Why invest in sport?

Being prepared

The value of sport to local government extends beyond sport for sports sake. It brings benefits to communities and individuals such as improving health and community safety, increasing skills, employment and economic growth and providing new opportunities for children and young people.

To help key decision makers understand the benefits of investing in sport and its impact on community outcomes it is important to:

• Be clear about the council’s priorities
• Demonstrate how sport can contribute to those priorities and evidence its impact
• Use data to maximise the impact of the service on the priorities of the authority and its partners (eg Joint Strategic Needs Assessment)
• Understand how sport connects to place-based budgeting building on the principles of Total Place - a new initiative that seeks to avoid duplication between different organisations working in the same area.

To help achieve the above, it's important to:

• Understand how sport engages communities
• Ensure sport plays a role or influences key strategic partnerships (ie Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) and their sub groups helping them meet their challenges
• Ensure the council and sector has the leadership to achieve the potential benefits of sport

NEXT: access tools and resources to help you make the case for sport