Sports Facility Managers

Sports date back to ancient Greece and Rome, when athletic games were performed in arenas to entertain the crowds. Today's stadiums or arenas provide much more than a playing field and seats for sports and event spectators. The modern sports facility usually has one or more of the following: practice areas, home and visiting team locker rooms, physical therapy areas, sports equipment storage, press rooms, press boxes, facility maintenance equipment storage, cafeterias, food vendor areas, upscale restaurants, and offices for those who run the various aspects of the facility and teams who play there. Those who manage these venues for sports events are responsible for ensuring that everything runs smoothly for the athletes, the fans, the advertisers, the media, and their own staff.

According to the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), the facility management profession was initially a job based on reactions: When something at the facility broke or wasn't working correctly, facility managers were called upon to assess, fix, and/or replace it. It was in the 1980s, when the IFMA was established, that the scope of the facility manager expanded. Today the job entails ensuring the proper operation of the facility, which includes focusing on sustainability and cost-effective environments that are compliant with corporate and government regulations.