Sport England will invest £88M ($109.9M) in "grassroots sport" and a further £3M ($3.74M) to "help sports bid for major events over the next four years," according to the BBC. Of the 26 governing bodies to benefit, "cycling is set for the biggest award" of more than £17M ($21.2M). Badminton, which last week lost its UK Sport funding, will receive £7.25M ($9.1M). Sport England said that the announcement shows its "ongoing commitment to supporting those who have a close affinity with sport." The investments and new funding opportunities are "designed to build on the 15 million people who regularly play sport in the country," which Sport England calls its "core market." British Cycling wants to invest more in "traffic-free festivals and a campaign to encourage families to ride together, while England Hockey is interested in quicker, small-sided versions of the game" (BBC, 12/16). The PA reported Sport England has £1B ($1.25B) to invest over the next four years, "similar to the sum it had" for '13-17, with about three-quarters of this sum coming from the National Lottery and the rest from the public purse. Sport England's decisions actually represent a "significant decrease" -- £13M ($16.2M) -- in the sum allocated to British Cycling, and "small" decreases for the others, but Sport England’s Dir of Sport Phil Smith believes this is a reflection of the agency's new focus on the "unsporty," as well as national governing bodies' "maturity." Smith said, "British Cycling is another example of a governing body that is trying to become less dependent on public funding, which is what we want to encourage, and I think the application it made to us was a sign of a mature and well-run organization" (PA, 12/16).