Author: Ryan Dejaegher

Temple University faculty member Yang Yang creates Covid19Tourism Index  to monitor the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism

PHILADELPHIA, May 18, 2020 — Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, experts have assumed that recovery for the tourism industry would be a long and arduous process. However, thanks to a Temple University faculty member, the road to recovery might now be a bit more clear. 

Yang Yang, an associate professor in the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) at Temple University and assistant director of Temple’s U.S.-Asia Center for Tourism & Hospitality Research, recently created the Covid19Tourism Index. The index draws from multiple sources to oversee the recovery process of the national tourism industry in more than 100 countries.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought devastating impacts of an unprecedented scale to the global tourism industry and as a tourism faculty member and data analyst, I feel obligated to provide my support to the industry,” Yang says. “The Covid19Tourism Index helps the industry gauge the recovery level compared to the ‘normal time’ without COVID-19.”

The model features five different sub-indexes. They are as follows:

• The Aviation Index: Measures the air flight departure volume in the major international airports of each country.
• The Hotel Index: Measures the hotel performance level of major hotels and hotel chains in each country.
• The Pandemic Index: Measures the pandemic situation based on new COVID-19 cases per 1 million inbound tourists.
• The Interest Index: Measures the online interests in the search engine from potential tourists.
• The Mobility Index: Measures the level of mobility in tourism-related locations, such as national parks, amusement parks and transport hubs.

Data for each index comes from a number of sources refreshed daily, including hotel performances, major airport departures, Google Trends, Google Mobility Tracker and the European Centre for Disease Prevention for COVID-19 pandemic data. It also analyzes historic tourism arrival and revenue data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

Yang says the index will continue to be updated throughout the pandemic. It’s also another example of outreach done by the Temple’s U.S.-Asia Center for Tourism & Hospitality Research since COVID-19 drastically upended the tourism industry. Just last week, the center hosted The Future of Tourism Research in a Post-Pandemic World webinar, which was attended by more than 1,400 academic and industry professionals.

For folks dealing with cabin fever who are looking to get away, the Covid19Tourism Index provides a light at the end of the tunnel. And, according to Yang, that light could be closer than you think.

“The Covid19Tourism Index of the United States hit the bottom around mid-April, with a value around 18,” Yang says. “As of May 9, the value bounced back to more than 23. We predict the value will reach 50 (out of 100) around mid-July. That’s not perfect, but it’s definitely considerable progress.”

About the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management

Established in 1998, the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) at Temple University has a distinguished tradition preparing leaders in the sport, recreation, tourism and hospitality industries. 

Thoroughly committed to providing student-centered education and professional development relevant to today’s thriving sport, tourism and hospitality industry — STHM integrates applicable, real-world experience into the curriculum and classroom through its global network of industry partners and well-connected alumni network. Our award-winning faculty and cutting-edge research institutes engage in pioneering research, informing business practices and providing students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in these fast-growing industries. 

The School offers undergraduate degree programs in sport and recreation management and tourism and hospitality management; traditional graduate degree programs in sport business and hospitality management; and two online graduate degree programs in executive sport business and travel and tourism. STHM also offers a PhD program in business administration with a concentration in tourism and sport.

Collaboration will provide STHM students with coveted internships and job opportunities; will also launch new scholarship program for Spectra employees

Temple University’s School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) today announced a new agreement with international sports and live entertainment company Spectra that will provide comprehensive student fellowship and internship opportunities, create a pipeline of full-time positions with the company and offer scholarship opportunities to Spectra employees for the Executive Master of Science in Sport Business (EMSSB) program.

Headquartered in Philadelphia, Spectra is an industry leader in venue management, food services & hospitality and partnerships with about 360 clients worldwide—including Temple’s Liacouras Center.

As part of the agreement, Spectra will expand its company-wide internship and job recruitment program for current STHM undergraduate and graduate students to gain real-life experience and prepare for a career in the sports and entertainment industry. A variety of training and experiential opportunities in venue operations, hospitality management, event management, marketing, sponsorship sales, ticket office management, finance and other key departments will be accessible for students to apply textbook lessons to real-life situations.

Spectra will also have an increased presence at on-campus events and program related networking functions. Students of STHM will have first-hand access to some of the business strategies and leadership personnel within the Spectra organization through various “lunch and learns” and other interactive programs.

“This partnership with STHM and Spectra is groundbreaking for both of us and the industry,” said John Allgood, assistant professor and academic director of the EMSSB program. “This type of partnership is the best type of partnership as it brings value to our students, Spectra and the future development of both organizations.”

John Page, Spectra’s president of Venue Management, added: “We have a strong history of supporting and hiring Temple graduates at Spectra and now we’ll have a more formalized opportunity to meet and help train the next generation of industry leaders coming out of the elite STHM program. What’s more, Spectra’s newest collaboration with long-time partner Temple University is going to be an incredible value-add for our employees looking to further their education and professional development.”

Beginning in the fall 2020 semester, full-time Spectra employees could receive considerable financial assistance upon acceptance into Temple’s Executive Master of Science in Sport Business Program (EMSSB). Qualified full-time Spectra employees are eligible for a scholarship of up to $10,000 jointly from Spectra and STHM once admitted and enrolled into the EMSSB program.

Participants in the graduate program typically have 10 to 12 years of experience in the industry. Once in the program, they will broaden their general business acumen, professional network and knowledge of sports and hospitality management strategy to position themselves for career advancement.

Locally, Spectra manages a combination of venue operations, food services and partnerships at Subaru Park in Chester, the Atlantic City Convention Center and Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, PPL Center in Allentown, CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton and Citizens Bank Park. Spectra also books and programs content at the Wells Fargo Center and manages Partnerships for the Philadelphia Fusion, Nerd Street Gamers, Xfinity Live!, Lehigh Valley Phantoms and the Atlantic City Marathon.

For more information on the new partnership, visit the STHM-Spectra website, or contact John Allgood at john.allgood@temple.edu.

About the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management

Established in 1998, the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) at Temple University has a distinguished tradition preparing leaders in the sport, recreation, tourism and hospitality industries.

Thoroughly committed to providing student-centered education and professional development relevant to today’s thriving sport, tourism and hospitality industry — STHM integrates applicable, real-world experience into the curriculum and classroom through its global network of industry partners and well-connected alumni network. Our award-winning faculty and cutting-edge research institutes engage in pioneering research, informing business practices and providing students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in these fast-growing industries.

The School offers undergraduate degree programs in sport and recreation management and tourism and hospitality management; traditional graduate degree programs in sport business and hospitality management; and two online graduate degree programs in executive sport business and travel and tourism. STHM also offers a PhD program in business administration with a concentration in tourism and sport.

About Spectra

Spectra is an industry leader in hosting and entertainment, partnering with clients to create memorable experiences for tens of millions of visitors every year. Spectra’s unmatched blend of integrated services delivers incremental value for clients through several primary areas of expertise: Venue Management, Food Services & Hospitality and Partnerships. Learn more at SpectraExperiences.com. Follow Spectra on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Dr. Bredikhina, born in Moscow, Russia, is an STHM alumna, receiving her PhD in Business Administration and Sport Management at Temple University in 2023 after earning her MBA and Master’s in Sport Business Management at the University of Central Florida College of Business Administration. Before specializing her studies in Sport Management, she received her Bachelor’sdegree in Individual Studies from the University of Maryland. As of last year, Dr. Bredikhina is an Assistant Professor in Sport Management at the Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics at the University of Delaware.

Before transitioning to a conference-style presentation on a recent study she completed, Dr. Bredikhina delivered a generalized job talk-adjacent presentation for the SIRC PhD students in attendance, recognizing their imminent entrance into the job market. Looking to instill familiarity with structures used in a professional setting, she recognized and prioritized the development of SIRC’s young scholars.

Dr. Bredikhina’s recent research contribution, Exploring the Role of Dialogical Appeals in User Engagement with Micro-Celebrity Athletes on Social Media, analyzes the extent to which dialogical appeals are an effective method for building community and garnering engagement on social media. In this context, dialogical appeals occur when micro-celebrity athletes issue a call to action to their followers, most commonly by asking for comments or posing a question to begin a dialogue. This study seeks to determine whether this approach is truly a net positive for athlete micro-celebrities or whether the risk of appearing inauthentic ultimately causes more harm than good.

Using a three-study design, Dr. Bredikhina shared three key takeaways. First, after conducting a content analysis, it was found that dialogical appeals resulted in increased comments at the expense of fewer likes. The following experimental design uncovered two crucial predictors of engagement intentions, that being perceived account interactivity and athlete brand authenticity. The final study reinforced these findings while additionally recognizing the large role promotional intent plays in creating balance between interaction and engagement. Through Dr. Bredikhina’s work, the sport management industry will recognize that dialogical appeals have a direct impact on the perceptions and engagement behaviors of an athlete micro-celebrity’s social media following.

In all, SIRC is incredibly proud of Dr. Nataliya Bredikhina’s contribution to sport management literature as well as her cumulative success in the industry. Thank you also to the Tourism & Sport Ph.D. Concentration for collaborating with SIRC to allow her to make her insightful presentation possible.

A moment of gratitude to Dr. Elizabeth Taylor, Dr. Ashley Gardner, and Dr. Jonathan Howe for the extensive efforts, preparation, and facilitation on both the front and back ends to make this wonderful event happen and run smoothly.

In addition, a special thanks to the University of Cincinnati’s Sport Administration program,LSU School of Kinesiology, PHL Sports, Sport Business Research Network, Syracuse University Falk College of Sport, and the University of Tennessee Knoxville Sport Management program for sponsoring the 2026 ASMA conference.

About the Event

The 2026 Applied Sport Management Conference at Temple University was a two-day event home to several competitions, casual presentations, as well as numerous panels and opportunities for networking for students and program leadership in the sports industry across the country.

Sport Industry Research Center at ASMA 2026

The Dr. Samantha Roberts Case Study Competition is one of two competitions where groups of 3-4 students are provided with a detailed case study and guidelines one month before ASMA. Students were asked to submit a written document and presentation for this case study one week before the competition. Dr. Aubrey Kent was heavily involved in writing this case study, granting undergraduate and graduate students a challenging yet engaging experience.

SIRC PhD students Pratyush Yadav and Candice Wang acted as moderators for multiple presentation blocks throughout the event. Tasked with preparing timecards, ensuring projects are ready for presentation, solving on-the-spot technological issues, and guiding both the presentation and the following discussion, these two excelled in creating a seamless experience for both the participants and the audience.

PhD student Shreyas Rao equally contributed to the moderation of panel sessions, while additionally delivering his project presentation, titled “Issues of Capacity and Equity within the Youth Sport Landscape: A City-Level Analysis”, a Youth Sport Facility and Program Assessment conducted by SIRC in partnership with the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation (PPR).Other key members of this project include SIRC’s Dr. Gareth Jones, Mike Barsotti of PPR, andBecca Fagan of the Philadelphia Youth Sport Collaborative. Shreyas spoke on issues of accessibility and inequity for youth seeking sport opportunities, whether it be due to race, gender, or socioeconomic status. Through collaboration with PPR and PYSC, Shreyas analyzed the input of city and program leadership to assess the current state of youth sport organizations in the city of Philadelphia. Through this, the areas for improvement in available resources, programming, and training were recognized and transformed into actionable recommendations for positive future change.

Undergraduate student Christian Cavanaugh represented SIRC through the presentation of “Sole Purpose: Volunteer Motives, Identity, and Involvement in a Youth Running Program”, a project spearheaded by Dr. Gareth Jones, Dr. Christine Wegner, Dr. Bradley J. Baker, and Dr. Mariana Folco. Through this presentation, questions surrounding a youth running program’s volunteer motivations and intentions were uncovered through the analysis of volunteer coaches’ identity and involvement. Uncovering what drives and differentiates volunteers allowed for detailed recommendations to be provided to the youth running program to maximize output and satisfaction in volunteers, along with sparking potential ideas for future research within the topic.

Closing

Throughout preparing for, participating in, and facilitating this event, the Sport Industry Research Center is proud to have played such a meaningful role in the 2026 Applied Sport Management Conference at Temple University.

Temple University’s School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management, in collaboration with the United Women’s Ball Hockey Foundation, hosted the 2026 Strong Women Strong Sport Summit.

Strong Women Strong Sport Summit

This annual think-tank-style event took place on January 29^th and 30^th at Alter Hall, with two primary goals: celebrate National Women and Girls in Sport Day (which took place the following week) and create an environment where resources are available and questions can be answered for individuals at any part in their sport industry careers (undergraduate/graduate students, entrepreneurs, administrators, among other key stakeholders). With a foundation built on women’s successes and ongoing fight for representation and opportunities in this field, participants and audience members were instilled with advice and experiences that catalyze leadership, equity, and sustainability.

From Proposal to Program: Making Grant Funding Work for Community Sport Workshop

The first workshop of the event was hosted by SIRC’s very own Dr. Gareth Jones, along with panelists Dr. Gina Tripicchio (Associate Professor, Barnett College of Public Health), Amy Lackpour (Associate Director of Institutional Giving, Students Run Philly Style), and Caitlin Mance (Executive Director, Philadelphia City Rowing). Through the presence of these professionals, the core goal was to navigate the often challenging world of grants, whether it be finding foundations to partner with, the application process, or writing grants.

Between the panel’s personal insights, the audience was tasked with completing an environmental assessment of their respective program using two key discussion questions. The first recommends reflecting on the program’s mission and desired outcomes, recognizing which aspects of the organization allow these missions and outcomes to come to fruition. The latter beckons the audience to consider the resources available to their program for grant finding, writing, and managing.

Due to the use of personalized questioning, programs of all sizes and capacities can feel seen. This is particularly important when it comes to grants, as the available capital (human and monetary) will vary between programs. This is bolstered by the diverse list of resources provided to the audience, from smaller private grant foundations to city grant opportunities. To further tailor the experience to differing needs, the panelists opened the workshop for questions, allowing program stakeholders to explain their situation for individualized assistance.

Closing

All in all, the Sport Industry Research Center is lucky and proud to have collaborated with the UWBHF to host the Strong Women Strong Sport Summit. National Girls and Women in Sports Day deserves the spotlight to begin and continue vital dialogues around the hardworking and passionate women who catalyze growth and fight for equity in the sports industry. SIRC hopes to continue this collaboration in the future.

The Temple professor will contribute to an initiative designed to share SL Benfica’s expertise and connect academic research with sport practice.

Thilo Kunkel, a professor at Temple University’s School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) and a member of Temple University’s Sport Industry Research Center (SIRC), has joined the scientific council of the Benfica Institute for Sport Excellence. The initiative brings together SL Benfica’s experience in sport with academic research to share knowledge and inform practice beyond the club.

The institute launched on July 21, 2026, at Estádio da Luz in Lisbon. Kunkel joined Benfica President Rui Costa and Institute Dean Elizabete Cardoso in presenting a vision for connecting the club’s methods and expertise with researchers and sport professionals.

Benfica’s approach places education and applied research within the same initiative. Its institute is designed to turn knowledge developed through sport practice into opportunities for professional learning, while giving researchers access to organizational questions and settings in which ideas can be examined.

“What particularly excites me about the Institute is its ambition to connect sport practice, education, research, and innovation,” Kunkel wrote in a public post announcing his appointment.

The institute’s research opportunities extend across health, performance analysis and technology. Through Benfica Xplore R&D Collaborations, researchers can propose projects involving real-world data, facilities and specialist expertise. A separate pathway, Benfica Xpert Innovation Partnerships, invites companies to propose products or solutions for testing in the club’s environment.

The education side includes online, hybrid and in-person learning in coaching and development, analytics and technology, and sports business. The introductory Foundations of the Benfica Methodology course addresses the club’s approach to player development and is intended for coaches and other professionals seeking to understand its principles.

Together, these activities connect practical experience with opportunities to study it and share what is learned. For researchers, the value lies in examining questions within an operating sport organization. For practitioners, the institute aims to make knowledge accessible through training and collaboration, with potential applications across sport settings.

That exchange is consistent with SIRC’s mission to generate and translate evidence-based insight for the sport industry. Kunkel’s appointment provides another setting for the applied work reflected in the center’s research and consulting, where academic expertise is connected with the needs of organizations and the people they serve.

Kunkel’s work at Temple examines strategic management and marketing, including athlete branding, consumer engagement in digital environments and the relationships between brands. His research on athlete brand development has informed Name, Image and Likeness policy discussions and he has consulted sport teams, sponsors, athletes and technology developers on brand positioning, fan engagement and sponsorship activation.

Supported by an Outride Research Partnership Grant, the collaboration will examine how young people experience BCYC over time while building the program’s long-term capacity to collect and use evaluation data.

Temple University’s Sport Industry Research Center (SIRC) and the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia (BCGP) were selected as one of only 11 recipients of Outride’s Research Partnership Grant, which connects researchers and community organizations to study and strengthen cycling-based initiatives that promote brain health and well-being. The grant supports community-academic partnerships that strengthen evaluation capacity and translate research into practice.

“Participation counts show reach, but they do not show whether young people feel connected and motivated to remain involved. Going beyond the number of participants to see if sustained involvement in the program produces positive changes in feelings and attitudes is really getting more to the heart of the BCGP mission,” said Aubrey Kent, professor at Temple University’s School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) and co-lead on the evaluation.

The evaluation will focus on BCGP’s flagship Bicycle Coalition Youth Cycling (BCYC) program.

“We know from working directly with our young people that BCYC has an impact that goes well beyond learning how to ride a bike. We see growth in confidence, leadership, relationships, independence, and young people’s willingness to challenge themselves. We wanted an evaluation process that reflects what BCYC actually does and the experiences of the young people we serve, rather than trying to fit the program into a generic set of measures,” said Habib Faye, BCYC Program Coordinator at the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.

The approach to evaluation is being developed collaboratively, with BCYC bringing direct knowledge of its participants, programming and the communities it serves in Philadelphia, and SIRC contributing expertise in research design, assessment, data analysis and interpretation. As part of the grant, BCYC will be able to hire a part-time staff member to focus on building its internal capacity for measurement and evaluation.

“This project aligns closely with SIRC’s mission to have a direct impact on sport organizations. Beyond evaluating outcomes, we have an opportunity to help the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia build the tools and capacity to evaluate its programs, use data to make decisions, and demonstrate its impact over the long term,” said Gareth Jones, associate professor at STHM and director of SIRC.

The evaluation will involve collecting participant surveys during the 2026-27 program year to examine how perceptions of the program, coaches and peers are associated with physical activity, self-regulation and other measures of social and emotional learning. Focus groups will also be used to further explore participant perspectives at the end of each program season.

For BCYC, a central question is how young people experience the program over time and which parts of that experience contribute most to their growth.

“The key for us is understanding not just whether youth cycling programs have an impact, but how and why that impact occurs. In particular, we hope to identify how experiences such as relationships with coaches and connection to the program contribute to young people’s social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development,” Jones said.

As the project moves forward, SIRC and BCYC will use the evaluation to develop practical reports and resources, including tools that can support BCYC’s future evaluation work. The larger goal is to make data collection and interpretation useful for ongoing program decisions rather than treating evaluation as a one-time exercise.

“Ultimately, I want the findings to be useful, not just something that sits in a report. They should help us make better decisions about programming, strengthen what is working, identify areas where we need to adjust, and tell the story of BCYC’s impact more clearly to families, partners, funders, and the broader community,” Faye said.

Temple University’s Sport Industry Research Center (SIRC) featured prominently in the program of the 34th European Association for Sport Management Conference (EASM), which was held September 15–18 in Thessaloniki, Greece. SIRC faculty and PhD students presented research during the academic program and Dr. Dan Funk was featured as the EASM 2026 Keynote Speaker.

The conference kicked off with a PhD Student Seminar attended by Prat Yadav, who presented his research on athlete branding and social media behavior around major sporting events. The two-day seminar brought together doctoral students from around the world to present their work, receive feedback from senior scholars and build international connections. “Being in a room with scholars and doctoral students from across the world, working across the sport management field, was an invaluable experience,” Yadav said. “Beyond the research, the seminar gave me a space to build relationships and learn from others navigating their own doctoral journeys.”

In Playing the Tournament, Managing the Brand: How the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Shaped Players’ Instagram Behavior, Thilo Kunkel, Bradley Baker, Prat Yadav, Yang Yang, and Amy Giddings examined the Instagram profiles of 741 players immediately before and after the tournament.

They found that the proportion of players displaying an email contact rose from 2.6% to 16.7%, while 24.3% updated their biographies. The changes were concentrated in profile features that players could readily update to present themselves and make professional contact easier. Players posted actively, although 21.6% of accounts showed evidence of possible deletion or archiving of previously posted content.

The researchers recommend that athletes and their representatives review profiles before major competitions, checking contact information and professional details in anticipation of increased attention. They also identify a role for clubs and federations in helping athletes prepare through social media education.

“The research highlights athletes recognize the spotlight these mega events shine on their social media profiles and actively manage their online presence to maximize business opportunities that may come from the increased awareness,” Kunkel said.

The study documents changes in profiles rather than the reasons behind individual decisions. Whether those changes translate into more followers, engagement, or sponsor interest remains a question for further research.

A second study, Collective Identity Work in Sport for Development Collaboratives, examined how organizations using sport to address social issues develop a shared understanding of their work. Joelle J. Ferguson and Per G. Svensson of Louisiana State University collaborated with SIRC’s Shreyas Rao and Gareth J. Jones on the research.

The team interviewed leaders from 19 member organizations involved in a collaborative in a North American metropolitan area. Preliminary findings indicated that members recognized a shared mission but differed in their priorities and views of the collaborative’s direction.

The organization coordinating the network helped initiate a shared identity, but differences in organizational capacity, competition for resources, and broad agendas complicated efforts to maintain a common direction.

For those leading similar networks, the findings point to the value of deliberate discussions about shared purpose and ways of working together, not just resource acquisition.

The conference concluded with a keynote address by Dr. Daniel Funk that focused on Making Research Matter by connecting academic research with organizational needs through research purpose, design, and impact. Dr. Funk’s inspiring address reflects SIRC’s mission to generate and translate research that helps sport organizations and individuals make informed decisions.

Temple University’s Sport Industry Research Center (SIRC) recently hosted the first convening of the Youth Sport Tax & Revenue Policy Consortium, bringing together a multidisciplinary advisory board to begin addressing one of the more complex systems-level questions facing youth sport: how tax and public financing strategies can be used to support accessible, high-quality sport opportunities for young people. The Consortium is supported by a grant from the Susan Crown Exchange that was awarded to SIRC as part of the Million Coaches Challenge’s Empower Every Coach Cohort, a national initiative to advance systems-level change in youth sports.

The convening marked an early milestone in an 18-month initiative led by SIRC. The Consortium will consider not only how public funds are generated and allocated, but also how funding mechanisms can encourage practices that support positive youth development, including areas such as coach training.

The consortium is organized around four central areas of inquiry:

1. identifying appropriate strategies for generating public funding for youth sport
2. understanding how revenue can be reinvested to improve access and quality
3. examining compliance frameworks that can encourage providers receiving public support to follow established best practices
4. considering how economic development objectives can be balanced with broader youth well-being.

Central to that work is the advisory board. The 12-member group brings together expertise spanning youth sport delivery, economics, public finance, history, policy, law, social impact and sport-based youth development. Its role is to help inform the research methodology, critically review and interpret findings, and contribute to the development of the project’s final outputs.

SIRC is leading the project’s data collection and analysis through an interdisciplinary Temple leadership team that includes Gareth Jones, Michael Leeds, Bradley Baker and George Diemer. The structure combines Temple’s research expertise with the advisory board’s range of academic, industry, nonprofit and policy perspectives.

The first convening was designed to establish the foundation for that collaboration by bringing together researchers and industry professionals with multidisciplinary expertise to better understand how public financing systems can support access, quality and evidence-informed policy across youth sport.

“It is rare to get experts from such a wide range of disciplines in the same place to talk about a complex issue facing the youth sport industry. This convening allowed us to establish a clear direction for the Consortium, and I am excited to see where this work will take us.” – Gareth Jones, principal investigator

With a clear direction now established, the Consortium will review legislative and finance data to learn more about existing tax and revenue strategies being utilized in the United States, with key informant interviews planned as the project progresses. The Consortium will also draw on relevant international comparisons to identify alternative approaches and points of difference. The work will ultimately lead to several white papers that provide an overview of the findings to help inform how public financing may be leveraged to provide accessible, high-quality sport opportunities for young people.

We thank the advisory board for lending their time, energy, and expertise to this project.

• Dave Ridpath, Ohio University
• Dionne Koller, University of Baltimore
• Fred Rivera, The Rivera Group
• J.C. Bradbury, Kennesaw State University
• Julie McCleery, University of Washington
• Michael Edwards, North Carolina State University
• Peter Feldman, Laureus USA
• Victor Matheson, College of the Holy Cross
• Victoria Jackson, Arizona State University
• Wilson Rose, Kids in the Game
• Wayne Moss, National Council of Youth Sports
• Yuhei Inoue, University of Illinois