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On the 4.4 2017 at SportAccord Convention, the conference City Forum Legacy 1: Mass participation events – Prioritising your Legacy, were held. Speaker Jakob Larsen, Director of Danish Athletic Federation discussed the legacy of mass participation. How can cities best determine which event outcomes that are most important?
He argued that you can’t beforehand determine, what kind of legacy that will be created. As soon as mass participation is incorporated in an event, it will be difficult to control it, because the output like reactions on social media and the actions of several thousand participants have to be taken into consideration. On the other hand, organizers should first identify, what they want their legacy to be, then pick the event. When knowing the legacy, the best tools and practices to reach the goal can be identified. The legacy for the Copenhagen Half Marathon was to improve road running in Copenhagen.
When working with legacy, you have to look beyond the next hurdle into the future. Mass participation events are often recurring, so you have to take the following editions of the event into consideration from the beginning. Though the outcome cannot be controlled, it should be considered.
Mass participation events have a lot of positive outcomes. In comparison to Mega Sports Events, mass participation events are a lot freer. Jakob Larsen calls them an open canvas that can be developed through innovation. Mass participation events are not subject to the same strict ruling as traditional sporting events. He even says that organizers of these events more often break the rules to create the best events for the participants. The profit of mass participation events is mostly funded by the crowd. The sporting industry also has the potential to sell items directly to the consumers through the participation of these events. As an example, people buy running shoes to participate in marathons. They don’t even always need a venue as seen with the Hogwarts Virtual Running Club, where participants are able to meet their goal in their own backyard.
Mass participation also comes with a lot of pitfalls; Define your outcome so that your legacy and expectations are clear. Know your operator. Though most organizers want to hire help from outside, it’s an advantage to hire a local operator so that the money stays inside the city. Respect the client. Jakob Larsen mentions that it might be easier to accommodate professional athletes than several thousand participants in an informal marathon. They might say that they will be back the next year, but that is not necessarily true. Have lots of patience. Popularity takes time to grow. Don’t be cocky. Never underestimate how hard doing mass participation events can be.
Jakob Larsen thinks that Denmark’s challenge in the future in regard of legacy and mass participation events is to develop their skills and brand through innovation. Denmark’s brand is to always change the rules. That’s the only way they are going to win the bids for events. Denmark can’t compete with big cities yet. So if they can’t win by the current rules, they have to change them to show that they are the best choice.
