Beyond the scoreboard: Sport’s value to society
How can sport measure and communicate its value beyond results, spectators and viewing figures? At the European Athletics Leaders Convention in Lausanne, SSE’s Sport Initiative explored how demonstrating societal impact can help sports organizations strengthen funding, build partnerships and set priorities.
Making sport’s wider value visible
Sport counts records, spectators and viewers. Understanding its wider contribution to society - and making that contribution visible - requires a different approach.
At the European Athletics Leaders Convention in Lausanne, representatives from 49 national federations met alongside organizations and stakeholders from World Athletics. Anna Laurell Nash, Executive Director of SSE’s Sport Initiative, and Helena Mueller, Director of Advisory at Grant Thornton Sweden, explored how measuring societal value can help sports organizations respond to changing expectations.
Turning measurement into action
Using Impact by SHL, an initiative from Svenska Hockeyligan, as an example, Laurell Nash and Mueller showed how measuring value can support federations in strengthening the case for public funding, attracting partners and prioritizing their work.
The discussion addressed a growing challenge: governments are rethinking how they invest in sport, while sponsors increasingly seek impact data they can use in their own reporting. As competition for funding, talent and attention grows, the ability to measure and communicate value could become an important competitive advantage.
Bringing different perspectives together
Demonstrating impact also requires collaboration. Sports organizations, businesses, public institutions and academia bring different priorities and ways of working. Making progress on shared challenges means learning to speak the same language.
As an independent academic platform, SSE’s Sport Initiative aims to provide a meeting place for these perspectives, supporting collaboration and creating opportunities for innovation in sport.
Continuing the conversation
SSE’s Sport Initiative thanks European Athletics for the invitation and the opportunity to exchange ideas, and Helena Mueller for her collaboration. Special thanks also go to Karin Grute Movin, Liese Schroven and the Swedish delegation for their contributions to the conversations in Lausanne.
