A central issue within sport management is the extent to which the field should develop a distinctive theoretical knowledge base. This paper empirically investigates the connectedness within (intrafield) and between (interfield) management and sport management disciplines in one specific knowledge domain—institutional theory. We utilized a database of 188 sport-related institutional studies and conducted a citation network analysis of the aggregated reference lists from these articles. We argue that the fields of management and sport management act like “ships in the night.” That is, as the field of sport management has become more distinctive, the field is becoming less connected with general management literature and contemporary theoretical discussions. Potential implications for sport management scholarship and understanding the nature of the field are discussed, along with how it may be possible (if desired) to bridge the gap between sport and management research.

体育管理的一个中心问题是该领域应在多大程度上发展独特的理论知识基础。本文实证研究了一个特定知识领域——制度理论中管理与体育管理​​学科内部（领域内）和之间（领域间）的联系。我们利用了包含 188 项体育相关机构研究的数据库，并对这些文章的汇总参考文献列表进行了引文网络分析。我们认为管理和体育管理领域就像“黑夜中的船只”。也就是说，随着体育管理领域变得更加独特，该领域与一般管理文献和当代理论讨论的联系越来越少。讨论了对体育管理学术和理解该领域性质的潜在影响，以及如何（如果需要）弥合体育和管理研究之间的差距。