Belgium (Flanders)

Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are relatively well-established topics within the sports industry in Flanders, Belgium. This chapter is based on semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in the three different sports subsectors—commercial sector, civil society, and government—and aims to examine the trade-offs between the different dimensions of sustainability. More specifically, this research offers insights into the context-dependency and political-ideological-laden decisions about the three dimensions of sustainability by key stakeholders in the different sectors. The findings indicate that sustainability is not a balanced interplay of the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of sustainability in the Flemish sports industry. Rather, the historically social nature of the Flemish sports industry determines the social approach of sustainability, which largely dominates. Yet, a shift in priorities within sustainability is not evident in both civil society and the government sector. In contrast, the commercial sector plays a more proactive role regarding the three dimensions of sustainability due to its independence and flexibility, despite a focus on financial profit.