Given the growth of sport leagues globally, we sought to understand how sport entrepreneurs addressed institutional plurality as they worked to establish a new professional sport league in the USA. Drawing on institutional pluralism, we critically examine two efforts to establish professional rugby union football leagues in the USA. Pluralism resulted in tensions among rugby stakeholders. While both leagues sought to reconcile tensions through institutional infrastructure work, one of the leagues garnered more stakeholder support as it was attentive to more institutional contexts. The other league’s infrastructure work was limited and resulted in the alienation of many important rugby stakeholders. Our research demonstrates the theoretical and practical importance of institutional infrastructure work within sport entrepreneurship, especially when navigating institutional pluralism.

鉴于全球体育联盟的发展，我们试图了解体育企业家在美国建立新的职业体育联盟时如何应对机构多元化。利用制度多元化，我们批判性地考察了在美国建立职业橄榄球联盟足球联赛的两项努力。多元化导致橄榄球利益相关者之间的紧张关系。虽然两个联盟都试图通过机构基础设施工作来调和紧张关系，但其中一个联盟获得了更多利益相关者的支持，因为它关注更多的机构环境。另一个联盟的基础设施工作受到限制，导致许多重要的橄榄球利益相关者被疏远。我们的研究证明了体育企业家精神中机构基础设施工作的理论和实践重要性，