ABSTRACT
The structure of American sport – and the consequences of that structure – is almost universally misunderstood by those who view it from outside the system. The reason is simple: American sport is organized and managed in a manner that bears scant resemblance to the organization and management of sport elsewhere in the world (Chalip et al. 1996; Markovits and Hellerman 2001). As a result, even words and phrases used across the English-speaking world, such as ‘club’ or ‘school sport’, have subtle but significant differences in meaning when applied in the American context relative to countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, or the United Kingdom – a fact which has caused more than a few misunderstandings in making comparisons to American sport in other countries, whether the comparison is conducted by Americans or nationals from outside the United States.
