The competition for government funding of major sports events: why do some applicants pass the needle’s eye?

Abstract

Major event organisers apply for government financial support. This paper investigates the selection process of events in Norway based on empirical data from 2012 to 2018. In this period, 11 events were granted NOK 476 million (€47.7 million), whereas five events were rejected. The funding was highly concentrated, with 92% being distributed to four events. Although the Norwegian government positively supports major events, a policy on event selection has not been established. This paper shows that the absence of criteria for event selection opens up pragmatism, which encourages lobbying and ad hoc solutions. All the applicants argued that their events would generate economic gains and various forms of externalities. The most successful applicants associated themselves with politicians who lobbied on their behalf. Politicians and event organisers were closely related in these cases. Some events successfully connected their own aims with aims in the government’s political programme. Three events that received the most government support also received additional funding when unexpected problems emerged during the preparations. In these cases, the fear of cancelation created situations of urgency that helped the applicants receive additional funding. Cancelation of the events would have created a loss of prestige, not only for the organiser but a number of other stakeholders.