Playing a global game: A sport management expert makes WVU a center for international athletics

Gonzalo Bravo insists he “didn’t set out to create a niche.”

But his niche is a pretty big one — planet-sized, in fact.

The director of the West Virginia University Global Sport and Performance Center and a professor at the WVU College of Applied Human Sciences, Bravo is one of the world’s leading specialists in international sport management.

He earned that distinction organically, beginning with a U.S. master’s degree in sport administration that was followed by more than a decade working as a high-level athletics administrator in his native Chile.

“I learned the craft on the job,” Bravo said. “The day-to-day realities of managing sports — people, budgets, logistics — that experience shaped everything I’ve done since.”

In the years since his return to the United States and to academia, he has built a cross-continental sports network spanning South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Now, on any given day, Bravo can be found chatting with athletes in Brazil, reviewing survey data collected in Chile and working with students.

“It happened naturally,” he said. “Sport is global. If you’re not teaching it that way, you’re missing the point.”

Go long

Bravo was 40 when he took a “risky shot” and returned to the United States from Chile to pursue a doctoral degree in sport management. But it was that decision that led him to the WVU faculty, and to Morgantown.

“When WVU offered me the position, I said, ‘I’m not moving again.’ And I didn’t.”

From the beginning, Bravo gravitated toward the global dimensions of sport. He developed international sport management courses for WVU students, led study-abroad experiences and invited scholars from around the world to West Virginia.

International recognition followed. Bravo co-authored one of the premier global sport management textbooks, now in its third edition, with more than 15,000 copies sold worldwide. Another of his publications is archived in the Olympic Library in Switzerland.

But the WVU Global Sport and Performance Center — launch date November 9, 2026 — is Bravo’s crowning achievement.

The Center advances excellence in sport and physical activity on an international scale, connecting WVU to the world of sport through research, education and partnership, with a focus on applied, real-life engagement.

Bravo explained, “The Global Sport and Performance Center positions sport not only as competition and entertainment, but also as a platform for cultural exchange, diplomacy, education, and social impact.”

Go wide

He added, “We recognize that sport, like music and the arts, is a powerful form of human expression. And it’s a social phenomenon that unites people across cultures, languages, and continents. That’s why we focus on fostering cross-cultural, interdisciplinary collaboration. Our students are equipped to understand fan behavior across cultures and to develop communication and media strategies that will resonate with fans from all over the world.”

One of the Center’s most ambitious projects yet happened in 2023 in Bravo’s original hometown of Santiago, during the Pan American Games, a multi-sport event that draws 7,000 athletes from across the Americas.

From people present in Santiago, Bravo and his collaborators collected more than 9,000 survey responses that reflected the social legacy of the Pan American Games — how residents perceived the games, how tourists experienced the host city, how volunteers were motivated and supported and how gender equity played out among coaches and sports administrators.

The work resulted in academic presentations around the world. But it also enabled Bravo’s team to report back to event organizers and government partners directly.

“That’s important to me,” Bravo said. “Research should inform decisions, not just sit on a shelf.”

Go for gold

Through the Global Sport and Performance Center, WVU students can find initiatives like a partnership for executive sport management training with the Sports Leaders Institute of Zimbabwe and an exchange program with The Hague University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands.

They can take advantage of resources like global sport industry reports and grants for international travel and study.

The soccer fans among them can even listen to the Center’s own FIFA World Cup 2026 podcast, providing expert perspectives on the global game.

And Bravo can’t wait for them to have access to the new WVU Olympic Studies Center he’s working to launch, which would be only the fourth of its kind in the U.S.

“The Olympics are a natural fit for what we study,” Bravo said. “They’re more than a spectacle. They’re an educational ecosystem.”

Deep ties to the International Olympic Committee’s academic network, the support of WVU alumni who are affiliated with NBC and Olympic organizing committees and long-running WVU course offerings focused on the Olympics all make Bravo optimistic about earning the Olympic seal of approval.

When that happens, he said, the Olympic Studies Center would design Olympic-specific coursework and support research focused on future Olympic Games.

And it would open opportunities for students in the WVU Sport Management Program to access unique programs and scholarships.

“Sport is international, whether you realize it or not,” Bravo said. “Our job is to make that visible and accessible. What we are doing is real education, designed for real needs.”

Learn more about the WVU Global Sport and Performance Center.

Learn about the WVU program in Sport Management.

Story by Laura Jackson. Photos by Rebecca Particka and submitted.