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In order to better serve China’s National Fitness Plan, this study analyzed and explored the barriers that affect public accessibility of sports facilities from the perspective of general managers, marketing staff, facilities management personnel, and IT personnel. In total, 121 codes were discovered, and 12 categories were extracted (Table 2), including policies and regulations, administrative pressure, institutional mechanisms, ideas, a professional team, practical ways, content development, schedule setting, spirit building, assessment and supervision, crisis management, and public evaluation. In the end, we identified four themes (core factors): policy-related restrictions, management-related factors, service-related factors, and supervision factors.
Policy-related restrictions
Policy-related restrictions were one of the main barriers mentioned by most facilities operators. Such barriers refer to policies and regulations, administrative pressure, and institutional mechanisms. Regarding policies and regulations, almost all respondents believed that the policies in China were relatively underdeveloped in this area. Sports facilities operators expressed little knowledge about their obligations nor authorities, when facing a series of disputes in regard to the use of facilities to the public (check for accuracy).
“The government released many policies in the field of sports facilities since 2014; however, most of them are about how to provide accessibility and availability for public use and improve service for mega games but they have less to do with the financial benefit or profit of sports facilities.” (Participant 3).
“Our sports center has many inner roads, and some car drivers usually drive through these roads to avoid traffic jams. Sometimes traffic accidents happen, but policemen say these are not public roads and they cannot handle these accidents according to traffic laws. Therefore, we have to act as mediators and even sometimes provide compensation. This requires the time and energy of our employees that would otherwise be needed to deliver public services.” (Participant 4).
Furthermore, some of the participants felt inconsistency among some of currently issued facility use policies.
“In 2016, the government released a policy that states sports facilities have to remove commercial businesses such as restaurants, shops, bars, conference rooms, and management offices in order to allocate more space for sports and exercise. However, recent policies encouraged us to develop sports complexes that include multiple services like those business that we have removed.” (Participant 11).
As most of the large-scale sports facilities were built by the government. It therefore determines the appearance and style of sports facilities, especially main stadiums and arenas, even though most government officials have little expertise in this field. In many cases, the facilities were intended to host specific large-scale sporting events. Since the primary goal was to hold a particular event, questions about how to serve the general public and encourage physical activity participation afterward were considered secondarily. In terms of administrative pressure, 12 of the respondents believed that the administrative intervention of facilities managers would have a positive effect on the facilities’ service to the public.
“The city mayor or officers sometimes take the featured arenas as their political achievements. Therefore, the design and construction of large public sports facilities often overemphasize its appearance and managers’ voices are weighted less important. At the end, these facilities become city’s landmark buildings at the expense of fitness function or health promotion.” (Participant 6).
This issue is also reflected in the construction of large-scale facilities in some small- or mid-sized cities that host or co-host the National Games, Provincial Games, and other mega events with administrative goals.
“Our sports center was constructed to co-host the National Games, and this is an international standard stadium, but our city has no professional clubs. The facilities could only host mass sporting games or events; therefore, they are operating at a loss.” (Participant 10).
The dislocation between demand and supply may lead to a huge secondary investment in fitness-oriented transformation. However, it is rare that policy is made with respect to the operation mechanism in a way that leads to improving transparency.
“We do not have full autonomy or initiative in management or business activities, and due to the unstable policies and strict financial disciplines, we need to be very careful with the capital investment for the upgrading of sports facilities.” (Participant 6).
“We need to get approval from the government to host some events, like social events, concerts, exhibitions. And mostly, because of the policy limit, our staff has no performance incentives for these events.” (Participant 10).
Because of the special political and social system of China, the policy-related experiences of Western countries in this field are inapplicable, and participants’ demands and managers’ voices have limited influence on the government-oriented sports facilities.
Management-related factors
The management-related factors are mainly reflected in three aspects: management authority, management team building, and management mode selection. In terms of management authority, 14 of the respondents said that these public facilities are owned by the government and are specifically devoted to competition or planned events.
“In past years, we have had no management authority to make decisions whether facilities should be open to the public, let alone when and how. And even under the new policies that the facilities have to open to the public, most of the management programs need to strictly follow the instructions of the government and offer little autonomy.” (Participant 4).
“Our main stadium is assigned to the local city team for training, and this occupied most of the opening hours, and all the facilities and services are free. Therefore, we have very limited open hours to acquire revenue.” (Participant 14).
Almost all respondents mentioned that a professional team (staff) is a basic requirement for the effective management of a sports facility. However, some interviewees pointed out that the marginal positions and low salaries of sports facilities staff make it difficult to attract professional management personnel or high-talent people to this profession.
“In the building of a professional team, we cannot motivate the team’s enthusiasm and creativity with performance incentives, especially when it comes to additional expansionary events. Competent managers or workers are often poached by private venues or facilities.” (Participant 6).
“To be honest, some of the management personnel is derived through nepotism, and they have little expertise in this field. And regarding the new recruits, the candidates sometimes need to pass a strict exam that is organized by the government, but most of the exams have no relationship to expertise in the field of sports facilities management.” (Participant 5).
In terms of management mode, 94% of sports facilities in China are owned by the government, and 80% of them are operated by a team within the government. Thirteen of the interviewees mentioned that management mode is a key point in the effective management of these facilities.
“The efficiency of the team is low. They usually obey the guidelines of the government very cautiously. But China is a large country, and every province and city has its own features. The management team needs to have the autonomy to lay down their handbook to meet the guidelines, I think.” (Participant 8).
“Some researchers in this field introduced the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT), Build-Transfer (BT), Transfer-Operate-Transfer (TOT), Build-Transfer-Own (BTO), or Renovate-Operate-Transfer (ROT) modes to us, and I had an on-site investigation overseas; however, the acclimatization is difficult, I think.” (Participant 4).
Service-related factors
The service factors that affect facilities’ accessibility mainly involve demand-side content, such as recreational sporting events, public services, youth training, and reasonable time settings that the facilities can provide. Their direction and purpose, including program development and time setting, are culturally specific.
“We have begun to work with some recreational sports clubs or associations that have expertise in related fields to develop some exercise programs for people of all ages.” (Participant 1).
“How to attract teenagers and children to come into facilities and enjoy exercise is an important direction for sports facilities, and it is a good way to inspire their interest in sports participation. Basketball, football, tennis, badminton, as well as fencing, martial arts, and taekwondo are all very popular in China.” (Participant 2).
Even with the accelerated aging of the population of China, the sports participation potential of the elderly has not yet been developed. About 8 of the respondents mentioned that services for the elderly are also one of the focuses of their sports facilities.
“The older adults’ hobbies and time preferences, organizational forms, and consumption capacity affect the activity forms of the facilities. The time arrangement of facilities is a key factor affecting the facilities’ accessibility to the public, especially on weekends and holidays, for older adults and young athletes. How to make a suitable arrangement? That is the question.” (Participant 13).
Half of the respondents mentioned that the lack of cultural specificity in sports facilities affects public participation. One of the most important functions of the facilities is to serve nearby communities; therefore, the facilities should not only be used as a space for exercise, but also as a hub for the daily life of residents and a place to encourage sports culture within the community.
“Chinese sports facilities are still relatively lacking in spiritual shaping, sports culture development, immersive sports environment creation, cultural and creative products. We need to do a lot of work to increase people’s sports participation stickiness and engagement.” (Participant 9).
Supervision factors
Supervision factors include work supervision for facilities, performance appraisals, year-end assessments, attendees’ complaints, safety incidents, reports, scalpers, and the public’s satisfaction evaluation. In China, supervision mainly comes from the government, not from the market or professional associations. Although these factors do not directly affect facilities’ accessibility to the public, they can shift or change the work focus of the stadium management personnel, causing them to pay close attention to governmental public relations, thereby indirectly affecting the work of the facilities. These factors primarily include three aspects: assessment and supervision, PR crisis, and public evaluation.
In terms of assessment and supervision, 13 of the interviewees said they believe supervision, assessment, and evaluation of the work on national fitness largely determine the directions and measures implemented by facilities.
“Assessment and supervision pertain to the free and low-cost opening hours, economic benefits, and the use of funding. They directly affect the facilities managers’ aims and scope. And the frequency of evaluation and supervision methods also greatly squeezed the working time of general managers and personnel, which in turn affects their input in professional business.” (Participant 3).
With regard to PR crises, half of the facilities managers think that a crisis of public relations limits their work input. This situation is especially common in large- and medium-scale public sports facilities.
“The elderly usually complains about the fees charged, and younger parents complain about the facilities’ poor conditions; and some private facilities managers may complain that the public facilities are low-priced and [so are] vicious competition. [There has been] public dissatisfaction caused by the requisition or restricted access to facilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020, and the venues are requisitioned for vaccination or other tasks.” (Participant 7).
“Crisis management often occupies much of the time of managers and personnel, and such problems are extremely difficult to solve in a short period, resulting in continuous troubles, making it difficult to concentrate on the business.” (Participant 3).
As far as public evaluation goes, although there are differences from other fields, sports facilities are often compared with public service departments such as hospitals, libraries, museums, and restaurants.
“Although the sports facilities differ from other public service departments, many people compare us with them—e.g., information convenience, detailed services, service capabilities and attitudes, public satisfaction, and other aspects. It results in low evaluation, and we need to face the public pressure.” (Participant 2).
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