Handels and Enable begin cooperation – must find capital

From the outside, it can appear as two extremes. On the one hand, the elite School of Commerce in Stockholm, which for 115 years has educated economists and capitalists in search of returns, and on the other hand, the now permanent project Enable, which sprung from the Swedish supporter movement and which has worked hard to use knowledge and research to educate about grandstand culture and associational democracy . And now they will work together.

– The purpose of the collaboration is to build knowledge. Both we and Enable believe that knowledge is important, but also debate and discussion. We hope to contribute to that. Above all, about how we should finance Swedish football and finding the balance between the commercial and the non-profit, says Martin Carlsson-Wall, professor and head of the Center for Sports and Business at the Stockholm School of Economics.

– The Swedish 51 percent rule is something unique that both we and Enable want to preserve, but we see that in order to be competitive, you need to think more about alternative funding bases.

Wants to protect associational democracy

At a time when capital pours into international sports from venture capitalist companies, authoritarian states and billionaires, Swedish sports represent a completely different model. In the late 1990s, the National Sports Confederation introduced the 51 percent rule and wrote it into its statutes.

This means that in the Swedish sports world, the non-profit association’s members always have the power.

There is still a clear majority in favor of keeping that model and when Enable and Handels start a collaboration, it is based on protecting the 51 percent model and association democracy while trying to find new money for the Swedish sports movement.

– It is quite common to pit this democratic model against the commercial model. We mean by this collaboration that there is something in between, a hybrid. It is possible to combine a 51 percent model, an association democratic model, which we believe could become an international model, with commercial development, says Filip Lundberg Verendel from Enable.

– Enable was born out of the football movement and is passionate about us having a member democracy, we want locally rooted football clubs and sports associations and we want a vibrant stand culture. If we are to be able to withstand the external pressure but also the internal pressure and have a prosperous football and sport, we must invest in the model. Then we have to find new resources in the form of more money, but also more knowledge.

Think football can engage the business world

Martin Carlsson-Wall is hopeful that the collaboration will give rise to even more interest in Swedish sports from companies that see a way to reach out via associations and athletes.

– The biggest trend today is sustainability and all companies, small and large, must think about how to remain relevant on a local and international level. Here we believe that football and sports in general have great opportunities to engage the business world.

Where will the money come from?

– I think they come from many different sources. To begin with, I would like to see Swedish listed companies get involved. Historically, many listed companies have been major sponsors of Swedish sports, but in recent years we may see that their sponsorship elements go elsewhere. Here’s hoping that a proactive and progressive debate will bring them back.