Stadium Alliances in Football - Current Evaluation and Prospects

In the 2017/18 Bundesliga season, "stadium alliances" were introduced in the first five football leagues in Baden-Württemberg, which are based on local and trusting cooperation between clubs and security authorities and aim to organise safe and successful football match days while reducing security costs. Stadium alliances have now also been introduced in Lower Saxony and other federal states are interested in them. As there is currently a lack of structured knowledge in this area, this research project is concerned with a scientific exploration and initial evaluation of the stadium alliances, with the aim of developing transfer perspectives for further implementation and optimisation on site, for transferability to other federal states and the basis for subsequent in-depth scientific evaluations. The specific research interests focus on the composition of the stakeholder groups, the motivations and objectives, the self-image of stadium alliances, the characteristic development steps and structural core elements of the stadium alliances as well as their effectiveness and optimisation potential.

The qualitative study, which focusses in particular on stadium alliances in Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony, pursues a multi-method approach using document analysis, online focus groups and expert interviews. Both the local players and the football organisations and institutions and security authorities that accompany, support or simply observe the stadium alliances in supra-local positions are included. The research design integrates an orientation that is intended to open up spaces for reflection in the process and also generate recommendations for transfer potential that go beyond this.

Work programme: research strategy and methodological approach

In terms of research philosophy, the basic ideas of use- and development-orientated evaluation should guide this exploratory study, because the "primacy of usefulness for practice over usefulness for science" (Univation 2011: n.p.) should apply, in which knowledge relevant to practice development for the management of the complex, dynamic context of football events is generated in the sense of Patton (2008).

A multi-stage, multi-method approach is favoured in order to develop the available knowledge as comprehensively as possible. On the basis of a document analysis, an initial systematic exploration of the field is to be carried out and a content-enriched focus of questions is to be developed, which is to guide the detailed surveys related to the field of practice by means of focus groups (workshop discussions) and subsequent interviews. The focus groups, which will include representatives of all stadium alliances from Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony with the aim of conducting a complete survey, will focus on the following aspects: Characteristics and special features of the local stadium alliances, effects of the local stadium alliances and development paths and perspectives of the local stadium alliances. The expert interviews with selected stakeholders from local stadium alliances and from the regional/supra-regional practical context focus on supplementary perspectives such as overarching facts, assessments and development ideas and in-depth information, for example on particularly interesting/insightful local constellations or work results, as well as the club perspective, insofar as this does not appear to be sufficiently saturated after the initial evaluation of the focus group discussions.

Dissemination and transfer concept: approach and objectives

The study takes up the requirements, demands and ideas of the actors in stadium alliances, records the framework conditions, work processes and work results in order to ultimately also work out their perspectives. As a result, the transfer concept is intended to help both the existing local stadium alliances and the supra-regional authorities of the federal states (BW and NI) to use the results and evaluations to further develop their own practice. In addition, it aims to prepare empirically based knowledge and recommendations in such a way as to facilitate the establishment of stadium alliances in other federal states in the future.

Knowledge and technology transfer and dissemination is achieved through reflection, discourse and development impulses, both during the study implementation phase (e.g. by fine-tuning the research strategy and methodology with key stakeholders from the field of practice) and towards the end and after the project period, such as by organising an expert hearing, coordinating with the cooperation partners on further topic-related events and disseminating the results and evaluations, e.g. at conferences or in workshops. Ultimately, the development of recommendations for a future in-depth scientific evaluation of the field of practice will also contribute to the further dissemination of the stadium alliances concept.

Final report https://www.fh-potsdam.de/media/4887/download