Using the concept of standards and a framework examining strategic responses to institutional processes, this article aims to understand why a municipality has resisted to implement elite football's stadium requirements and, from this perspective, assesses the options municipalities actually have to refuse implementing them. At first, the municipality in focus, Angelholm in Sweden, demonstrated a lack of awareness of the intrinsic power of standards and the ways in which they can influence municipal decisions. However, as it emerged that the standards contradicted other municipal priorities, the municipality became more critical and eventually decided not to follow them. Another finding of the study is that municipalities, as the 'adopters' of elite football standards, cannot affect how these standards are written. Therefore, the options to accept or decline them are perceived to be limited. Consequently, standards constitute a central form of governance within local sport policy.

This article aims to explain why Danish municipalities usually choose to comply with stadium requirements from the Danish Soccer Association (DBU) even though, in most cases, they do not have the supporter base that could fill the renovated or new stadiums to their capacities. Using institutional theory as a theoretical framework, the article shows that coercive forms of isomorphism are part of the homogenization process leading to the municipalities' compliance. It also suggests that mimetic forms of isomorphism are present in the sense that municipalities believe that if they comply with these requirements they will strengthen the conditions of their local clubs. In turn, they have encouraged other municipalities to follow suit. In sum, the analysis shows that the central form of governance through standardizations together with isomorphic forces have contributed to a uniformity among the municipalities.

In 2003, the Danish Football Association introduced a new club licensing system for its first-tier clubs. Among the criteria for the system was a requirement for clubs to play at a stadium with a minimum capacity of 10,000 spectators. This paper aims to understand how the Danish Football Association and the Danish league clubs have succeeded in their efforts to make their licensing criteria a public concern by standardizing them at a municipal level. It presents a case study examining how the policy process surrounding the decision of building a new stadium in the Danish village Hobro changed – in a peculiar way – what in institutional theory is understood as a (voluntary) standard into a directive for Mariagerfjord Municipality. The case is illustrative of policy processes regarding stadium funding in other parts of Denmark and most likely in other Scandinavian countries.

2003年, 丹麦足球协会为其一级俱乐部推出了新的俱乐部许可证制度。该制度要求俱乐部必须在最低容量为10,000名观众的体育场内举行比赛。本研究旨在了解丹麦足球协会和丹麦俱乐部联盟如何通过市级标准化成功地将这一许可制度引导成为大众关心的话题。本文提供的案例是研究在丹麦的霍布罗山村建立一个新体育馆的决策政策过程如何改变 - 以一种特殊的方式 - 这在制度理论中被理解为马里亚尔峡湾市政府指令制定的 (自愿的) 标准。这个案例解释了丹麦其他地区以及其他斯堪的纳维亚国家的体育场建设基金的有关政策的制定流程。

Sedan millennieskiftet har den kommunala idrottspolitiken i Sverige och Danmark alltmer kretsat kring elitidrottens krav på anläggningar. Medan företrädare för idrotten krävt ökade investeringar, ofta med hänvisningar till de nationella eller internationella idrottsförbundens standardiserade arenakrav, har kritiker invänt att arenakraven är orimligt stora och inte i överensstämmelse med kommunernas faktiska behov. Trots kritiken har få kommuner i praktiken kunnat stå emot de höjda anläggningskraven, särskilt om motståndet riskerat att utmynna i bestraffningar för kommunens egna elitlag.Denna avhandling handlar om de politiska processer och kom munala erfarenheter som elitfotbollens arenakrav ger upphov till. Från institu­tionell utgångspunkt analyseras svenska och danska kommuners möjligheter, utmaningar och problem i mötet med elitfotbollens standardiserade arenakrav. Hur kan vi förstå elitfotbollens inflytande över den kommunala idrottspolitiken? Vilka handlingsalternativ har kommunala aktörer? Varför agerar kommunala aktörer som de gör? Detta är frågor som analyseras. Författaren intresserar sig särskilt på de institutionella regleringar som i många fall är styrande för den kommunala anläggningspolitiken – men han konstaterar också att det tas kommunala initiativ för att förändra de strukturer som arena­kraven ger upphov till.Jens Alm (f. 1982) är verksam som analytiker vid Idrættens Analyse­institut i Köpenhamn. Hög standard? En studie om kommunal anläggningspolitik och elitfotbollens standardiserande arenakrav är hans doktorsavhandling i idrottsvetenskap.

While the literature on the economic impacts of major sports events has grown considerably over the years, the question of utilisation of venues built for these events after the party is over has received little attention. This article fills some of the gaps in the literature. By means of a Stadium Utilisation Index, it measures the post-event utilisation of venues that were constructed of significantly refurbished to host major sports events in the period from 1996 to 2010. It reveals some of the challenges facing the utilisation of the venues once ‘the circus has left town’. The regressions identify that private owned stadiums have a higher rate of utilisation than publicly built venues. The stadiums with the highest capacity tend to have higher utilisation. Last, but not least in terms of importance, stadiums in nations with a high degree of corruption had the lowest utilisation.

This paper examines the extent of an institutional change within the organisational field of municipalities and competitive sport in Sweden. First, there is both a continuation of and a challenge to the institutional relationship between municipalities and competitive sport as a result of new institutional logics. Second, although there are competing institutional logics, the municipalities have an ambivalent approach towards the stadium requirements from competitive sport. On the one hand, the municipalities wish to continue their mutual exchange with competitive sport, and finance and support it, while avoiding competing institutional logics within the organisational field. On the other hand, if they are not able to have an increased influence over the development of the stadium requirements, the municipalities express that they define the stadium requirements as private issue and a task for competitive sport itself. The conclusion is that the financing of stadium requirements and the definition of them as a public issue is under negotiation and the new institutional logics have resulted in a battle over policy formulation and a less predictable policy area.

Although attendance figures in Danish football’s first tier are not in line with the Danish FA’s stadium requirements, the municipalities, which to a large degree fund the stadiums, comply with the stadium requirements and assist the clubs in obtaining their necessary league licenses. Taking on an institutional perspective, this study answers the question of why Danish municipalities follow these requirements and fund professional football stadiums that have a much bigger capacity than their regular attendance demands. The findings of the study can be summarized in three parts. First, coercive isomorphic processes are present within the homogenization process Danish stadiums are facing. As it is believed to be necessary to enhance facilities in order to keep Danish clubs competitive at the national and international level, the Danish FA, the Danish league, as well as the clubs, have been successful in realizing their demands for bigger stadiums. Second, it is also possible to discern mimetic isomorphic processes in the study. The competitive situation between municipalities, along with a conception of the clubs’ significance in the new experience economy, have contributed to the Danish municipalities’ compliance with the stadium requirements. Thirdly, although the municipalities have complied with the stadium requirements and funded the facilities, the analysis reveals a municipal opposition towards the requirements. However, the power balance between the clubs and municipalities seems to indicate that the clubs have the advantage, as the municipalities, despite their opposition, have conceded to making investments on the basis of the FA’s requirements.

Kapitlet definierar begreppet "good governance" och använder sedermera begreppet för att analysera och beskriva tillståndet i de 35 internationella idrottsförbund som har en eller flera idrottsgrenar representerade på det olympiska programmet. Resultatet visar att en majoritet av organisationernas aktiviteter inte är i linje med "good governance".

The chapter define the concept 'good governance' and thereafter use the concept to analyse and describe the state of the organisation in the 35 International Sport Organisations recognised by the International Olympic Committee. The results examine that a majority of the organisations' activities are not in line with 'good governance'.