"If You Don't Know Me by Now"-The Importance of Sustainability Initiative Awareness for Stakeholders of Professional Sports Organizations

This study explores the importance of sustainable initiatives (SI) in sport for the stakeholders of a professional sports organization (PSO) after three months of absence of the public at the stadiums due to the pandemic situation. Two topics-diversity and inclusion (DIVIN) and the attraction and retention of human capital (ARHC)-were considered and analyzed. A third factor-the distance of residence of the members and the PSO-was considered as an element of the possible relationship between the awareness of the SI and the assessment of the topics in question. A total of 5694 PSO members took an online survey. Through the description of the data, the results show that being aware of the SI performed is a crucial factor for the success of the SI. Distance positively influences SI awareness. The topics considered are rated most positively by members with awareness of the SI, with a higher rating for the topic with the highest external visibility.