ABSTRACT
This chapter presents numerous financial functions that a sport facility manager must understand. Starting with an overview of why financial skills are an integral part of the sport facility manager’s overall portfolio of management of skills, how finance is the ‘language’ of business is covered. The importance of being fluent in financial language, both in terms of understanding it and being able to communicate in it, and the need for sport facility managers to continuously develop and enhance their financial skills are crucial to managing finances, budgeting, and decision making in terms of cost and in applying that knowledge in real-world situations. All too often, the myopic reaction of managers when facing adverse financial performance is to cut costs. However, closer inspection of the facts and the nature of costs in sports facilities is that, for any given level of output, costs are generally fixed. If we understand this point, then the way to maximize profit or to manage a business out of a crisis is to increase revenue. Increased revenue can be achieved by raising prices, increasing throughput, improving the secondary spend offer, or any combination of these methods. As income increases, the cost will remain essentially fixed and the bottom line will improve accordingly. This chapter is concerned with helping managers to understand the nature of cost and to use this knowledge to improve a facility’s financial performance.
