The Social Return on Investment (SROI) of sports and physical activity
Engaging in sports and physical activity has social value. It makes people healthier and happier; this is not up for debate. But how healthy and how happy? And does it outweigh the investments made? Currently that is not very clear. This is why the Knowledge Centre for Sport Netherlands asked Rebel and the Mulier Institute to calculate the Social Return on Investment (SROI) of sports and physical activity in the Netherlands as accurately as possible. This SROI compares the monetized social costs and the monetizes social benefits related to people who engage in sports and physical activity.
We define the central question of this study as follows: ‘What is the SROI of sports and physical activity, and how does it vary by municipality?’ The key sub-questions are:
- How do we define ‘sports and physical activity’?
- What are the costs incurred for having people engage in sports and physical activity?
- What are the benefits of engaging in sports and physical activity?
- What is the SROI of sports and physical activity in the Netherlands?
- What factors determine the degree to which people engage in sports and physical activity, and what is the municipality’s degree of influence on this?