ABSTRACT
Sports, their governing bodies and member nations have enjoyed unprecedented media coverage over the last two decades. They have also been the main beneficiaries of record funding, which has risen with successive Olympiads, stimulated by national lotteries and the explosion in broadcasting rights and sponsorship income. More and more sports (and paralympic sports) are now competing for a place to dine at the Olympic and Paralympic tables at both Summer and Winter Games.
The first part of the chapter addresses how sports should sustain themselves into the future. The second part, with insight from the IOC and leaders of a number of major sports, outlines how they are addressing the challenge and, in some cases, changing their game as sports. Without a strong social purpose and attention to the wider environment and issues such as equity and equality, sport will always leave itself open to accusations of greed and self-interest.
