Is Building New the Only Option? A Teaching Approach to Heritage Management

The debate between building new sport and recreation facilities or renovating existing venues has engrossed sport managers (Barghchi, Omar, & Aman, 2009; Galvan, 2006; Grant-Long, 2005; Rosentraub & Ijla, 2008; Seifried, 2010). Interestingly, the individuals entrusted with making investment decisions on these facilities often lack knowledge of this process. Many sport management programs include courses related to facility management; however, they rarely include curriculum items on the renovation of culturally valuable sport and recreation buildings. The main purpose of this paper is to propose heritage management as an important component to sport and recreational facility management and to showcase an example of this initiative that was incorporated into a facility management class. This teaching methodology on heritage management allows students to understand how to create valuable contributions to their field while simultaneously learning about the culture and history of sport venues.