ABSTRACT
Sport is simultaneously a cultural and an economic activity. It is also a set of highly organised and structured global phenomena. Our interest lies in the role and nature of the global sports organisation (hereafter GSO). The GSOs exist to control sports at the world level and take many shapes and forms. In essence they are the supreme governing body of a sport or some other aspect of sport such as doping. Some are massive in their impacts and influence while others are much less so, even though their claim to global control may be legitimate. Whatever their size within their own circuit they all have some claim to be the ringmasters of sport. To date, there has been little investigation of them as a group but there are some interesting studies of them as individuals. It is our intention to begin to rectify this omission.
