A framework for the future of professional sport research in Australia

Since the 1980s, Australian sporting organizations have dramatically increased their levels of professionalism both on and off the field of play. With an increasing emphasis on commerce, commodification, sponsorship and entertainment, many sport scholars in Australia argue (or concede) that elite sport has developed into a business (Mills, 1994; Westerbeek, Shilbury and Deane, 1995; Smith and Stewart, 1999; Westerbeek and Smith, 2003). Professional sport refers to professional athletes in the first instance, or those athletes who have made their sporting pursuits into their occupation and receive payment or sponsorship as a consequence. Professional sport has led to the need to incorporate conventional business practices in the delivery of sport-related products and services (Smith and Stewart, 1999). In other words, professional sport has led to sport becoming more like a conventional business based upon commercial exchange. It is for this reason that we view the terms "professional sport" and "sport business" as synonymous, and represent the focus of this commentary.