Local governance of sport: a national survey on how public opinion evaluates municipal sports development and priorities

TL;DR

This study explores public opinion on local sports development in Portugal, focusing on satisfaction and governance.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into public satisfaction and policy priorities in municipal sports governance in Portugal.

Findings

Public satisfaction with sports development and facilities shows gender agreement but lacks transparency.

Political orientation influences public investment in sports, with high agreement on policy priorities.

Municipalities are key to promoting sports and modernizing facilities, but more research is needed on governance.

Abstract

Public policies in sport and good governance adopted by local authorities aim to promote healthier habits and widespread participation in sport. However, little is known about the use of policy instruments by Portuguese municipalities to assess its implementation, evaluation and monitoring. At the same time, there is insufficient data available to evaluate political action and local sports development, making it difficult to assess this progress. Therefore, this research was designed to measure satisfaction with the current level of development in municipalities according to different sports development indicators. We followed an exploratory methodology using quantitative-descriptive and inferential analysis. Data was collected through a questionnaire between November 2024 and January 2025 with 937 responses obtained after validation. Results show a level of agreement between genders regarding satisfaction with the level of sports development, sports services and facilities, while transparency does not show encouraging results due to high level of non-formed opinion. There is also a high level of agreement on policy priorities and the influence of political orientation on public investment in sports. Municipalities play a key role in promoting local sports and modernizing cities and sport facilities, being essential to keep studying their action in different perspectives to measure good governance in sports development and political transparency perception.