Abstract

The sports business ecosystem is a gendered space, sustaining a patriarchal hegemonic structure. Educational networks and scholarly circles that feed into this ecosystem uphold these male-dominated process and practices. The aim of this presentation is to raise awareness of the interconnectivity between privilege, power, and advocacy as a permeable feature of sports business management degree programmes and the associated industry. This presentation will draw upon my own lived experiences of teaching a male-dominated degree programme interlaced with findings from primary research focusing on students’ sense of belonging. The findings from these combined explorations highlight the need for transformational pedagogical approaches to support students as advocates, to facilitate belonging, and for practical intervention. The sports industry and the higher education sector are interconnected; reliant on one another to address inequities faced across the landscape. We have a duty of care as educators to ensure our sports business management classrooms are inclusive and transformational spaces, equipping students with the attributes to tackle wider social issues.