The film shown at the Swedish Skiing Association's season opener is a version of the television program "Draknästet" where innovators present their ideas to potential investors.
"Tjena 'dragons'! I'm looking for a long-term investment in an absolutely fantastic product," begins a fictional person who symbolizes the Swedish sports movement.
"Then I assume that it includes some kind of AI", says the same person, but now in the role of the minister of business.
"Not AI, SI. Swedish sports", is the answer.
Secretary General Pernilla Bonde admits that the timing of the campaign may not be optimal, but hopes that the new ministers will listen when Sweden gets a new government.
The production may be low-budget and have a humorous tone, but the association wants to emphasize that it is rooted in seriousness: When the skiers won 13 medals in the Olympics in Milan Cortina, a positive image of Sweden was reinforced and role models for children were created, but success does not come without a cost, everything has a price tag. The pitch is "Sweden needs sport. Now sport needs Sweden".
Pernilla Bonde says that the reality is that the Skiing Association twists and turns every penny - and that the experience is shared by many sports federations.
- Belonging to an association, belonging to a community... I'm not really sure that you see the connection between what you have and how much you could save if you invested more in sports instead of, for example, correctional services. We want to see a movement of state finances, she says.
She notes that everyone is delighted when Swedish athletes win Olympic medals, but that there needs to be much more talk about the conditions, about the four years between each Games.
- Investing in children and young people is an investment for the future.
There are also many active people on site at the start of the season. Snowboarder Novalie Engholm says that the issue of finances constantly gnaws and that in her investment she is forced to choose - spend money on a training camp in the fall or a competition late in the season, when she needs both to be able to fully compete internationally.
Last summer she opted out of the summer job; thanks to the support of her parents, she was able to focus entirely on training.
- My development curve has never looked as good as it did during that period. So just think how different it could have been, if every season I could put my energy into getting better and not thinking about whether I can afford the next season.
The Swedish Sports Confederation (RF) went out in February with an appeal to the politicians for more money for the elite after its own survey showed that over 200 national team actives quit in four years due to finances. RF wants to see scholarships directly to top athletes and that elite athletes are included in the social insurance systems.
The Skiing Association's new campaign highlights the importance of breadth, social benefit and a long-term functioning sports environment in Sweden.
- We cannot take associational life for granted. RF estimates the value of the non-profit engagement at approximately SEK 20 billion per year. We need to raise the issue and really see the value of all the non-profit hours that association life contributes, says Bonde.
The two different calls for help to Sweden's rulers are not opposites. Pernilla Bonde also welcomes targeted efforts made by the government, such as the Leisure Card and the fact that RF has received money for sports facilities, for example, even if that type of project swallows up too many administrative resources.
The point she wants to make is that the volume of money is too small in Sweden. 2 billion out of a total of 1,500 billion is spent on sports in a Swedish budget year.
- It's huge. An example is that we investigated how it looks on the Alpine side and our turnover is 25 percent compared to the big countries Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Norway, the USA and Canada.
If sport does not get more money, what is the risk?
- We need support from below, but if young people don't start a sport, or stop too early because, for example, we don't have the resources to take out enough people in a developing country and they then lose motivation... ultimately it would potentially mean that we don't create enough conditions to create these Olympic medals.
