Sport governance in Australia: questions of board structure and performance

Governance within sport is receiving increasing attention with the rise of commercialization and professionalism within the industry. The purpose of this research was to examine the current state of sport governance within an Australian context particularly in relation to board structure at the National Sport Organisation (NSO) level. A qualitative method was adopted employing five Australian NSOs as the sample. Interviews were conducted (n = 10) with various board members of these organizations to uncover the major challenges they are facing in relation to their organization's governance. Results showed that there are significant challenges facing these organizations in relation to board composition, independence, performance, and evaluation. These issues are reflective of pressures arising from government agencies and members of these organizations amongst other stakeholders. A number of theoretical implications arise from the current study including the need for further study examining the delegate versus independent model of board composition and other issues that were salient as part of the reported emergent thematic structure. The results within the current study expand our understanding of what was previously known about the complex issues of board composition and board performance assessment within non-profit sporting organizations. These results may have implications for the selection process of boards within the non-profit sport industry and how these boards are assessed in terms of their performance.