Vol. 9 No. 1-2 (2015)
In our consumer society sports have gained a lot of public and private attention. This holds both for the active as the passive form of this kind of consumption. Nowadays, the promotion of health enhancing activities, are seen as a key to the maintenance of good health of the people or the improvement of it. Doing sports is a prominent part of the leisure enhancing physical activities. Especially, higher educated are keen to extend their healthy life years by practising sports. And many elder citizens are convinced that one hour of tennis a day implies an extra day of life. The more physically active perform better at work and work more efficiently. Of course, this has all kind of positive externalities to society.
When we look at sports as a passive form of recreation, we see that sports have become business and sometimes big business in our market societies. For instance, the European Champions league is dominated by a few teams that have huge resources and are, sometimes, highly indebted.. Television rights of broadcasting certain sports activities or games have become very expensive. It is estimated that in the EU about 4 per cent of GDP is spent on sports. Sports has become a very important and interesting kind of economic and social activity that entails may aspects and issues.
Several sports issues are addressed in this Apstract issue ranging from macro to micro studies, and, from economics , sociology to business studies. Below, we will give a short thematic guide to the issue.In several papers the issue of financing sports is analysed for a particular country or region in Europe, e.g. Hungary and Croatia. One of the aspects that is important for a region is the sports infrastructure. This is the topic of two papers. One states that sports infra structure is of vital importance in the supply of all kind of sports to the people and to the consumers of various sports. It has long tem effects on the health of people in a certain region. Whereas the second one points at the desired , regional sustainability of sports infrastructure.
In an interesting essay the social historical narratives about modernity are linked with cultural and social functions of sports in a highly technologized capitalist world. Sports has also the power of integration or the inclusion of minorities in society.
This is analysed for sports and Roma in Hungary. Sports is gendered to a certain degree as can be seen in the contribution on masculine brave and feminine winter sports and, in two micro studies attention is paid the leisure sport activities and rewarding of very good sports students at the University of Debrecen.
More business studies oriented contributions deal with communication in fitness clubs, the environmental management tools of sporting goods manufacturers; and, the corporate tax in connection with sports organizations Various aspects of football are discussed in this issue: Borussia Dortmund as an association and as football enterprise; the rights of players ; and, new business strategies of football clubs. Two contributions discuss issues with respect to the users of sports: students and sport festivals;, and, athletes as an invisible source of sports organizations.
The great importance of broadcasting rights and the corresponding effects are analysed in the paper that deals with changes in IOC broadcasting rights.There is also a role for higher education to play in the sports area: one paper is a plea for more sports studies in higher education , whereas another contribution discusses the topic of educating sports coaches in higher education curricula.
We wish you the same intellectual pleasure in reading the contributions as we had.
Full Issue
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Articles
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Financing and operating questions of sports facilities
5-8Views:316This paper tends to present financing and operating questions of sports facilities. Infrastructure is very important for the sport businesses. Sports facilities and sports institutions, infrastructure development, and their legal, financial, accounting conditionality can be defined by the investors and the government (subsidies, taxes, etc.). Financial questions and IT background of facility management can be crucial for the enterprises interested in operating sports businesses. The paper focuses on these kinds of aspects of facility management based on practical examples.
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Student expectations on sports festivals with a view to the estimation questionnaire on Campus Sports Festival
9-14Views:186Campus Festival, organized each year, is listed as one amongst the music festivals in Hungary attracting crowds, with a target audience formed by higher education students. The organizers of Campus Festival set as their main highlighted objective, in addition to providing with musical events, the enhancement of the sporting life of the visitors stopping by. As a side event, Campus Sports Festival is launched each time along with it, with the intention to promote sports and doing sports, creating an event for the public suitable for the development of crossborder student relationships, between fans and contenders. This study is to demonstrate student expectations with a view to the questionnarebased needs assessment prepared on sports festivals.
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Specialities of the corporate tax in connection with the sports organizations
15-18Views:176In 2004 Hungary joined the EU, therefore its tax system is harmonized with EU directives and its trade with the EU is liberalized and exempt from customs restrictions. In the past few years Hungarian government introduced significant corporate tax advances in order to increase Hungary’s competitiveness for foreign capital. With the flat 10% corporate tax rate, Hungary has one of the the lowest corporate income tax rate in the European Union. Since 2011 new corporate tax incentive was adopted in order to create a tax advantageous economic environment for supporting the five most popular team sports in Hungary, namely, football, handball, basketball, water polo and ice hockey. The following article provides a rough guide on the corporate taxation – in particular of sport organizations in Hungary.
JEL code: H25
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The relevance of sports financing
19-22Views:235According to estimations sports exploit approximately two percent of world GDP. In addition sports represent an important function in culture, socialization and also in education, act an outstanding role in economy, as well, though academic researchers cannot find positive relationship between sports financing and economic growth. Sports were originally civil actions, with non-profit nature, where they did not aspire to reach high returns, but fulfilment of sport itself. However returns can be realized and reinvested in sports. This paper tries to collect the different aspects of sports financing in order to highlight its relevance.
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Analysing sporting goods manufacturers’ environmental management tools
23-29Views:242Organizations around the developed world are facing pressure from governments, international agreements, society and various stakeholders, to improve their behavior towards the natural environment. The application of environmental management tools may be an important step towards sustainability and the preservation of environmental values, however marketing could be the key – with the help of information and communication technologies (ICT) – in publicizing and spreading these ideas thus forming customers’, stakeholders’ attitude in this respect.The aim of this study was to define the concept of environmental consciousness and environmentally conscious behaviour, then to present the shift the traditional marketing philosophy towards the sustainable marketing approach, finally to analyse two top sporting goods manufacturers’ (Nike, Adidas) environmental management tools with the help of data gained from their web sites, reports, case studies. Interpreting environmental consciousness is difficult without knowing the attitude to it. In spite of that it is important to distinguish between environmental consciousness and environmentally conscious attitude, because consciousness often appears in attitude influenced by other, outer effects.The environmental conscious attitude of companies in itself is not enough for making use of the advantages deriving from a positive environmental concern. They need to pursue more active communication, to „green” the whole of marketing activities. Thus marketing seems a possible means to naturalize and expand environmental protection both among customers and in company practice. According to the analysed companies, we need to say, that they are commitment with the environmental protection. They are used state-of-theart technologies to make their activity greener and introduce these with full particulars, examples e.g. ColorDry technologies, Better Cotton, The Framaprene ECO heel. Either Nike, Inc., or Adidas Group realised that ICT have the ability to improve efficiency and cut the use of material goods, thus reducing energy demands and the burden upon the environment.
JEL code: Q01
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Sports financing in Croatia
31-34Views:175Sport is a complex social activity that encompasses various areas. Some of these activities come within the category of public needs, which implies that sport is an activity of wider social interest and requires public intervention in its financing. These needs are determined by law and are an integral part of state and local budgets. It is also indisputable that the sport is an activity of exceptional significance for the society and it is equally clear that the investment into sport in Croatia is not proportional to that significance and top scores, which are achieved by the Croatian athletes. Sport can be in a partner relationship with the economy and the promoter of social changes and habits, but in order to become and remain that, general public has to be truthfully interested into sports.
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Communication of trainers as one of the means for customer retention in fitness clubs
35-40Views:373Acquiring the adequate communication style is a vital element in trainers’ profession. This research aims to reveal the effects generated via the communicative style by trainers of fitness club customers. It also intends to explore whether communication style has any relation to the regularity of class attendance as well as to the length of training periods which is conceptualised in this paper as trainers’ economic efficiency. Data collection was carried out by structured interviews in a country-side large sport centre. Trainers with at least three training sessions per week (N=20) and their groups (N=160) were interviewed using Rudas (1994) communication style survey and additional selfdeveloped interview protocols. The results revealed that the examined trainers were distributed in all four communications styles, but showing dominance in aggressive and passive styles. The classes of trainers with aggressive and assertive communication style were those that showed the highest and maintained attendance rates. It seems, that classes held by trainers who communicate in a deliberate way and convey positive messages are attended more and in a sustained way. Accordingly, their precisely set targets and explanation of training sessions content correlated with repeated attendance and customer retention. It seems that groups with extended scope of communication are characterised by stronger group cohesion where social relationships could develop easier, which have relations to perseverance and commitment. Therefore development of trainers’ communication skills may be considered as an effective tool for fitness clubs for customer retention.
JEL code: Z20
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Examination of the organizational frameworks of sports enterprises in the light of good german practices
41-46Views:147In Hungary, with respect to the organizational issues associated with sports, there has occurred the demand for clarifying structural forms. The domestic development of sports raises the question in which fields the association-based sports model can be sustained, and operated further, and where organizational structures aligned with business models are viable. This article has described an example from German professional football, i.e. given an overview of the operation of Borussia Dortmund as a potential form for the enterprise and organizational solution. The strength of the demonstrated model is that the pursuance of business activities that cannot be or can be just hardly handled in the environment offered by associations is transferred to a setting dominated by economic conditions, whereas self-regulating civil values are not lost either, because the association remains the “parent company”.
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The role of sport infrastructure: use, preferences and needs
47-52Views:331Leisure and mass sports are very significant both socially and economically. Physical activities contribute to forming a healthier society. Skills and abilities developed by sport promote people’s well-being and directly improve their physical, mental and psychological performance this way producing better quality of life. The state of health of the workforce is a more and more frequent question in developed and developing economies but mostly in the western civilizations. Researches prove that those who are more active phisicly can perform better at their work and are more efficient in their jobs. They claim less sick leave benefit and their health insurance costs are lower, this way preserving the health of the workforce can be an investment in the future. If we want the population to live in a healthier way and do more sports only education and motivation are not enough, it is very important to provide the appropriate infrastructural background as well. People can have a wide range of choice provided by the local sports establishments and companies and the possibilities resulting from sport infrastructure investments. The effects of sport infrastructure investments and developements are many folded and long-therm, but it is worth approaching their benefits from different points of view. Researching this topic can contribute to better understanding of the society from the points of view of health care, economy and sociology. The aim of our work was to examine the sporting habits and sports consumption. In order to get to know the consumers we carried out a survey with 350 particiant with the help of an online questionnaire. When analyzing it I focused on the answers given by those who were active in sports, which was the 75% of total sample. In the analysis of the answers and relations between the questions and the different factors we used the SPSS Statistics program. Providing sport establishments and facilities and initiating such investments are highly important for each region. From the answers of the quesstionned we can learn what facilities are available for the consumers and what they miss most in the living area.
JEL code: L83
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The role and function of sport economic studies on higher education
53-55Views:178Sport economy is a new discipline in domestic and international higher education. In this paper I would like to introduce the present situation and experiencies of sport correlation with economic sciences. I am looking for the answer, for what role and possibilities does sport economic master program in Hungary have.
JEL code: Z2
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Sport as power of integration among minorities
57-62Views:205The opportunities and development of skills in the field of sports may open a door to social inclusion that also facilitates social integration. Based on the funding provided by the national sports strategy and integration, the research project can be developed further on and implemented. The efforts of the European Union (EU) and of the European Council towards the member states are carried out through its directives, and the analyses of these documents provide guidelines for the elaboration of the Hungarian Roma strategies. Funding is one of the key factors for the elaboration of Roma integration strategy and its efficiency. The research highlights upon the way of thinking and mentality of Roma young people about sports currently, and on the importance of sport affairs for them. Also, reflects on the factors which promote motivation to have successful career goals and achieve those based on the program. The sports integration survey suggests conclusions on the role of mentoring in Roma youngsters’ studies, in sports, in building social relations, the role model motivating for them, or on the supportive role of the parents or even the lack of it in their families. The expected result would be a survey on sporting habits of the Roma minority and disadvantaged youth and their positioning in education through which we could develop programs to promote the integration of the Roma minority and to improve their general circumstances. The National Social Inclusion Strategy (Ministry of Human Capacities, National Social Inclusion Strategy 2011–2020) provides the financial background of the integration project whose application also prevails in the field of sports integration. The aspirations of the EU provide guidance to the amount of funding and its allocation manners. The National Roma Self-Government’s (NRSG) sports integration project and best practice has provided the basis for the sports integration research project. The survey is examining the recreational habits, motivational factors, study levels among the Roma minority and the disadvantaged young people. Based on the questionnaire, we can draw some conclusions about the development of sports integration programs. The issues cover the field of sport activities of young people aged between 9-18 and on the significance of sport opportunities for break-out for the Roma youth, and on the effect of role models for them. The sports integration projects treat simultaneously the development of education and sport, furthermore they are significantly linked to each other. The target group of the questionnaire survey are mainly the Roma and disadvantaged people. The sample item number is 1216 completed questionnaires from the whole territory of the country, from 16 schools. As shown in the survey, the sport and the level of education are significantly related to each other. Those who do any sports, obtain higher level of achievement in their studies. It can be revealed by the fact that through mentoring the sportsmen can promote their school performance and sport development together. The research highlights on another observation, namely, it also confirms the legitimacy of sports integration program and points out the direction for development. For accomplishing the goal of social inclusion through sport we have at hand the appropriate concept. It is, furthermore necessary to strengthen and to develop the mentoring program, which ensures the lower drop-out rate among the participants. The effect of Sports integration is motivating for the Roma and for the disadvantaged youth. The use of sport as a tool for social inclusion proves to be of utmost importance.
JEL code: Z23
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Traditionalism and timeliness in modern sport
63-66Views:325The essay links social historical narratives about modernity with cultural studies views on sport, and investigates what cultural and social functions are associated with sport in our highly technicized capitalist world. While pursuing this research I always keep in mind how professional spectacle sports interact with different forms of technical media.
JEL code: Z20
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New business strategies of football clubs
67-73Views:620The study investigates new strategies of football clubs in function of last few years’ trends in European football leagues. There were many changes in international professional football during the last 10-15 years that had significant effect on the success of certain clubs. We show empirical evidences about these effects based on data about revenues, transfer balance, financial and sport successes. We focus on Western European leagues and classify clubs based on their business and sport strategies.
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Analysis of the leisure sport activities in University of Debrecen
75-80Views:160The sports program of the professional higher education focusing on the leisure sports opportunities. New needs, change in taste and new leisure habits of the young generation should be taken into account to design the University’s leisure sports program. In my study I was dealing with a questionnaire survey investigating the attitude of the students of the University of Debrecen to leisure sports, and the students’ opinions about their own physical status. Data collection was completed on a paper based questionnaire, 42 closed-type questions were included and a total of 213 students completed it. In conclusion I found that the students are satisfied with their physical states although not many of them do sport on a regular basis. I revealed the primary excuses for neglecting sports: lack of time, laziness and timetable discrepancies. These findings make it imperative that by avoiding the existing discrepancies the students be provided the widest range of time in their time tables available for physical activities.
JEL code: Z20
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Masculine brave in the feminine winter sports
81-85Views:175The sport has significant role in the changes of the genders relation and helped to transform the conception of the sexes during the last fifty years. The women started to do conventionally male sports; the newest event was the ski jumping for female athletes at the Olympic Games of Soci. The gender stereotypes in the women sports can be stronger or weaker depending on the success or on the water haul. This phenomenon helps us to understand the new conceptions of the sexes in the context of the relationships of genders.
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Coach education approach in 16 Hungarian sport federations results of the first sport organizational audit
87-91Views:173Nowadays the Hungarian government finances the sports in many ways; one of these grant forms is the group of 16 prioritized sports (biking, boxing, fencing, gymnastic, judo, track and field, kayak-canoeing, modern pentathlon, rowing, shooting, skating, swimming, tennis, table tennis, volleyball and wrestling) which are supported notably by the Hungarian Olympic Committee (HOC) till 2020. The purpose of the 1st sport vocational audit was to identify the current status of these sports, and also to create a database in many fields as a benchmark of the development. The sport management department of the Semmelweis University, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences (TF) contracted with the Hungarian Olympic Committee (HOC) in order to carry the sport vocational audit out. A sport develops if the numbers of the athletes grow or the results of the national teams are better. The coaches are the key persons in this development, if they could gather more children into the sport or they work better with the elite athletes the development has already done. It was examined the existence of the coach education programs; all the federations were running coaching programs for adults (OKJ) in both levels (coach assistant, coach). By 14 associations existed the first level of the higher education coaching program (BSc) and in 13 federations operated the MSc coaching program as well. All these coaching courses were common programs with schools, or universities. It was no evidence found that the federations run own coaching program but coaching license system existed in two sports at the time of the investigation.
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Medals and degrees: factors influencing dual career of elite student athletes at the University of Debrecen
93-98Views:217Career planning and goal setting play a significant role in the life of elite athletes gaining critical relevance during the overlapping years with university studies. As athletic career contain a necessary end and cannot serve as a profession for life, all athletes shall go through modification period in their professional lives. The athletic career shall come to an end and elite athletes need to find another profession for which they need to prepare as well. The specialities of this undertake is that the peak or the progressive cycle of athletic career often times overlap in time with high school and university studies. This definitely challenges those young athletes who made the decision to continue their studies at the university level beside their athletic careers. The objective of this study is to explore the main factors influencing the simultaneous realisation of studies and elite sport careers during university years. Part of a complex research approach on dual career in sport this study is aimed to gain information about methods of athletes for managing their dual tasks, the perceived relationship of student athletes to their peers, teachers and coaches, and their position on the relevant policy regulations provided by the university environment. Following the development of research instruments, data collection was conducted by focus-group interviews at the University of Debrecen among student elite athletes receiving sport scholarships (N=15). Level of success in sport, sport type (individual and team) and gender distribution was taking into account. The results shall contribute to the development of a future research instrument in a form of a questionnaire to assess aspects of dual career of athletes in case of larger samples.
JEL code: Z20
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Changing of the broadcasting rights in connection with the Winter Olympic Game in Sochi
99-103Views:152The authors examine how the broadcasting rights have changed relating to the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) changed media politics in the case of to the Winter Olympic Games in 2014. They present the market of the broadcasting rights and the changing of the incomes of the media rights fees. They are also examining the target of the IOC relating to the television market and exploring how it might impact the life of the broadcasting and public service media.
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Athletes—the invisible resources of sports organizations
105-110Views:149Sports organizations must prepare an annual report on their operation and assets, pursuant to the current Act on Accounting. However, when preparing this report, one must face the difficulty of defining the value intellectual assets and human resources represent, and the impossibility of its inclusion in financial statements. Therefore there is a significant difference between the value shown in accounting and the fair value of sports organizations.
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Examination of the sustainability of the sport facilities in the Northern Great Plain Region of Hungary
111-117Views:176Developing sport into an industry has become a fundamental interest and a noticeable approach in Hungary in recent years. A socalled economic orientation can also be observed in the field of leisure time sports, which was made into law in Hungary in 2011 allowing the support of sport organisations and resulting in a number of infrastructural developments in Hungary. A wide range of development opportunities remain open in sports. This evaluation aims to introduce what significant sport-investment projects have been implemented in the Northern Great Plain region in recent decades and what effects these investments have had. Surveys have been used to reveal whether these facilities originating from years of sport developments are sustainable and to what extent these are exploited for organising sport events. Based on responses provided by a number of sport facilities – including ones built in the past and also ones opened recently – it can be concluded that sport in itself cannot solve the issue of operation and possible economic growth. Considering these aspects, it is important to incorporate, not only in operation but also during planning, the idea that current facilities must „serve” not solely sport events as these in themselves will not make them profitable but they must remain open for all sorts of social events as well.
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Information content of a sports undertaking’s statements serving different purposes – particularly with reference to the player rights
119-133Views:221In the 21st century, sport is not just a fun, social cohesive force but also a business; it has become an independent industry by now and several countries possess developed sport markets. According to estimates, sport accounts for 4% of the EU’s GDP. The actuality of our research is given by the fact that the economic aspect of sports develops continuously which is also due to that more and more amounts already stream into sports in our days. In Hungary, sport is mainly state aided and has mostly financing problems while the sport businesses existing in the more developed Western Europe are principally sponsored by the private sector. The government considers sport as a strategic branch (HERCZEG et al, 2015) and manages as such because they see the international breakthrough potencies in sport as well. Sport companies must also adapt the business-based thinking, which requires the strategic planning and operation (BECSKY, 2011). The research covers the subject of economic approach of the players’ rights. The task of accounting is to give a true and fair image about the property, income and financial situation of an undertaking. Information provided by accounting is essential for both the management decisionmaking and the market operators. In Hungary, the sports undertakings, as each managing entity, have to prepare their statements according to the Act C of 2000 on Accounting (AoA.) (NAGY – BÁCSNÉ BÁBA, 2014). The purpose of this research is to examine how a domestic sports undertaking demonstrates the value of available players in the books and how the incomes and expenditures incurred with the players are accounted for, based on the regulations of the Hungarian, international associations and the Union of European Football Associations (hereinafter: UEFA). In order that the leaders of the businesses can make quick and appropriate economic decisions, it is essential in this intensively changing world that an enterprise should have a well-functioning accounting system based on up-to-date information. International Financial Reporting Standards (hereinafter: IFRS) are intended to provide the comparability across borders. Firstly, we deal with the accounting reporting system, both the Hungarian, international financial reporting standards and, relating to UEFA, the investigation of the intangible assets to a great extent during analysing the balance sheets. Then, we examine the income statements from the viewpoint player transfers. To what extent the rules of a statement laid down by UEFA differ from the ones of a statement prepared according to AoA? What is the difference in domestic and international relations? In this study, we search after the answers for questions mentioned before.
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