WORKSHOP E

London 2012: success and failure of national elite sport policies

Introduction:
National sport agencies and governing bodies across the world are influenced by the growing awareness that elite sporting success can be produced by investing strategically in elite sport. As a result, governments and other public organisations increasingly choose to intervene directly in elite sport by providing considerable amounts of public funding. It can be argued that this leads to increasing institutionalisation and homogenisation of elite sport systems (e.g. Andersen & Ronglan, 2012; De Bosscher, Bingham, Shibli, van Bottenburg, & De Knop, 2008; Bergsgard, Houlihan, Mangset, Nødland, & Rommetveldt, 2007; Green & Houlihan, 2005; Houlihan & Green, 2008) These investments also lead to increasing competition for elite success which in turn leads to diminishing returns on elite investment - increasing the investment in elite sport is required simply to maintain existing performance levels (De Bosscher, et al., 2008).

Economic hardship in many countries around the world will make it difficult for national governments to raise their elite sport budgets. This puts pressure on the drivers of the elite sporting systems to change their strategy from claiming more money to improve their policy strategy (for example, focusing and prioritizing) and to search for keys to effectiveness and efficiency of national policies. This workshop is concerned with the strategic thinking behind the striving for excellence in countries, especially leading up to the London 2012 Olympic Games. 

Description:
Since 2002, an international group of researchers has joined forces to develop theories, methods and practices regarding Sports Policy factors Leading to International Sporting Success (SPLISS). The conveners involved in SPLISS invite researchers from different nations that are interested to join this group, to share and convey ideas regarding theories, methods, practical topics and general research challenges that relate to elite sport policies.

The intention of this workshop is to stimulate research cooperation, exchange information and facilitate a unique networking opportunity between researchers, policy makers and NOCs. We invite researchers for the workshop to submit an abstract about elite sport policy evaluation and implementation studies in their (or other) countries, in particular in relation to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Specific topics could be (but are not limited to):

• Strategic management of high performance sport in relation to London 2012.

• Keys to effectiveness, input-output analysis in relation to London 2012.

• Policy tracking studies that look at historical policy changes and drivers for policy strategies in relation to London 2012.

• Critical issues, such as prioritisation or diversification of elite sport; balancing elite sport and sport for all; centralisation versus decentralisation of policy implementation; separating or merging elite sport structures; autonomy of national

• governing bodies.

• The governance and role of different organisations and stakeholders.

• Policy evaluation and policy implementation studies

• Outcomes: the social recognition of success and elite sport, wider effects of elite sport

Keywords:
Elite sport policies – policy evaluation – London 2012 – managing high performance sport

Format:
A maximum of 12 abstracts will be accepted for this workshop. The workshop will start with an introduction to explain and explore the critical questions and end with a conclusion on the different topics. We will work in blocks of three abstracts, clustered thematically.
 

The submission procedures for this workshop are similar to the regular abstracts, taking 15-20 minute presentations followed by a 5 minute moderated question and answer period.
Note: to avoid overlap between different workshops at EASM (such as sport policy and elite sport systems), the conveners of this workshop will, - in collaboration with the EASM scientific committee-, take the initiative to re-group submitted abstracts thematically.

Conveners:
Prof. Dr. Veerle De Bosscher, professor at the department of Sports Policy and Management (faculty of Physical Education) in the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium. Her research area is mainly in the field of elite sport policy, in particular on effectiveness and evaluation, and international comparisons. Together with a consortium group she coordinates an international network, called SPLISS. She has published her work in diverse refereed journals (such as the European Sport Management Quarterly, the Journal of Sport Management, the Sport Management Review and the International journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship), book chapters and she edited several English and Dutch books (e.g. the Global Sporting Arms Race, high performance management).Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department Sports Policy and management (SBMA),
veerle.de.bosscher@vub.ac.be

Prof. Dr. Maarten van Bottenburg, is professor of Sport Development at the School of Governance at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He has done research on various themes, such as the globalization of sport, sport participation, elite sport, the public value of sport, and sport management. As author and co-author, he published in journals like American Behavioral Scientist, Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, Leisure Studies, Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, European Sport Management Quarterly and the International Review for the Sociology of Sport, and in book chapters and books like The Global Sporting Arms Race, Global Games and Sports Participation in the European Union. From a sociology of organizations perspective, he also wrote three jubilee volumes of significant Dutch institutions in the realm of labour relations, health care and social security,
M.vanBottenburg@uu.nl

Prof. Simon Shibli, is the Director of the Sport Industry Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University. He is a graduate in Physical Education, Sport Science and Recreation Management from Loughborough University and also a qualified management accountant (ACMA). Simon was awarded his professorship in Sport Management in July 2007. Simon has been involved in research and consultancy linked to elite sport since 2002 and was a founder member of the SPLISS consortium. In 2004 Simon was the only academic recruited by the National Audit Office to be a member of the expert panel which assisted the NAO in its review of UK Sport’s funding for elite athletes and has contributed to other NAO projects concerned with elite sport. Within the field of elite sport Simon is particularly interested in measuring performance and assessing the extent to which performance can be predicted,
S.Shibli@shu.ac.uk

Prof. Dr. Hans Westerbeek, is Professor (Sport Business) and Director, Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living, at Victoria University. He also holds an appointment as Professor of Sport Management at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium. Prior to his appointment at VU, Professor Westerbeek was the Head of the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality management at La Trobe University. Hans has (co)authored 19 books on sport management, sport business and sport marketing and he has conducted research and consulting projects for more than 50 international organisations including FIFA (Switzerland); Giro D’Italia (Italy); Dutch Royal Football Association; Dutch Olympic Committee; Sport Business Group (London); IMG (London); Saujana Group (Malaysia); Government of the United Arab Emirates; Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (Netherlands); Ministry of Economic Affairs (New Zealand); LA Galaxy (USA); AFL; Cricket Australia; and Tennis Australia. He is a frequently invited keynote speaker international conferences,
hans.westerbeek@vu.edu.au

References used in the text

Andersen, S., & Tore Ronglan, L. (2012). Nordic Elite Sport. Same ambitions, different tracks. Norway: AIT Otta AS.

Bergsgard, N.A., Houlihan, B., Mangset, P., Nrdland, S.I. & Rommetveldt, H. (2007). Sport policy. A comparative analysis of stability and change. London: Elsevier.

De Bosscher, V., Bingham, J., Shibli, S., van Bottenburg, M., De Knop, P. (2008). A global sporting arms race. An international comparative study on sports policy factors leading to international sporting success. Aachen, DE: Meyer & Meyer.

Green, M., & Houlihan, B. (2005). Elite sport development. Policy learning and political priorities. London and New York: Routledge.

Houlihan, B., & Green, M (2008). Comparative elite sport development. Systems, structures and public policy. London: Elsevier.