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This study considers the reforms of Chile's state sport structures from 2001 to 2022. Drawing upon institutional frameworks, the purpose of this article is to analyse the emerging rules, practices and narratives from these reforms. This study employed a qualitative approach, with data gathered from document analysis and semi-structured interviews with six policymakers/bureaucrats from the Ministry of Sport (MINDEP) and National Institute of Sport (IND). Data was analysed through thematic coding of available texts (e.g. policies, government documentation, media sources and interview transcripts) via MAXQDA 2022 qualitative analysis software. The findings highlight that incommensurate rules, practices and narratives may be the impetus for institutional change. Rules connected with New Public Management (NPM) and the creation of the National Institute of Sport (Law 19.712 of 2001) conflicted with the discretionary practices of previous institutional arrangements. Subsequent legislation created a (rule-based) dichotomy between 'thinkers' (MINDEP) and 'doers' (IND), which has been influenced by the practice of politically based appointments into the IND. While informants suggested that the system's parochialism and incapacity render change unlikely in the future, there is nevertheless evidence of change emanating from the combination of broken rules (in the form of scandals), incommensurate practices and contemporary narratives about the need to engage with communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing governmental involvement in sport, there has been a corresponding demand on national sport organizations (NSOs) to operate within performance measurement systems. In this study, we analyze data from New Zealand to determine NSO officials’ perceptions of (a) their reporting relationship with the central agency (Sport and Recreation New Zealand), and (b) the system of performance contracts (or “investment schedules”). Following Norman (2002), we found differing perceptions regarding the legitimacy of performance systems and three tensions emerged. First, the clarity of focus enabled by performance measurement was tempered by the perception of an ever-changing political environment. Second, NSO officials acted strategically and opportunistically at times, marshalling arguments around performance measures to “capture” their principal. Third, neither trust nor distrust in the system necessarily translated into compliance; some NSOs sought independence from the system. This research speaks to the legitimacy of performance systems, a significant but tenuous element to their sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New sport stadia are always contentious projects but in small cities, the stakes may be proportionally higher. This study analyses the turbulence generated by a stadium's approval and financing in Dunedin, New Zealand (2004-2017).It analyses: 1) the city's deferment of advice and fundraising to a charitable trust, 2) the financing apparatus that used council-owned companies (COCs) to obfuscate costs, and 3) the resultant consequences including legal proceedings, COC reforms and company failures. It is suggested that the porousness of governance arrangements invited scrutiny of the links between the city and its COCs, and by extension induced a temporary halt to the softening public-private boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance measurement regimes instituted by central government sport agencies have both intended and unintended effects in relation to their network partners. The purpose of this article is to investigate the actions and interpretations of national sport organizations (NSOs) in relation to a performance regime. Drawing from data in New Zealand, two broad categories of institutional effects are identified and discussed. The first category of effects relates to the tendency for performance measurement and monitoring to reinforce the delineation/demarcation between elite and community sport due to the relative clarity of the former’s measures, and the institutionalization of ‘cream-skimming’ at national and sub-national levels. The second category of effects surrounds the apparent paradoxes and vulnerabilities of performance measurement that include the demand for indicators to ‘mushroom’ and the development of ‘gaming’ behaviours. This study highlights the tenuousness of performance measurement schemes as a feature of ‘good management’ as well as their ultimate contribution towards (or disruption of) ‘good policy’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies aiming to enhance sport participation and physical activity are prone to change and highly influenced by shifting government priorities and instruments. In 2009, the New Zealand Government and its agency Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) abolished programmes aimed at inducing general physical activity and in their place establishedKiwisport, an initiative to get more school-age children involved in organized sport. This study analyses the impact of these changes on regional sports trusts (RSTs), as regional implementers of national sport policy and theKiwisportinitiative. Based on a process of induction from available texts (interviews with chief executives of RSTs and both public/nonpublic documents), three emerging challenges are presented and discussed. The first concerns how RSTs can fulfil Kiwisport's promises of minimal bureaucracy in the light of the limited capacities of community organizations and increasing demands from SPARC for evaluation. The second surrounds the difficulty in reconciling Kiwisport's allowance for greater RST discretion/autonomy with the demands for integrated national–regional delivery. The third challenge is with regard to creating sustainable community initiatives under conditions of depleting resources and shifting policy priorities. Findings raise fundamental questions as to how and to what extent RSTs should realign their organizations to meet central government objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]