A review of the North American Society for Sport Management and its foundational core

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to explore the development of the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) and to map the foundation that specific individuals, historical works, and historians provided the founders of that organization and the field of sport management in general. The paper also aims to track the early beginnings of sport management and present sport as a viable area for business and management historians to conduct their research and discuss theory. Design/methodology/approach – Following the initial work started by deWilde et al., this study drew on a wide range of primary and secondary sources and took an antiquarian and reconstructionist approach. Specifically, time-specific sport-related/focused dissertations, research articles, and archives from NASSM, along with published books and archives, were used to work toward the purpose of the study. Findings – This paper illustrates that some of the critical founding members of sport management and NASSM drew upon the training of historians, with special emphasis from business history, and reacted to specific prompts to create the field (i.e. sport management). “History” and trained historians directly impacted the field of sport management by helping to establish NASSM, the Journal of Sport Management, and graduate study programs, in addition to fashioning the first field accreditation standards and seminal textbooks needed to educate the generalist or specialist sport management student. Research limitations/implications – This research only tracks the beginnings of sport management and focuses on the contribution of “history” toward its development. This work recognizes there were other influences that were critical to the development of sport management. Practical implications – Over time, sport management scholars have moved away from their small historical base and more toward true quantitative preferences. While this has helped the field gain some respectability within contemporary preferences, the re-utilization of historical methods and/or perspectives can help serve the future of sport management and business/management history research toward the study of emerging topics. Through collaboration sport management's leadership can realize the potential of the historical approach/orientation and management historians can enjoy another outlet to communicate their thoughts regarding management topics and theories. Originality/value – The paper highlights that sport is rich in context and available to use for the study of management theory and behaviors.