Managing participation systems: a structured narrative review of infrastructure, governance, and economic evidence in sport and leisure

Purpose/Rationale: This review synthesises how sport and leisure participation is shaped by system design, governance arrangements, and economic decision-making. Design/Methodology/Approach: Scopus and Web of Science were searched (2000–2026) for studies linking participation outcomes (access, uptake, frequency, retention, inequalities) to system-level levers; 79 studies were included. A structured narrative synthesis organised heterogeneous evidence around infrastructure, governance, programming, economic decision tools, and intervention assumptions. Findings: Participation is associated with facility configuration, pathway fit, adaptive governance, ownership, and informal formats. Universal subsidies often exhibit deadweight, while targeted support can be weakened by eligibility rules and secondary costs. Evidence for trickle-down from elite success or mega-events is limited; where gains occur, they depend on active leveraging and delivery capacity. Across themes, participation change is shaped by the alignment between provision, delivery, economic design, and group-specific constraints. Practical Implications: Managers may benefit from considering segmented facility portfolios, flexible programming, diagnosis of participation constraints, attention to barriers beyond price, and use of ROI/SROI to evaluate additionality rather than utilisation alone. Research Contribution: This paper consolidates infrastructure, governance, and economic evidence into an integrative participation-systems framework for sport management. Originality/Value: The review provides a decision-support framework and transparent study-to-theme mapping to support prioritisation under resource constraints.