become one of the most critical challenges and opportunities in global sport management. While often framed as primarily an environmental issue, sustainability in sport is inherently multidimensional, involving ecological, social, and economic processes that unfold before, during, and after sporting events. For sport managers, this creates pressing responsibilities to design strategies, policies, and practices that reduce ecological impacts, foster equity, and ensure the long-term viability of infrastructures and organizations (Ross et al., 2019). This special issue invites submissions that critically interrogate these intersections, moving beyond rhetorical commitments toward advancing meaningful, lasting, and actionable outcomes (Jarvie, 2024; Preuss & Hong, 2021).
Building on prior scholarship in environmental management in sport (Kellison & Mondello, 2012; Manoli et al., 2025; McCullough et al., 2019; McCullough et al., 2020) and research on event-driven urban and economic transformations (Kellison, 2023; Hur & Watanabe, 2025; Yan et al., 2021), we encourage contributions that examine sustainability across the event lifecycle, including but not limited to the following areas
- Pre-event narratives and expectations. We invite contributions that examine how sport events are promoted through promises of economic growth, infrastructure development, and civic renewal, and how these claims are framed and contested by different stakeholders. For instance, studies highlight how profitability logics and financial risks are communicated around mega-event bids (Lang et al., 2025), how capital markets respond to host announcements (Elhachimi & Kartobi, 2025), and how brand-building and place-making narratives contribute to shaping city identities (Dubinsky, 2024a).
- Post-event economic and social dynamics. We invite contributions that investigate the aftermath of major sporting events, particularly questions of affordability, community stability, and equity (Hur et al., 2025). Research on legacy outcomes and public opinion around stadium districts and event investments provides useful insight into these dynamics (Preuss & Hong, 2021). Such findings help illuminate the uneven distribution of benefits and burdens that often accompany sport-led development (Kellison, 2023).
- Urban and spatial transformations. We invite contributions that explore how sporting events and facilities alter the built environment, influencing land use, neighborhood composition, and urban form over both short and long time horizons. Scholarship on transnational infrastructure projects further shows how stadium diplomacy intertwines sport with broader patterns of urban and geopolitical transformation (Dubinsky, 2024b).
- Models for sustainable reform and managerial strategies. We invite contributions that examine efforts to reduce the ecological footprint of sport, promote inclusion, and ensure the long-term financial viability of infrastructures and event legacies. Research points to event cost–revenue structures (Lang et al., 2025), public willingness to pay for environmental initiatives at participatory events (Hugaerts & Könecke, 2024), and athlete-informed adaptation to climate changes in sports (Knowles et al., 2024; Manoli et al., 2025) as examples of decision-relevant evidence. These contributions also highlight managerial strategies that can align sustainability goals with operational, financial, and community objectives.
- Integrity, accountability, and the credibility of sustainability claims. We invite contributions that examine how integrity is constructed, challenged, and enforced within sport sustainability initiatives, including the role of governance mechanisms, reporting standards, independent audits, and stakeholder scrutiny (Manoli & Konstantopoulos, 2024; Walzel et al., 2018). Of particular interest are studies that explore how integrity failures, such as misleading environmental claims, opaque financial practices, or inequitable legacy outcomes, affect organizational trust, legitimacy, and the long-term sustainability of sport systems (Gammelsæter & Loland, 2023; Cayolla et al., 2024). Research that critically interrogates Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks, sustainability certifications, and accountability regimes in global sport governance is especially welcome.
- Athletes, fans, and stakeholder’s roles in sustainability. We invite contributions that examine how different stakeholder groups participate in, negotiate, or contest sustainability initiatives in sport, including studies on athlete activism, fan mobilization, sponsor influence, and community-based resistance. Of particular interest are analyses that address asymmetries in voice and influence across stakeholder groups, the tensions between commercial imperatives and ethical commitments, and the conditions under which stakeholder engagement contributes to substantive rather than symbolic sustainability outcomes (Walzel et al., 2018; Manoli et al., 2024).
Comparative research is especially welcome, whether across the Global North and Global South, urban and suburban settings, or wealthy and resource-constrained communities. Of particular interest are studies situated in less developed or fiscally constrained contexts, where event-led development can generate visibility and investment while also imposing fiscal strain, inequitable outcomes, and cultural displacement (Gaffney, 2010). We also welcome research on crisis and disruption: for example, industry responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in different institutional contexts (Cho et al., 2023), as well as studies that foreground marginalized groups and participation barriers (Lange et al., 2024).
Although sport management scholarship has increasingly engaged with sustainability, it has too often treated the concept in normative or singular terms. This special issue seeks to advance theoretical, methodological, empirical, and managerial understandings that foreground the distribution of benefits and burdens, power dynamics, governance mechanisms, and long-term social consequences of sport-related development. By critically examining these dimensions, this collection aims to reposition sustainability as a foundational concern for both the study and management of global sport.
References (selected recent works supporting the special issue)
Cayolla, R., Kellison, T., McCullough, B. P., Biscaia, R., Escadas, M., & Santos, T. (2024). Exploring the evolution of suggested improvements to pro-environmental sustainability initiatives: empirical evidence from a professional sport team. Journal of Strategic Marketing, Early Access Online. https://doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2024.2434752
Cho, S., Shin, N., Kwak, D. H., Kim, A. C. H., Jang, W. S., Lee, J., & Ko, Y. J. (2023). The impact of COVID‑19 crisis on major spectator sport industry in the U.S. and South Korea: Challenges and outlook. Journal of Global Sport Management, 8(4), 903–927. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2021.1936591
Dubinsky, Y. (2024a). Branding a city as a sports town: A conceptual model based on ‘Track Town USA’. Journal of Global Sport Management, 9(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2021.2001354
Dubinsky, I. (2024b). China’s stadium diplomacy in Africa. Journal of Global Sport Management, 9(4), 761–778. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2021.1885101
Elhachimi, Z., & Kartobi, S. E. (2025). Stock market reactions to FIFA’s announcements: Analysis of the co‑organization of the 2030 World Cup by Morocco, Spain, and Portugal. Journal of Global Sport Management. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2025.2512242
Gaffney, C. (2010). Mega-events and socio-spatial dynamics in Rio de Janeiro, 1919-2016. Journal of Latin American Geography, 9(1), 7–29. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25765282
Gammelsæter, H., & Loland, S. (2023). Code Red for Elite Sport. A critique of sustainability in elite sport and a tentative reform programme. European Sport Management Quarterly, 23(1), 104–124.
Hugaerts, I., & Könecke, T. (2024). Determinants of the willingness to pay for environmental sustainability in participatory sport events. Journal of Global Sport Management. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2024.2397991
Hur, C. H., & Watanabe, N. M. (2025). A monetary valuation of hosting a sport mega-event via residential real estate markets in small host communities: evidence from post-event analysis. European Sport Management Quarterly. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2025.2494829
Hur, C. H., Yan, G., Watanabe, N. M., & Soebbing, B. P. (2025). Toward a Critical Understanding of Gentrification and Mega-Sport Event: An Analysis of the Rental Market in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games. Sociology of Sport Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2024-0119
Jarvie, G. (2024). Sport, soft power and cultural relations. Journal of Global Sport Management, 9(4), 670–687. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2021.1952093
Kellison, T. (2023). Enduring and emergent public opinion in relation to a suburban stadium district: The case of Truist Park–Battery Atlanta. Journal of Global Sport Management, 8(4), 674–694. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2021.1886685
Kellison, T. B., & Mondello, M. J. (2012). Organisational perception management in sport: The use of corporate pro-environmental behaviour for desired facility referenda outcomes. Sport Management Review, 15(4), 500–512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2012.01.005
Knowles, N. L. B., Scott, D., & Rutty, M. (2024). Athlete insights on climate change and winter sport: Impacts, thresholds, adaptations, and implications for the future. Journal of Global Sport Management. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2024.2398746
Lang, M., Gogishvili, D., & Müller, M. (2025). What makes mega‑events profitable? Determinants of revenues and costs of the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup. Journal of Global Sport Management. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2025.2538007
Lange, S., Bolt, G., Vos, S., & Völker, B. (2025). Inclusion of the marginalized: The case of sport participation: A scoping review. Journal of Global Sport Management, 10(3), 431–463. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2024.2317121
Manoli, A. E., & Konstantopoulos, I. (Eds.). (2024). Integrity and Sustainability in Sport: Business, Environmental and Social Goals. Taylor & Francis.
Manoli, A. E., Lomax, C., O’Byrne, D., & Antonopoulos, G. A. (2025). Olympians’ perspectives of environmental sustainability within the Olympic games. Leisure Studies, 44(3), 483–494. https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2024.2314455
McCullough, B. P., Orr, M., & Watanabe, N. M. (2019). Measuring externalities: The imperative next step to sustainability assessment in sport. Journal of Sport Management, 34(5), 393–402. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2019-0254
McCullough, B. P., Orr, M., & Kellison, T. (2020). Sport ecology: Conceptualizing an emerging subdiscipline within sport management. Journal of Sport Management, 34(6), 509–520. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2019-0294
Preuss, H., & Hong, S.‑P. (2021). Olympic legacy: Status of research. Journal of Global Sport Management, 6(3), 205–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2021.1888028
Ross, W. J., Leopkey, B., & Mercado, H. U. (2019). Governance of Olympic environmental stakeholders. Journal of Global Sport Management, 4(4), 331–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2018.1477524
Walzel, S., Robertson, J., & Anagnostopoulos, C. (2018). Corporate social responsibility in professional team sports organizations: An integrative review. Journal of Sport Management, 32(6), 511–530. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2017-0227
Yan, G., Xue, H., & Seifried, C. (2021). Representations of Wrigley Field Redevelopment (s) in the Chicago Tribune: Neoliberal Discourse and Urban Politics. Sociology of Sport Journal, 39(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2019-0100
Submission instructions
Authors who seek scholarly engagement at the 2026 Global Fashion Management Conference (GFMC) should prepare and submit their extended abstracts in accordance with the 2026 GFMC guidelines (due January 31, 2026) through the conference submission page, using the Journal of Global Sport Management (JGSM) formatting standards. Papers presented within the conference track “Sustainability in Global Sport: Environmental, Social, and Economic Futures” will be considered for invitation to submit a full manuscript for potential inclusion in this special issue.
In addition to the conference pathway, authors may also submit their work directly to the Journal of Global Sport Management for consideration in this special issue, independent of participation in the 2026 GFMC. Authors who intend to submit to the special issue must submit their full manuscripts directly through the JGSM online submission system. Submitted manuscripts must represent original work and must not be simultaneously under review elsewhere. All full submissions will be evaluated through JGSM’s standard double-blind peer-review process.
We look forward to receiving your submissions and to furthering academic dialogue on sustainability within the global sport landscape across environmental, social, economic, and governance dimensions. We also warmly invite early-career scholars to submit, and we welcome new voices engaging with sustainability in global sport. For questions related to the special issue, please contact the Guest Editors.
Key dates for the special issue
- Deadline for Extended Abstracts (Conference): January 31, 2026
- 2026 GFMC Madrid Conference: July 16 – 19, 2026
- Deadline for Full Manuscripts (Journal Review): October 31, 2026
Reference links
- Gamma Conference Submission Guidelines
https://2026gfmc.imweb.me/35/?q=YToxOntzOjEyOiJrZXl3b3JkX3R5cGUiO3M6MzoiYWxsIjt9&bmode=view&idx=167340125&t=board
- The 2026 Global Fashion Management Conference at Madrid Submission
https://2026gfmc.imweb.me/24452063
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