Environmental, Social and Governance in Sport

ESG in sport

Thanks to SportWest and the ASTN - Australian Sports Technologies Network for hosting a workshop earlier this week on Environment, Social and Governance in sport. 

Key messages I took away from the session were: 

1. The focus on ESG is only going to grow. 

Sport is behind a lot of other industries and community and stakeholder expectations on the sport sector will increase. 

2. With increased expectations comes increased opportunity. 

In the Investment Markets, there is data to show that a majority of ESG focused funds are outperforming the broader market. The opportunity for sport to deliver win-win outcomes for stakeholders by focusing on ESG will also present. 

This might be across event profitability and attractiveness, reduced risk, reduced cost, improved policy, staff retention, sponsor attractiveness or other competitive advantages to name a few. 

3. Eat the elephant one bite at a time. 

This is not something that can be done in one hit. It will be a long journey but just making a start is a step in the right direction. 

Thanks to SportWest and ASTN for providing these opportunities.