Abstract: Under the background of the promotion of sports governance system and modernization ability, the study tries to explore the thought origin and characteristics of sports governance.It holds that "separation of powers and checks and balances" is the origin of sports decentralized governance; The Declaration of Independence is the legal basis for the concept innovation of sports system governance; the enlightenment thought is the social foundation of sports rights governance; the law of market economy and pragmatism is the steady power to promote sports governance; and the amateurism and liberal spirit are the cultural genes of sports governance.American sports governance is characteristic of institution-based "legal governance", "collaboration" of multiple subjects, social organizations-based "decentralized governance", and the "autonomy" with the linkage of pluralistic mechanism. The study offers the enlightenment as follows:building the social sports governance foundation and local theoretical framework, which is to strengthen the "system governance" of sport; reshaping the relationship between government, market, and social organizations for the purpose of building a plural sports governance complex with collaborative linkage of multiple subjects.And finally, social assessment should be carried out regularly to observe its governance effect, which will raise the level of modernization in sports governance.