6: The German Sport Industry

Any industry is a complex system operating through the existence of different institutions and organizations (Weisbrod, 1988). Consequently, the sport industry is also composed of various institutions and organizations. The industry in Germany includes providers and operators stemming from three sectors: the public (state/government), market (private/for-profit), and voluntary (nonprofit) sector (Gratton, Liu, Ramchandani, & Wilson, 2012; Hoye, Smith, Nicholson, & Stewart, 2015). The latter sector, in Germany, represents mass sport provision (participant market) and is mainly represented by nonprofit sport clubs (Heinemann, 1999; Petry, Steinbach, & Tokarski, 2004). Moreover, there are governing bodies and federations for those community clubs. These entities provide competition and participation opportunities, regulate and manage sporting codes, and organize major championship events (Hoye et al., 2015). The private sector includes professional or commercial sport organizations, comprising professional leagues and their member teams, as well as allied organizations such as sporting apparel and equipment manufacturers, major stadium operators and also commercial sport suppliers such as health and fitness centers or sport tourism agencies. The state or public sector includes federal, state, district, and local governments. On a local level, they might be even involved in offering sport programs, similar to those offered by the nonprofit sport clubs, though this is the exception.