Aim and Research Questions:

This study analyses the development of “SM-veckan” [: “the Swedish national championship week”], a sport event where several sport federations since 2009 have staged their national championships together.

The analysis has three steps: 1) identifying the main stakeholders of SM-veckan, 2) describing how they perceive SM-veckan and 3) analysing how the perceptions influence the event’s development.

The study aims at understanding how national federations can increase their popularity by rethinking their national championships and how host cities can support (and make use of) such “event innovations”.

Theoretical Background and Literature Review

Recently, a branch of research on non-mega sport events has developed and recently also considered the role of innovation with a focus on the refinement of existing events (Hoff et al., 2022; Taks, 2016). In contrast, this paper studies the development of a wholly new event albeit based on traditional national championships.

Theoretically, the paper draws on the classical understanding of innovation as ‘creative destruction’ with long-term consequences and the more recent idea of innovation as a “creative” process aimed at rather immediate “qualitative change” for several beneficiaries(Tjønndal, 2017, pp. 293, 302). The theory's focus on event innovation and (social) outcome in a broad sense is further reflected in the study's sorting of stakeholders according to their organisational (e.g. interest in a well-organised events) and social (e.g. interest in social impacts) commitments (Ferrand & Skirstad, 2015).

Research Design, Methodology and Data Analysis

The main part of the data stems from documents from and semistructured interviews with representatives from the three most recent host cities and three sports (swimming, canoeing and padel). The documents have been collected. The interviews will be recorded and analysed in time for the presentation at the conference. The analysis also includes newspaper coverage of SM-veckan since 2009 to indicate the public perception of the event and serve as a background for the interviews.

The analysis of the material happened in three steps (Jones, 2014, Chapter 14).

1. Extracting information related to the formal organisation of the event and main stakeholders.
2. Coding data related to the perception of the sports and host cities.
3. Forming codes into themes and discuss them theoretically

Results/Findings and Discussion **  

The preliminary analysis shows that the main stakeholders of the event consist of a core group with a stable member base, and a temporary stakeholder group, which changes after each event. Considering their social and organisational commitments, however adds further nuances.

The Swedish Sport Confederation (Riksidrottsförbundet) and the Swedish national public broadcaster (SVT) are core members and seems mainly highly organisational commited. Especially the broadcaster wishes to streamline the event e.g. by priotising the most popular sports. The sports confederation wants a stream-lined event too. In order to pull off both a winter and a summer edition annually, the confederation must work efficiently.

Among the temporary stakeholders, the host cities are both socially and organisationally engaged as organisers with an outspoken interest in offering something spectacular to the locals. The other temporary group, the sport federations, is mainly organisational engaged. They often focus on learning and organising the competition rather than social outcomes - if allowed to participate at all. The participation of a sport depends on the will of the core stakeholders, existing infrastructure and the interest of the host. Yet, there seems to be a general interest from the sport federations in participating in the events.

Conclusion, Contribution, and Implication **

From an innovation theoretical perspective, SM-veckan seems established as an event considering several beneficiaries, while the preliminary results also indicate that the process has potential costs and entails creative as well as destructive processes.

The analysis shows that the main stakeholders of SM-veckan are all engaged albeit in different ways and to different degrees. The core stakeholders, the Swedish national public broadcaster and the Swedish sport confederation together with the host cities are defining for the continued development of SM-veckan as a popular event. Although the host cities are temporary stakeholders, their capacities and interests are taken very much into account, if not even taking the lead, when developing the event especially with regard to the social outcomes. The influence of the sport federations, the other temporary stakeholder, seems limited both in terms of organisation and socially.

The study has at least two implications:

1. Regarding theory on event innovation: The original innovation was to combine several the national championships but the recent focus seems to be on making the event appealing. How should we understand this change? Is the later focus a series of new innovations or refinements of the original (cf. Schumpeter's idea that innovations should be analysed in a long-term perspective)?
2. Regarding practical implications: Sport confederations seem to organise combined national tournaments to increase the attention around small sports. It appeals to the sport federations in Sweden and is potentially useful in other areas.

Introduction and research design

SM-veckan is a biannual sport event at which different Swedish sports since 2009 havebundled their national championships. The participting sports are mainly an ever-changing selection of smaller sports and a selection of “main sports”, which are to be guaranteed a spot at the event. The group of main sports has historically included among other sports swimming in the summer and skiing in the winter. The aim of this study is to analyse and discuss the development of SM-veckan from 2009 to 2023 and its role in the recent history of Swedish sport. The discussion is based on an analysis of inter alia the event’s structure, its stakeholders and number of participating sports. The data for the study includes newspapers and documents from and interviews with the host municipalities, sports federations, the Swedish Sport Confederation (RF) and the Swedish public broadcaster (SVT). The study is part of a two-year research project (2023-2025) and the presentation will present and discuss preliminary results from a part of the project. The project is financed by the Swedish Research Council for Sport Science (Centrum för Idrottsforskning).

Analysis:

The analysis so far has shown that SM-veckan since 2009 has changed remarkably little in terms of its organisation as well as in terms of key personnel. The main changes seem to have been the implementation of routines to make the event run more smoothly rather than new and radical reforms or adaptations. Changes have inter alia included the decision to stage SM-veckan even in the same years as the Olympic Games, a decrease in numbers of participating sports and to loosen the criteria for the host cities with regard to the sportfacilities the city must be able to provide for the main sports.

Concluding discussion:

The limited development of SM-veckan on the one hand indicate that the event fulfils the demands of the sports and municipalities (the “buyers”). That said, the changes that have occurred nevertheless show that the event has developed. Letting the event for instance take place in Olympic years and loosen the requirements host cities for instance suggest that event is on a path of increasing independence from the main sports. However, the decision to limit the number of participating sports indicates that the event faces other limits with regard to the size of the event. In a wider historical perspective, SM-veckan’s history links to the divide in Sweden betweenthe few sports that have profited from television and the rest. Studying SMV thus adds to our understanding of media sport history and the history of smaller sport federations in Sweden. In the future, it will be interesting to see if SMV proves durable even without a stable group of “main sports” as host cities starts to exploit the offered flexibility.

”Goal by Simonsen!” Den 21. september 1983 besejrede det danske fodboldlandshold helt uhørt England 1-0 på det ikoniske Wembley Stadium. Straffesparket i kampens 36. minut viste sig enormt vigtigt: Sejrsrusen var euforisk og skabte et fællesskab uden lige – hele Danmarks landshold var en realitet. Det rød-hvide firserholds succes skyldtes ikke bare et stærkt forbund eller en træner med den rette re-seppt, men generationer af boldglade bønder og byboere. Amatørfodbold havde stået stærkt, lige siden en læderkugle trillede over grønsværen første gang i 1883. Og i over 100 år har fans og fæ hujet sig hæse i skummende debatter om amatører vs. professionelle, om fairplay og diktaturer, om kvinder og fodbold – og om dansken er bedre end svensken.

As demands for more sustainable ways of living increase, organisers of sport events have come under increasing pressure to adapt. At the same time, more and more national and local event policies increase the demand for events. These two trends raise the question of how policy makers can combine the demand for events with a sustainable way of living; a question that so far has been subject to little research. The present paper analyses the conceptualisation of sustainability in all local policies relating to events in Norwegian municipalities. The paper is based on the analysis of policies covering 22 municipalities and includes both general development plans and more specific policies on events in its analysis. The analysis shows that all the municipalities have adopted a “broad” conceptualisation of sustainability, i.e., pursued a development, which should not limit the possibilities of future generations, in their general development plans. Although the general development plans serve as a basis for every other policy, the paper also shows that the municipalities in the specific policies for events often had “narrow” conceptualisation of sustainability, i.e., focusing on making local events reoccurring and/or increasing the capacity for hosting external events. The findings emphasise the relevance of looking at the local level when conducting future studies on events and sustainability and suggest that the practitioners acknowledge the complexity of reconciling demands for more events and increased sustainability.