Promoting Sport for All to Age-specific Target Groups: the Impact of Sport Infrastructure

Abstract

Sport management should contribute to making sport accessible for people of all ages. Therefore, sport management research must analyse the impact of different managerial opportunities. A special focus lies on the effects of infrastructural conditions. In this paper, the impact of sport infrastructure on sport participation has been analysed using data from a population survey in the city of Stuttgart, which are related to infrastructural data. The results show that the availability of sport infrastructure, regardless of individual socio-economic conditions, influences patterns of sport activity significantly. However, the influence of certain types of sport infrastructure varies between age groups. For example, the availability of swimming pools is important during childhood and adolescence, whereas the availability of fitness centres, gymnasia and sports fields is of greater importance in young adulthood. These findings have significance for the ways in which sport managers can influence patterns of lifelong sports activity.