Welcome to the new-look Sports Management – we’ve added some new zing for 2012, including more features, in-depth reports, an enhanced SAPCA ‘Game On’ section and our new Thought Leaders on page 8, which gives a platform for debate.

If you have something you feel passionately about and would like to comment or share your thoughts with other readers, please get in touch and let us know. Thought Leaders will appear in Sports Management magazine’s print, PDF and Digital Turning Pages editions and will also feature on our new Sports Management blog, which you can find online at blog.sportsmanagement.co.uk.

We’re also celebrating the launch of the Sports Management Handbook, which is in its first edition for 2012 to mark this very special Olympic year. You can view the handbook free via its dedicated website at sportsmanagementhandbook.com or go immediately to the digital edition at sportsmanagementhandbook.com/digital. Print copies can be ordered online at leisuresubs.com.

The handbook complements the magazine as a reference guide for the industry and is packed with research and fact-based reporting, as well as including industry listings, guidelines and a development pipeline, which highlights major infrastructure projects that will open around the world in 2012/13.

We’re already compiling the next edition of the handbook, so if you have something to contribute, an idea for content or would like us to cover your research, project or organisation, please get in touch.

Our lead handbook feature from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) gives an overview of the global sports market, estimating that the sector will outperform many major economies in the years to 2015, with a projected annual compound growth rate of 3.7 per cent. PwC says a rebound in TV advertising, the migration of sport to pay TV and improvements in sports sponsorship – especially from financial services and car manufacturers – will drive revenues to reach US$145.3bn (£93bn, E109.3bn) by this date.

It’s clear that for a sport to thrive at all levels, from the grassroots upwards, it must have a clear line into TV deals and sponsorship – or both – to drive investment in facilities and programmes.

It’s no longer realistic to expect governments to fund sport entirely out of the public purse, and where they do, it’s increasingly likely they’ll focus on sports participation to help control both obesity levels and expenditure on health services, which are running out of control around the world.

When it comes to talent development and competitive sport, the forging of more high-level commercial relationships is vital: PwC makes it clear we’re no longer in the age of the amateur.

We can expect sports governing bodies and leaders to become ever more savvy in grasping the opportunity to build consumer brands and awareness and capture sponsorship revenue, as the continuing development of smart TVs, smart phones and social media creates new channels to access consumers, with all the benefits that brings for revenue generation.

Coupled with these changes, the market for major sports events is maturing and we’re seeing the emergence of a global community of experts who can deliver sustainable – sometimes even profitable – events which, as well as being increasingly popular with the consumer, also create wealth for the sports involved via broadcast rights, merchandising and gate money.