Call for papers: Journal of Global Sport Management
Special Issue for the 2026 Global Fashion Management Conference at Madrid
Theme: Sustainability in Global Sport: Environmental, Social, and Economic Futures
Guest Editor:
- Chan Hyeon Hur, Assistant Professor, Florida International University (ch...@fiu.edu)
Sustainability has become one of the most critical challenges and opportunities in global sport management. While often framed as primarily an environmental issue, sustainability in sport is inherently multidimensional, involving ecological, social, and economic processes that unfold before, during, and after sporting events. For sport managers, this creates pressing responsibilities to design strategies, policies, and practices that reduce ecological impacts, foster equity, and ensure the long-term viability of infrastructures and organizations. This special issue invites submissions that critically interrogate these intersections, moving beyond rhetorical commitments toward advancing meaningful, lasting, and actionable outcomes (Jarvie, 2024; Preuss & Hong, 2021).
Building on prior scholarship in environmental management in sport (Kellison & Mondello, 2012; Manoli et al., 2025; McCullough et al., 2019; McCullough et al., 2020) and research on event-driven urban and economic transformations (Kellison, 2023; Hur & Watanabe, 2025; Yan et al., 2021), we encourage contributions that examine sustainability across the event lifecycle, including but not limited to the following areas:
- Pre-event narratives and expectations. Sport events are often promoted through promises of economic growth, infrastructure development, and civic renewal. These claims, however, are framed and contested in different ways by various stakeholders. For instance, studies highlight how profitability logics and financial risks are communicated around mega-event bids (Lang et al., 2025), how capital markets respond to host announcements (Elhachimi & Kartobi, 2025), and how brand-building and place-making narratives contribute to shaping city identities (Dubinsky, 2024a).
- Post-event economic and social dynamics. The aftermath of major sporting events brings to the fore questions of affordability, community stability, and equity (Hur et al., 2025). Research on legacy outcomes and public opinion around stadium districts and event investments provides useful insight into these dynamics (Preuss & Hong, 2021). Such findings help illuminate the uneven distribution of benefits and burdens that often accompany sport-led development (Kellison, 2023).
- Urban and spatial transformations. Sporting events and facilities can significantly alter the built environment, influencing land use, neighborhood composition, and urban form. These changes may occur both immediately and over longer time horizons. Scholarship on transnational infrastructure projects further shows how stadium diplomacy intertwines sport with broader patterns of urban and geopolitical transformation (Dubinsky, 2024b).
- Models for sustainable reform and managerial strategies. Efforts to reduce the ecological footprint of sport, promote inclusion, and ensure the long-term financial viability of infrastructures and event legacies have become increasingly prominent. Research points to event cost–revenue structures (Lang et al., 2025), public willingness to pay for environmental initiatives at participatory events (Hugaerts & Könecke, 2024), and athlete-informed adaptation to climate changes in sports (Knowles et al., 2024; Manoli et al., 2025) as examples of decision-relevant evidence. These contributions also highlight managerial strategies that can align sustainability goals with operational, financial, and community objectives.
Comparative research is especially welcome, whether across the Global North and Global South, urban and suburban settings, or wealthy and resource-constrained communities. Of particular interest are studies situated in less developed or fiscally constrained contexts, where event-led development can generate visibility and investment while also imposing fiscal strain, inequitable outcomes, and cultural displacement (Gaffney, 2010). We also welcome research on crisis and disruption: for example, industry responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in different institutional contexts (Cho et al., 2023), as well as studies that foreground marginalized groups and participation barriers (Lange et al., 2024).
Although sport management scholarship has increasingly engaged with sustainability, it has too often treated the concept in normative or singular terms. This special issue seeks to advance theoretical, methodological, empirical, and managerial understandings that foreground the distribution of benefits and burdens, power dynamics, governance mechanisms, and long-term social consequences of sport-related development. By critically examining these dimensions, this collection aims to reposition sustainability as a foundational concern for both the study and management of global sport.
Key Dates for the Special Issue
- Deadline for Extended Abstracts (Conference): January 15, 2026
- 2026 GFMC Madrid Conference: July 16 – 19, 2026
- Deadline for Full Manuscripts (Journal Review): August 31, 2026
Submission Information
Authors should prepare their extended abstracts in accordance with the guidelines of the 2026 GFMC (due January 15, 2026) and use the Journal of Global Sport Management’s formatting standards. Papers presented within the conference track “Sustainability in Global Sport: Environmental, Social, and Economic Futures” will be considered for invitation to submit a full article for potential inclusion in this special issue. Submitted manuscripts must represent original work and must not be simultaneously under review elsewhere. All full submissions will be assessed through JGSM’s standard double-blind peer-review process.
Reference Links
We look forward to receiving your submissions and to furthering academic dialogue regarding sustainability within the global sport landscape across environmental, social, and economic dimensions. For questions related to the special issue, please reach out to the Guest Editor(s).
References (Selected Recent Works Supporting the Theme)
Cho, S., Shin, N., Kwak, D. H., Kim, A. C. H., Jang, W. S., Lee, J., & Ko, Y. J. (2023). The impact of COVID‑19 crisis on major spectator sport industry in the U.S. and South Korea: Challenges and outlook. Journal of Global Sport Management, 8(4), 903–927. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2021.1936591
Dubinsky, Y. (2024a). Branding a city as a sports town: A conceptual model based on ‘Track Town USA’. Journal of Global Sport Management, 9(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2021.2001354
Dubinsky, I. (2024b). China’s stadium diplomacy in Africa. Journal of Global Sport Management, 9(4), 761–778. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2021.1885101
Elhachimi, Z., & Kartobi, S. E. (2025). Stock market reactions to FIFA’s announcements: Analysis of the co‑organization of the 2030 World Cup by Morocco, Spain, and Portugal. Journal of Global Sport Management. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2025.2512242
Gaffney, C. (2010). Mega-events and socio-spatial dynamics in Rio de Janeiro, 1919-2016. Journal of Latin American Geography, 9(1), 7–29. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25765282
Hugaerts, I., & Könecke, T. (2024). Determinants of the willingness to pay for environmental sustainability in participatory sport events. Journal of Global Sport Management. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2024.2397991
Hur, C. H., & Watanabe, N. M. (2025). A monetary valuation of hosting a sport mega-event via residential real estate markets in small host European Sport Management Quarterly. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2025.2494829
Hur, C. H., Yan, G., Watanabe, N. M., & Soebbing, B. P. (2025). Toward a Critical Understanding of Gentrification and Mega-Sport Sociology of Sport Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2024-0119
Jarvie, G. (2024). Sport, soft power and cultural relations. Journal of Global Sport Management, 9(4), 670–687. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2021.1952093
Kellison, T. (2023). Enduring and emergent public opinion in relation to a suburban stadium district: The case of Truist Park–Battery Atlanta. Journal of Global Sport Management, 8(4), 674–694. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2021.1886685
Kellison, T. B., & Mondello, M. J. (2012). Organisational perception management in Sport Management Review, 15(4), 500–512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2012.01.005
Knowles, N. L. B., Scott, D., & Rutty, M. (2024). Athlete insights on climate change and winter sport: Impacts, thresholds, adaptations, and implications for the future. Journal of Global Sport Management. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2024.2398746
Lang, M., Gogishvili, D., & Müller, M. (2025). What makes mega‑events profitable? Determinants of revenues and costs of the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup. Journal of Global Sport Management. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2025.2538007
Lange, S., Bolt, G., Vos, S., & Völker, B. (2025). Inclusion of the marginalized: The case of sport participation: A scoping review. Journal of Global Sport Management, 10(3), 431–463. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2024.2317121
Manoli, A. E., Lomax, C., O’Byrne, D., & Antonopoulos, G. A. (2025). Olympians’ perspectives of environmental sustainability within the Olympic games. Leisure Studies, 44(3), 483–494. https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2024.2314455
McCullough, B. P., Orr, M., & Watanabe, N. M. (2019). Measuring externalities: The imperative next step to sustainability assessment in sport. Journal of Sport Management, 34(5), 393–402. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2019-0254
McCullough, B. P., Orr, M., & Kellison, T. (2020). Sport Journal of Sport Management, 34(6), 509–520. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2019-0294
Preuss, H., & Hong, S.‑P. (2021). Olympic legacy: Status of research. Journal of Global Sport Management, 6(3), 205–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2021.1888028
Yan, G., Xue, H., & Seifried, C. (2021). Representations of Wrigley Field Redevelopment (s) in the Chicago Sociology of Sport Journal, 39(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2019-0100
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