- 著者
-
西崎 信男
- 出版者
- Japan Society of Sports Industry
- 雑誌
- スポーツ産業学研究 (ISSN:13430688)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.20, no.1, pp.53-64, 2010
Corporate governance is essentially the way in which companies are managed. Among professional sport clubs, professional football clubs are typically registered as companies. Hence, the operation is determined by corporate governance. There was a steadily increasing volume of criticism and complaints regarding the governance of many companies. Also in sport industries worldwide, there occurs the conflict of interests between fans and clubs due to excessive commercialization. To tackle this problem, innovative "supporters′ trusts" have been successfully created in the British football and rugby leagues and union clubs by an organization called "Supporters Direct" , an independent but government backed body. Supporters come together collectively and set up these mutual organizations (called Industrial and Provident Societies-IPSs) and buy and hold the shares mutually in their clubs and where possible elect their representatives to the board as directors to express their concerns and opinions effectively. This has been effective at many clubs where they depend on supporters as well as the local community for their survival, and also at clubs in the English and Scottish Premier Leagues.<BR> Here in Japan, we find the sponsors have started to withdraw their sponsorship for the professional as well as amateur clubs due to the tightening corporate governance in the business societies. The successive withdrawals have caused damages to the development of sports, while sports are expected to provide good pastime for the ageing society in the future.<BR> In the circumstances it is now apparent that fans' participation in the management of professional sport clubs has become more important than ever. Here we discuss the structure of supporters' trust and its significance to fans′ involvement in the management of football clubs by comparing it with other types of ISA (Independent Supporters Association) , Mutuals, Share Purchase Cub and as such.