Value co-creation among stakeholders in a commercial sport event: The case of X Games Norway

Abstract

X Games Norway was the first large-scale sport event in Norway that was solely hosted by commercial companies. Since the Norwegian sport system is highly institutionalized under the umbrella of the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF), the hosting of the X Games outside Norwegian organized sports triggered an intensive sport political discussion. It was argued that a privately-owned event was challenging the values of Norwegian organized sports. Nevertheless, athletes, spectators, National Sport Organizations (NSOs), and other stakeholders of the event found great value in the event. Hence, the aim of this research was to analyze how the stakeholders of a commercial sport event co-create value?

The study is based on qualitative inquiry comprising of 1) media analysis, 2) semistructured interviews, and 3) document analysis. The purpose of the media analysis was to identify key periods and issues of the political discussions concerning the X Games Norway and it served to identify relevant event stakeholders and their perception and relationship to the X Games. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 representatives of 10 different organizations identified as stakeholders of the X Games Norway. The documents included applications by the organizers and the NSOs, including written agreements, budgets, and other relevant appendices. Stakeholder theory and value co-creation combined was used as the theoretical framework.

Overall, findings show that the same stakeholder groups as those identified for traditional sport events (Chappelet & Parent, 2015) are involved in creating the X Games. However, some stakeholders have different roles. Furthermore, the general dimensions of value co-creation (Ranjan & Read, 2016) are reflected in the data. Special for the X Games Norway was that value also was co-created through the stakeholders understanding of a mutual goal, there was an understanding for the sport culture, and the event got a lot of exposure. The value co-created in the X Games can in some extend be threatening for the traditional organized sport, however there are also elements that can be learned from the event.