MAKING
LIVE
SPORT
MATTER
UK Sport Major Events Strategic Framework
INTRODUCTION
Whether we’re stood on the terraces of our local club or sat in the stands of the biggest global events that this country proudly hosts, sporting events forge some of the most positive and enduring moments of our lives.
Millions of us choose to spend our free time watching and enjoying live sport with those that matter most to us… our friends, families and communities.
Our love of live sport is unsurpassed. No other country buys more tickets1 per head to major sporting events than we do in the UK.
Towns and cities right across the country stage international sporting events, and when we host them, we regularly set global attendance records. International rightsholders know that if you want to create extraordinary sporting moments, you come to the UK.
LIVE SPORT IS A FUNDAMENTAL PART OF OUR COUNTRY'S SOCIAL FABRIC.
But the landscape is shifting, and we’ve heard loud and clear from across the whole sector that our country faces significant challenges in maintaining its track record of securing and delivering the world’s biggest sporting events.
As highlighted by our State of Play report, the UK’s future pipeline of mega events is tightening, our international rivals are catching up fast and we need to respond.
This strategic framework shows how UK Sport, as the strategic lead agency for major sporting events at the UK level, will make a difference, not only for those events in which we directly invest, but also through our leadership position to advocate for the whole sector.
In setting our strategic priorities, we are placing a specific emphasis on events that resonate and genuinely reach into communities across the UK and broaden access to extraordinary sporting moments.
Sport excites, inspires and changes lives, and we want a programme of events that builds civic pride, creates the fans of the future, bolsters our international reputation and delivers success for our athletes.
1 Two Circles: UK claims world capital of live sport title
Dame Katherine Grainger
Chair, UK Sport
INTRODUCTION
Whether we’re stood on the terraces of our local club or sat in the stands of the biggest global events that this country proudly hosts, sporting events forge some of the most positive and enduring moments of our lives.
Millions of us choose to spend our free time watching and enjoying live sport with those that matter most to us… our friends, families and communities.
Our love of live sport is unsurpassed. No other country buys more tickets1 per head to major sporting events than we do in the UK.
Towns and cities right across the country stage international sporting events, and when we host them, we regularly set global attendance records. International rightsholders know that if you want to create extraordinary sporting moments, you come to the UK.
LIVE SPORT IS A FUNDAMENTAL PART OF OUR COUNTRY'S SOCIAL FABRIC.
But the landscape is shifting, and we’ve heard loud and clear from across the whole sector that our country faces significant challenges in maintaining its track record of securing and delivering the world’s biggest sporting events.
As highlighted by our State of Play report, the UK’s future pipeline of mega events is tightening, our international rivals are catching up fast and we need to respond.
This strategic framework shows how UK Sport, as the strategic lead agency for major sporting events at the UK level, will make a difference, not only for those events in which we directly invest, but also through our leadership position to advocate for the whole sector.
In setting our strategic priorities, we are placing a specific emphasis on events that resonate and genuinely reach into communities across the UK and broaden access to extraordinary sporting moments.
Sport excites, inspires and changes lives, and we want a programme of events that builds civic pride, creates the fans of the future, bolsters our international reputation and delivers success for our athletes.
1 Two Circles: UK claims world capital of live sport title
Dame Katherine Grainger
Chair, UK Sport
THE STORY SO FAR
Not only does the UK successfully host some of the world’s best annual ‘crown jewel’ events, we’ve also become a prolific host of the very biggest one-off global events.
This includes the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Ryder and Solheim Cups, Rugby World Cups and Rugby League World Cups, Tour de France, World Athletics and Para-Athletics Championships and Cycling World Championships to name just a few.
Behind the scenes it has taken real partnership working to make this a success. Together we’ve worked hard to build our venue infrastructure, technical expertise and volunteering capacity to prepare for these big moments. Following London 2012 and Glasgow 2014, we’ve been able to deliver a series of major legacy events, regularly hosting World and European Championships to help maintain a drumbeat of live international sport across the UK.
Over the last seven years we have continued to evolve, further defining the tiers of our event programme, investing circa £20m of National Lottery funding in each Olympic and Paralympic cycle and working closely with DCMS on the UK’s mega event aspirations.
THE LAST 20 YEARS HAVE BEEN A GOLDEN AGE FOR LIVE SPORT IN THE UK.
And through UK Sport’s organisational strategy, we are in the era of creating extraordinary sporting moments, of which major events play a key role. As part of this, we’ve also seen participation legacy – or social impact as a more accurate definition – fundamentally change as major events are used as a platform to deliver positive, lasting change across a whole raft of areas including mental health, wellbeing, employment skills and environmental sustainability.
While we have had this incredible period of event hosting, the sector has been impacted by a turbulent period, including the UK’s departure from the EU, the Coronavirus pandemic, rising inflation, the cost-of-living crisis and broader geo-political crises.
Internationally, our biggest event hosting rivals have caught up and are hosting multi-sport games and securing the rights to the biggest mega events that currently exist.
This, coupled with how sport fans are changing how they watch sport and what sports they consider relevant, means that we need to keep adapting.
In 2023 we committed to look at these challenges. The State of Play research found that while there is continued support from sporting public and political spheres to host major events, there is a need to review how we work together and with UK government to strengthen our resilience and ambition.
This includes rebuilding the perception of the UK on the international stage, our agility to secure events, the need for flexible event delivery models and ensuring that we secure or even create events which resonate with the British public.
INVESTMENTS,
OPPORTUNITIES,
IMPACT
Since National Lottery funding began in 1999:
308
UK Sport major events have been delivered, with £88 million invested across 84 sports.
95
towns and cities across the UK have hosted at least one funded major event.
65,000
people have volunteered at a major event since London 2012.
214
Team GB & Paralympics GB athletes competed before the Rio & Tokyo Games at a UK event.
A SNAPSHOT OF MAJOR EVENTS FROM THE LAST 20 YEARS
These events have been hosted the length and breadth of the UK.
SCOTLAND
- Cycling World Championships: Angus,
Clackmannanshire, Dumfries & Galloway, Dundee,
Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Fort William, Glasgow, Loch
Lomond, Perth & Kinross, Scottish Borders, Stirling - Mountain Bike World Championships: Fort William
- IPC Swimming World Championships: Glasgow
- World Artistic Gymnastics Championships: Glasgow
- World Wheelchair Curling Championships: Stirling
- World Athletics Indoor Championships: Glasgow
- European Curling Championships: Aberdeen
NORTHERN IRELAND
- U19 Rugby World Cup: Belfast
NORTH EAST
- Rugby League World Cup 2022: Newcastle, Tees Valley
- World Triathlon Series: Sunderland
NORTH WEST
- Rugby League World Cup 2013: Leigh, Manchester, Rochdale, Salford, St. Helens, Warrington, Wigan, Workington
- Rugby League World Cup 2022: Bolton, Leigh, Manchester, Trafford, St Helens, Warrington, Wigan
- UEFA Women’s EURO 2022: Manchester, Wigan, Leigh
- Para-cycling Track World Championships: Manchester
- World Taekwondo Championships: Manchester
- Netball World Cup: Liverpool
- Boccia World Championships: Liverpool
- European Breaking Championships: Manchester
YORKSHIRE AND THE HUMBER
- Rugby League World Cup 2013: Hull, Huddersfield, Leeds
- Tour de France Grand Départ 2014: Leeds, Harrogate, York, Sheffield
- Rugby League World Cup 2022: Doncaster, Hull, Kirklees, Leeds, Sheffield
- UEFA Women’s EURO 2022: Sheffield, Rotherham
- Road Cycling World Championships: Beverley, Bradford, Doncaster, Harrogate, Leeds, Northallerton, Richmond, Ripon, Tadcaster, Wetherby
- European Figure Skating Championships: Sheffield
EAST MIDLANDS
- European Archery Championships: Nottingham
WEST MIDLANDS
- Rugby League World Cup 2022: Coventry
- Wheelchair Basketball World Championships: Birmingham
- World Trampoline Championships: Birmingham
- World Blind Football Championships: Hereford
- European Wheelchair Basketball Championships:
Worcester
WALES
- Rugby League World Cup 2013: Cardiff, Neath, Wrexham
- World Coastal Rowing Championships: Saundersfoot
- Wheelchair Rugby European Championships: Cardiff
EAST
- Tour de France Grand Départ 2014: Cambridge
- Canoe Slalom World Championships: Hertfordshire
LONDON
- London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
- Tour de France Grand Départ 2007 and 2014
- Rugby League World Cup 2013 and 2022
- UEFA Women’s EURO 2022
- World Athletics and Para Athletics Championships
- Women’s Hockey World Cup
- Track Cycling World Championships
- World Badminton Championships
- World Triathlon Grand Final
SOUTH EAST
- UEFA Women’s EURO 2022: Brighton & Hove, Milton Keynes, Southampton
- European Eventing Championships: Blenheim
- Women’s Rugby World Cup: Surrey, London
- Formula Kite European Championships: Portsmouth
SOUTH WEST
- Rugby League World Cup 2013: Bristol
- World Para Dressage Championships: Hartpury
A NEW STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK FOR EVENTS
Our new strategic framework is founded on the belief that we must do more to protect and widen the provision of live sport in the UK. It highlights how UK Sport should continue to evolve in its role as a leadership body, working in partnership with the whole sector.
TOGETHER WE WILL BRING GLOBAL SPORTING EVENTS TO THE UK THAT REACH, INSPIRE AND UNITE THE NATION.
These events will aim to drive economic growth in every corner of the country, bring communities closer together, engage the next generation of athletes and strengthen the UK’s international reputation.
We have created a set of guiding principles that form the foundation of our strategic framework:
Reach & Resonance: Secure the world’s most impactful sporting events that resonates with the British public.
Collaboration: Work in partnership to win the world’s biggest events in and create new event concepts.
Insight: Use our central position in the sector to grow and share our collective knowledge.
Inspiration: Work with partners to deliver meaningful and positive social impact across our host communities.
Resilience: Advocate for the sector across government partners to aid the hosting of mega events and conduct feasibility on the introduction of a new central delivery body for major events.
Read about how we're going to make it happen in the downloadable Strategic Framework.
A NEW STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK FOR EVENTS
Our new strategic framework is founded on the belief that we must do more to protect and widen the provision of live sport in the UK. It highlights how UK Sport should continue to evolve in its role as a leadership body, working in partnership with the whole sector.
TOGETHER WE WILL BRING GLOBAL SPORTING EVENTS TO THE UK THAT REACH, INSPIRE AND UNITE THE NATION.
These events will aim to drive economic growth in every corner of the country, bring communities closer together, engage the next generation of athletes and strengthen the UK’s international reputation.
We have created a set of guiding principles that form the foundation of our strategic framework:
Reach & Resonance: Secure the world’s most impactful sporting events that resonates with the British public.
Collaboration: Work in partnership to win the world’s biggest events in and create new event concepts.
Insight: Use our central position in the sector to grow and share our collective knowledge.
Inspiration: Work with partners to deliver meaningful and positive social impact across our host communities.
Resilience: Advocate for the sector across government partners to aid the hosting of mega events and conduct feasibility on the introduction of a new central delivery body for major events.
Read about how we're going to make it happen in the downloadable Strategic Framework.
Contact: Major.Events@uksport.gov.uk
Website: Investing in events | uksport.gov.uk
X/Twitter: @UK_Sport
LinkedIn: @UK Sport
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