running across europe the european sports model revisited€¦ · • flemish athletic association...

Play the Game 2013

Stepping up for democracy in sport

Prof. Jeroen Scheerder, PhD Policy in Sports & Physical Activity Research Group

KU Leuven, Belgium

Prof. Koen Breedveld, PhD Mulier Institute, The Netherlands

RUNNING ACROSS EUROPE The European sports model revisited

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/EU_Insigna.svg

Outline

• European sports model – Pyramid representation

– Critical comments

– Church model

• Club-organised sport vs Sport Light – Popularity of light communities in sport

– Empirical evidence

• Case of running – Popularity of running

– Policy implications

NEW BOOK in preparation

SPM Reports can be downloaded free of charge:

www.faber.kuleuven.be/SPM

SUGGESTED READINGS

Reference article by Van Bottenburg, Scheerder & Hover

(2010)

http://www.faber.kuleuven.be/BMS

CASE OF RUNNING

Joggers and road runners

= large group

= largest group within

athletic participants

Popularity of running

• First running boom originated in USA

• ‘forerunners’:


• End of 1960s: from mere competition with

small number of elite athletes recreational

physical activity by millions of people

• Popularity of road running!

• During 1970s: trend spread over USA

• During 1980s: ‘imitated’ in Europe


Evolution of number of marathons (1910-2012) worldwide Evolution of number of marathon finishers (1910-2012) worldwide

1st wave

Source: Scheerder, Breedveld & Borgers (2014)

1st wave

2nd wave


Evolution of the Number of Participants in some Major City Marathons, 1960-2006

0

5.000

10.000

15.000

20.000

25.000

30.000

35.000

40.000

45.000

19601963

19661969

19721975

19781981

19841987

19901993

19961999

20022005

Nu

mb

er o

f Pa

rtic

ipa

nts

Boston

(entrants)

NY (starters)

Honolulu

(entrants)

Berlin (entrants)

Paris (finishers)

Chicago

(starters)

Stockholm

(entrants)

London

(finishers)

Source: Scheerder (2009)

• Exceptional growth mid/end 1970s (1st wave) and end of 1990s second

wave of running focus on fitness, health, self-organization,

autonomy, freedom of choice

• Berlin and Chicago Marathon

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

Year-by-year entrants Boston Marathon (1897-2008)

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2008

Marathon finishers in Europe, 1970-2005

Number of road running events and their number of participants in Germany, 1964-2008

Evolution of sports participation in Flanders in 12- to 75-years old population (1969-2009), in percentages of total population

Source: Scheerder et al. (2013)


Number of people started before vs after 1999 wrt running market in Flanders (1963-2007) (N = 8 762)

57,7% entered running market during 2nd wave

of running

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1963-1965

1966-1968

1969-1971

1972-1974

1975-1977

1978-1980

1981-1983

1984-1986

1987-1989

1990-1992

1993-1995

1996-1998

1999-2001

2002-2004

2005-2007

Per

cen

tage

inst

rom

ers

cumulatief percentage

chronologisch percentage


Evolution of the number of bark running tracks in Flanders (1980-2013)



• Second wave of running also noticeable in sale of running

footwear

• Manufacture of running shoes = multi-billion dollar industry

worldwide

Number of Pairs Purchased of Running Footwear in the

US, 1992-2002 (in millions)

x 1.000.000 Source: www.sgma.com

0

25

50

75

100

125

150

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

http://www.sgma.com/

Demographics

• Along with growing N of runners

demographics changed as well

• Once elite runners, (upper) middle-

class, male now democratised

• ... from competition to completion ...

• Many participants likely to be female

• Cfr. 1970s in US only handful of female

marathon finishers vs. 40% at present

• Socio-demographic shifts in European

countries as well

Joggers and road runners

= large group

= largest group within

athletic participants

Developments Second wave of running supported by:

1. Success of HEPA

– 60% of sports participants

– Lose weight, keep fit & healthy

– Health maintenance = most important reason for

runners

2. Commercialisation + professionalisation in

sport (Van Bottenburg, 2006)

– For profit providers meet needs of runners

– Cfr. High level of care wrt running events:

– On-line registration

– Well-equipped refreshment stations

– Accurate timing (microchips)

– After race services: massage, comfortable changing

rooms, ...

– Training advice (internet, fitnesscentres, personal

trainers, ...)

New market drivers

Beside traditional athletic clubs

new suppliers entered the market:

1. Rise of (commercial) running events

2. Rise of ‘light communities’ in sport (Duyvendak & Hurenkamp, 2004)

New market drivers: light communities

• Number of ‘non-cluborganised’ sports participants

increases

8,5

36,8

22,9

40,8

12,0

51,6

40,6

59,4

31,627,7

31,9

4,0

22,7

14,0

18,4

0

20

40

60

80

100

1969 1979 1989 1999 2005

% s

po

rts

par

tici

pan

ts

general

outside club

(non-organized)

in club

(organized)

Evolution of Active Sports Involvement among Adults in Flanders

1969-2005, percentages i.f.o. total population



• Thus ‘non-cluborganised’ sports participation is popular

• Also in running: only 9% of runners is member of a CLUB

• Running = typically non-cluborganised sport

• Most runners INDIVIDUALLY (80%)

• But: growing number participates in ‘LIGHT RUNNING COMMUNITIES’ (24%)

0

25.000

50.000

75.000

100.000

125.000

150.000

1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2006

Nu

mb

er o

f R

un

ner

s

club organised

runners

light community

runners

Number of Adult Runners in Light Communities vs. Club-organised Runners

in Flanders, 1979-2006



• LIGHT COMMUNITIES = demand-oriented, flexible and loose communities, with a minimum of rules of conduct, focusing on the achievements their participants seem to demand (Duyvendak & Hurenkamp, 2004)

• LIGHT RUNNING COMMUNITIES = small group of running mates featured by a non club-organised structure based on rather ‘weak ties’ between the members (Van Bottenburg, 2006)


• LIGHT COMMUNITIES vs GREEDY INSTITUTIONS

• Greedy institutions = organisations that ask for loyalty and almost undivided commitment from their members (Coser, 1974)

• Traditional athletic clubs and associations also try to make total claims on their members

• Problem: loyalty and commitment = scarce resources not only do human beings possess only finite energies for investing in organisations, but their resources of time are also limited!


Evolution of number of runners in Flanders in 12- to 75-years old youngsters and adults (1969-2009) compared to the number of active members of the Flemish Athletics Association (FAA) (1978-2009)

Source: Scheerder et al (2014)

Marketing implications

• Flemish Athletic Association (VAL) = important player in field of running in Flanders

• Second wave of running should be opportunity

• Yet FAA market share dwindled: 13% (1979) 9% (2006)

0

50.000

100.000

150.000

200.000

250.000

300.000

350.000

400.000

450.000

500.000

550.000

1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2006

Nu

mb

er o

f R

un

ners

total number of

runners

FAA members

Evolution of the Market Share of the Flemish Athletic Association (FAA)

1979-2006



• Decline of FAA market share hardly surprising wrt aforementioned developments

– Growing impact of HEPA

– Commercialisation and professionalisation

– Rise of running events

– Rise of light communities

FAA lost its monopoly by only partially corresponding to changing needs of today’s runners

Also challenging policy issue for other sports federations in Europe

EUROPEAN MODEL OF

SPORT

European Model of Sport

Source: European Commission (1999)


1998

Pyramid model

(Eichberg, 2008):

- monopolistic

- centralistic

- hierarchical

model of competition

model of organisation

CLAIM OF POWER

Eichberg (2008):

“The description of the

world of sports by

applying the pyramid

model doesn’t take into

account the existence of

a rich spectrum of

[sport] practice all over

Europe.”

e.g.: street soccer,

dance, outdoor

activities, jogging, city

runs, recreational

walking, etc.

Source: Borgers et al. (2012)

TWO SEPARATE WORLDS?

OR STILL CONNECTED TO

EACH OTHER?

2 TOWERS?

OR STILL WITH A

CONNECTION IN BETWEEN?

LEISURE TIME SPORTELITE SPORT

professionalinternationalmediatisedoften paid

non-paidactive or passive

during leisure time

MASS SPORTMEDIA SPORT

watching sportphysically passive

sport public

doing sportphysically activesport participant

PARTICIPATION SPORTPERFORMANCE SPORT

Competitiveresult driven

competing and winningprinciple of exclusion

recreationalprocess driven

having /taking partprinciple of inclusion

Club organisedInformally organised(non-traditional forms

of organisation)Individual Club organised

Informally organised(non-traditional forms

of organisation)Individual

Source: Scheerder et al. (2011: 17)

Church model of sport


From pyramid model to church model

ELITE SPORT

COMPETITIVE SPORT

RECREATIONAL SPORT

COMPETITIVE SPORT

=

PERFORMANCE SPORT

RECREATIONAL SPORT

=

PARTICIPATION SPORT

ELITE SPORT

COMPETITIVE SPORT

AT HIGH LEVEL


EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

FOR POPULARITY OF

SPORTS PRACTICES

OUTSIDE CLUB?

In all EU countries club participation = only minority of sport participants

Club participation in member states of the EU25 in 2004, % of total population

54

49

33

51

74

93

42

4850

44

28

58

65

55

95

60 59

45

58

67 68 68

6562 64

83

67

3 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 911 12 13 14 14 15 16 17 18

20 20 20 21 2224

28

33

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

sport part. club part.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/EU_Insigna.svg


General sports participation Recreational sport

Club sport

Competitive sport

Evolution of sports participation in Flanders/Belgium 1969–2009 (age 12 to 75)


Running Cycling Fitness Soccer Tennis

19,2

Participation in running, cycling, fitness, soccer and tennis in Flanders/Belgium 1989–2009 (age 12 to 75)




during leisure time



sport public












A free copy of the full version of the SPM10 report is available at http://faber.kuleuven.be/spm/

http://faber.kuleuven.be/spm/

Sports preference: running (11 countries)

Country / Region 1 2 3

4 5

Austria

Denmark Walking Running Fitness Aerobics Swimming

England (UK) Gym Swimming Football Cycling Athletics / running

Finland Walking Cycling Gym / weight exercise

Cross country skiing

Jogging

Flanders (Belgium) Running Recreational cycling

Swimming Fitness Walking

France Swimming Cycling Pétanque / bowling

Walking & trekking Running / jogging

Germany Cycling Running Fitness Swimming Gymnastics

Italy Fitness / aerobics / gymnastics

Football Swimming Cycling Running / jogging

The Netherlands Swimming Cycling Fitness / aerobics Running Walking

Northern Ireland (UK) Swimming / diving Walking Exercise bike / running machine /

spinning class

Jogging Dance

Poland Cycling Jogging / walking Swimming Football Volleyball

Portugal

Spain Swimming Football Cycling Fitness Mountaineering

Switzerland Cycling Hiking / walking Swimming Downhill skiing Running / jogging


Sports Preference: walking (8 countries)


4 5

Austria





Jogging










spinning class

Jogging Dance


Portugal




Sports preference: fitness (9 countries)


4 5

Austria





Jogging










spinning class

Jogging Dance


Portugal




Sports preference: cycling (10 countries)


4 5

Austria





Jogging










spinning class

Jogging Dance


Portugal




Sports preference: swimming (11 countries)


4 5

Austria





Jogging










spinning class

Jogging Dance


Portugal




…with regard to sport preferences:

large similarity in sport preferences among countries

popularity of individual, recreational leisure-time sport activities

importance of so-called ‘LIGHT SPORTING COMMUNITIES’

Some general trends….




during leisure time



sport public












Can 2nd wave of running

be an opportunity to

federations/clubs?

Don’t miss the next boat!

• Study by Van

Bottenburg, Scheerder

& Hover (2010)

• Commissioned by EA

• Web-based survey

among 47 EA Member

Federations

Popularity of road running in Europe

Popularity of road running in Europe

Van Bottenburg, Scheerder & Hover (2010)

Recommendations

1. Get more and better data

DATA MANAGEMENT RESEARCH

2. Introduce new membership categories

DIFFERENTIATION MARKETING

3. Improve relations with event organisers

‘NATURAL AUTHORITY’ POLICY


• Runners’ profile (motives, attitudes, needs) has changed

no longer interested in ‘traditional’ services of athletic clubs

SERVICES OF TRADITIONAL SPORT ORGANISATIONS

– ...

– ...

– ...

– ...

NEW INTERESTS OF SPORT PARTICIPANTS

– ...

– ...

– ...

– ...


SERVICES OF TRADITIONAL SPORT ORGANISATIONS

– System of competition, tournaments, championships, ...

– (Technical) training & instruction

– Traditional accommodation and facilities (track&field court, ...)

– Conviviality and group bounding

NEW INTERESTS OF SPORT PARTICIPANTS

– Recreational sport activities, health-related PA, ...

– Personal training & advice

– Alternative sport infrastructure (parks, woods, running track, ...)

– Fit & fun with more than one actor, no intensive affiliation

CONCLUSION

1. Running market has increased second wave of running

2. New providers have entered the running scene commercial events, light running communities

3. New markets: women, elderly, youngsters (kids runs!), people from other sports, fun & pleasure, …

4. Traditional providers have lost their monopoly

5. Yet, traditional organisations can make profit:

to attract new segments (females, youngsters, non-participants, ...):

– Transform from greedy institutions into light communities

– Development of more differentiated package of services

– From product-oriented to consumer-related marketing

– More attention to high quality services twrds consumers

– Enhancement of relationship with consumers

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

[email protected] [email protected]

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