Abstract: The survey study investigated the role of motivation in sports development in colleges of education in South-Western Nigeria. Data were collected from 2, 299 samples: comprising 13 male coaches, 65 (57-87.6%) male, 8 (12.3%) female) members of sports council/committees and 2, 221 (1, 209 (55.2%) male and 1, 012 (44.8%) female) athletes. Age ranged from 16-30 years for athletes (X = 25 years, SD = 46.21) and 35-55 years for adults (X = 43.48 years, SD = 6.55). Purposive sampling was utilised in selecting the coaches and sports Council/committee members for their uniqueness as sports technocrats while stratified random sampling was utilised in selecting the athletes. Reliability analysis using split-half and Cronbach’s coefficient alpha yielded reliability index of r = 0.86 for the independent variables and r = 0.82 for the dependent variable. Statistical analysis involved the use of frequency counts, mean and standard deviation for demographic data and the inferential statistics of linear and multiple regressions. All the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Linear regression analysis showed that award of scholarship yielded a non-significant predictive value of B = -5.348 E.02, BETA.120, t = -0.445, p>0.05. Giving consideration to athletes B = 0.246, BETA = 0.042, t = 2.188, p<0.05 and monetary reward to athletes B = -0.232, BETA = -0.036, t = -1.972, p<0.05 yielded statistically significant predictive values. The composite effect of the three variables yielded a statistically significant value of Adj R² = 0.128, F = 339.065, df = 3; p<0.05. Award of scholarship did not predict sports development. Giving consideration as well as monetary reward to athletes predicted sports development. The three variables jointly predicted sports development. This was possible because the contribution of award of scholarship was so insignificant that it did not affect the composite effect of the three variables.