The development of Comprehensive Community Sports Clubs (CCSCs) is being promoted to improve people’s sports life and revitalize local communities. However, recent studies have reported that CCSCs are facing difficulties in growth. Although numerous practical and theoretical factors affecting the growth of CCSCs have been identified, their relative impact remains unclear. Identifying the organizational factors that influence the growth of CCSCs will contribute to gaining useful insights into the development and execution of effective management strategies. Therefore, this study examined the conditions necessary for long-term survival and development of CCSCs by clarifying the organizational characteristics that define their growth. We conducted a nationwide questionnaire survey of CCSCs and analyzed data from 596 clubs. Growth was categorized into objective and subjective growth, and the relationship between growth and organizational characteristics was analyzed. The results of the study showed that “innovativeness” had a significant positive impact on objective growth. In particular, proactive engagement in new projects and activities was an important condition. Furthermore, “social change”, “citizenship/participation”, “organizational networks”, “human resource development”, “innovativeness”, and “sports expertise” had significant positive impacts on subjective growth. The establishment of a mission and its dissemination among local residents are suggested managerial conditions. The results also showed that the determinants differ with respect to the CCSC performance indicators. The practical and theoretical aspects of management that are emphasized also change depending on what is considered to be an organizational outcome. The findings point to the need for a renewed discussion on what constitutes the growth of CCSCs and how to evaluate them from policy and management perspectives. Future research should clarify the mechanisms of how the revealed organizational characteristics can promote the growth of CCSCs.

The purpose of this study was to examine the promotion of sports tourism for regional revitalization in Yaita City, Tochigi Prefecture, and to present future issues. We conducted several semi-structured interviews with local government officials in Yaita City. Since the formulation of a comprehensive regional strategy in January 2016, Yaita City has promoted sports tourism as a concrete measure for increasing the number of visitors to the city. To this end, the Yaita Sports Commission was established in April 2018. The commission has been involved in a variety of projects, including organizing sports events and camps, and conducting promotional activities. In particular, the Commerce, Industry, and Tourism Division has played a central role in executing these activities. To promote regional revitalization in Yaita City, the General Policy Division has been responsible for liaison and coordination between departments, and for processing grants related to regional revitalization. In addition, the Sports Promotion Division of the Board of Education was also involved in establishing the Tochigi Football Center as a base for sports tourism. To date, the activities related to the promotion of sports tourism in Yaita City have been financed by a regional revitalization grant from the national government. Therefore, the Yaita Sports Commission will have to become financially independent in the future. To ensure that the measures that have been implemented to date are sustainable, establishing a system for promoting the activities of the commission in cooperation with various stakeholders in the region will be necessary.

The purposes of this study were to clarify the actual situation of intercollegiate athletic sports and campus recreational sports at Japanese universities, and to make recommendations regarding university sports management. A questionnaire survey was conducted by mail on 760 universities nationwide, and 307 responses were collected.

The main results were as follows;

1) Both athletic and recreational clubs were more active at national universities, the longest established universities, and large universities.

2) University support for athletic clubs was prevalent at private universities and the medium length established universities.

3) The participation rate in athletic clubs was higher among national universities and the medium length established universities, and lower among private universities and recently established universities. The participation rate in recreational clubs was higher among public universities, recently established universities, and colleges.

4) Many athletic associations sponsored intramural sporting programs at national universities.

5) Universities that open their on-campus athletic facilities to the general students were most common among national and public universities.

Based on the above results, the following three points were proposed: 1) in case of universities where athletic teams have exclusive use of on-campus facilities, practice schedules should be reduced to allow time for general students to use the facilities; 2) the type and number of intramural sporting programs should be increased to give general students opportunities to participate in sports; and 3) sports goods rental systems should be implemented to make convenient use of open facilities.

Multiple researchers have reported that acquiring new spectators is a significant management issue for J. League clubs. To address this issue, the development of new spectator-sport products must be promoted. Although spectator-sport products have been studied in sport management literature for decades, the actual practices regarding the development of spectator-sport products is not yet fully understood. There seems to be a discrepancy between academia and practical use in terms of how spectator-sport products are perceived, but theoretical examination of the concept of spectator-sport products themselves is also insufficient. The present study aimed to clarify the practices of spectator-sport product development and reexamine existing theoretical models of spectator-sport products through the case study of a new project entitled “Fagiversity”, which succeeded in attracting college students (new participants) at Fagiano Okayama Sports Club. To do so, we collected data through fieldwork centered on semi-structured interviews with the project’s members (N=4).

The study results are summarized as follows. The club assessed difficulties in attracting college students to attend home games, even if entrance was free. However, for the project’s target home game, approximately four times more students attended than for regular home games. In addition, the students enjoyed the new benefit that participating in cosplay and other activities at the stadium. This study clarified in detail the process for obtaining ideas and promoting the project. Remarkably, this project’s front staff considered their own products as a method to achieve the club’s objectives. The front staff considered the products is highly flexible because it provided various fun as entertainment. Furthermore, the front staff paid attention to the power balance among spectators who enjoyed different benefits.

Based on the above results, we compared the existing concept of spectator-sport products, which is characterized by a concentric circle structure, with the perspective of spectator-sport products in practice sites, and identified the limitation of essentialism in an existing concept. In order to resolve this limitation, we discussed the possibility of a new conceptualization of spectator-sport products based on the perspective of chain mountain-type stadiums proposed by Nakazawa (2015). Future research should clarify the development theory of spectator-sport products through further case studies.