24 Sports events Sports events fit right into today’s rapidlychanging times. From the European Athletics championships, recently organized in Amsterdam, to the Rotterdam marathon or the simplest recreational run in the local neighbourhood, events create new connections with the business community and other parties, bring people together, and enable top athletes to excel in front of a home crowd. Event organisers are entrepreneurial and innovative; they respond to the needs and preferences of the target group, from the cyclist who is eager to compete in the Tour de France to the runner dreaming of crossing the finishing line of a marathon. Club membership is not an issue anymore. After one event, some participants may want a new challenge: an obstacle run or a ‘mud run’, for instance. Besides events that attract thousands of participants, there are also major tournaments, of course, that could not be organised without the federations’ support. The Dutch NOC is part of the national network known as ‘The Power of Sports Events’, set up in 2013, which strives to attract three major sports events to the Netherlands every year, to improve their quality, and to increase their economic, social and sporting impact. To achieve these aims, each big event in the Netherlands is accompanied by a range of side events. Major events in the Netherlands have a lot to offer the business community: large crowds of spectators, media attention, and the emotions that sport inevitably brings to the surface. In addition, the organisers possess data that is coveted by businesses. At local level too, events help to generate new connections between sport and companies – the soccer club may get together with a local shopkeepers’ association to organise a neighbourhood run, for instance. However, in the case of competitions staged by Dutch sports federations, it proves more difficult to forge new partnerships. Therefore, staging events often compels people to work together and no one cares anymore whether the thousands of people taking part in cycling or walking trips belong to a club. What matters is each individual’s enjoyment.
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