The provision of sports facilities and opportunities in Britain is the result of the interaction between the public, private and voluntary sectors.
Public Sector
Public sectors are institutions that are funded by money collected from the public in the form of direct or indirect taxes such as council tax, VAT on spending and National Insurance. Public sectors provide facilities and opportunities for the public, but it is subsidised by the local government. Local authorities provide funds, usually a grant, which is their budget for the year. The public sectors aim is to break even rather than make a profit. The use of facilities is usually cheaper than private sectors as their market is for everyone of all ages and therefore their facilities are not as highly maintained as they would be in private sectors.
Private Sector
Private sector sports facilities are provided by individuals or a partnership and are usually ran by a consortium. These individuals (or companies) invest their own money into the facilities. As a result these facilities are usually named after someone e.g. Bannatyne's Health Club, or brand names such as Virgin. The most recent form of private sector companies within sport are football clubs. Football clubs are now big money investments. For example the influence of Roman Ambramovich at Chelsea FC. The private sector provides sports facilities for two main reasons:
1. to make a return on their investment for themselves and their
shareholders
2. to make a profit out of sport
Private sectors are all about money and profit. They provide for sports increasing in demand and are able to respond quickly to new trends or start new trends themselves.