The aim of the investigation is to elaborate a model of sports management and legal regulation of sport based on the principles of democracy and the sovereign rights and independence of the republics of the former Soviet Union. This article uses a functional, systematic and sociological approach, examines formal juridical methods and the comparative science of law and uses survey questionnaires and interviews with sports administrators. The concept of sports management and legal regulation of sport at a time of the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States involves: the development of sport ‐ its function as a social necessity; the enhanced responsibility and role of the state in promoting sport; determining the functions of sports management bodies; mastering economic methods of sports management; and forming new sports legislation. All these factors enable the creation of management procedures and legal regulation that will contribute to extricating sport from the deep crisis in which it finds itself in a disintegrating society, to raising its prestige in society and to enabling sport to function under the conditions of economic reform and transition to market relation