Strategies for campus sport centre funding: a case study on the Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre

Abstract

Campus Sport Centres are important for university or college to retain and recruit student body, faculty, staff, and community memberships. It is important for these institutions to implement effective strategic plans that meet the needs of customers and stakeholders while remaining financially independent. The study determines how a campus sport centre can become financially self-sustaining without the need of government funding to support the operations of the facility while delivering value to its customers and stakeholders. The study used the Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre (CJNSC) of the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) as the case organization. The strategic priority for the CJNSC is to become a financially self-sustaining facility to cover costs associated with its aging facility. Through the review of secondary data and some primary data, the study identified eight key revenue streams that could be implemented by the CJNSC. These include; 1) increases to the percentage of UNBC student recreation and fitness fees that the CJNSC receives, 2) increased fees to programming and memberships, 3) forming strategic alliances, 4) space utilization, 5) sport tourism planning with seasonality of facility booking space, 6) cancellation fees for memberships, 7) a membership pricing strategy, 8) naming rights. It was determined through the case organization that reducing expenses would not have the long-term benefit for the CJNSC and only existing and new revenues would satisfy the goal of being financially self-sustaining. This information is provided through an integrative framework that could be used as a template or tool by other organizations of similar structure and system as the CJNSC to develop their sports centers for successful outcomes. ACKNLOWLEDGMENT To my caring, loving, and supportive wife. Rhea, your encouragement and support has pushed me to succeed and to make you proud. I love you. I would like to thank my family and friends for always supporting me and helping me through the process. I would like to thank and express my sincere gratitude to my research supervisor Dr. Kobby Owusu-Nyamekye for his invaluable guidance, expertise, and assistance in the completion of this study. Without your help this project would not have been possible. Also, I would like to thank the Masters of Business Administration program, the University of Northern British Columbia, committee members and faculty for the support, guidance and direction.