Exploiting the spectacular. A study of Danish and Norwegian event stakeholders’ interest in international sport events 2010-2020

Abstract

This thesis presents an analysis of the main motivations behind international sport events in Denmark and Norway between 2010 and 2020. The analysis is based on a collective case study of interviews, press coverage and documents related to six international sport events during this period. The motivations are regarded as forms of justification from the events’ main stakeholders with two main recipients. The internal recipient is an event’s stakeholders themselves, who have to convince themselves that the event is worth the trouble and then work to convince the external recipients. On a global level, this is the event owner in the case of the particular event and the global event field in general in order to be able to attract events in the future. At the same time, the stakeholders justify the event in the eyes of their peers on a local level. This includes the general public be-cause of the necessity of public support for the event.

The thesis demonstrates that the main stakeholders behind the events were the host municipality and the NGB representing the relevant sport. They stood out because of their combination of high organisational and social commitments. They were necessary for the organisation of the events and also had an expressed interest in making the events relevant to their peers, which in praxis meant making the events legitimate in the eyes of the general public.

The stakeholders’ justification depends on two forms of motivation for any of the event in question. The events are objects of speculation as the stakeholders want to use the event to obtain something, often money or other forms of resources. The events are also spectacular occasions; a successful spectacular event is an end in itself for its participants, be it by letting loose for a moment or in some other way experiencing a personal devel-opment.

Spectacular events and their lasting positive impression is particularly important on the personal level for the stakeholder representatives and for legitimising these events in the media. However, also in general, the thesis shows how this argument is an extremely important motivation for events in addition to speculative outcomes such as economic outputs, infrastructure, or other arguments, on which research on sport event typically has focused.

By including the global perspective, the thesis finally also shows how various local stake-holders had a strategic perspective in their hosting where hosting one event should not only yield a spectacular and speculative outcome on its own but also improve the stake-holders’ standing in the global event field and ease their access to future events. The current interest and persistence in event hosting in Denmark and Norway is not just the result of positive outcomes from individual events but the dynamics of a local, lasting event field.