Professional Sports’ Future in Groningen

Basketball hoop © Job Doornhof

A clear perspective on the future of professional sports and talent development is lacking in the city of Groningen, according to the Advice Committee for Sports Groningen. The committee gave new advice earlier this month in which they proposed three potential scenarios for improvement; the construction of a new multifunctional sports center, two separate sports centers, and the improvement of existing sports locations.

The municipality is taking the advice seriously, Bake Dijk tells The Glass Room. The strategic policy advisor for sports at the municipality of Groningen emphasizes that the municipality does have ideas about the future of sports in general, but that it is missing clear strategies for professional sports and talent development. It is important that there are improved training facilities for professional sports specifically, according to Dijk. However, he adds that “these developments are big and expensive, so now we have a chance to think carefully about the options.”

Dijk also says that the municipality does not yet have a preference for any of the three scenarios that were presented by the advice committee. The options have to be weighed carefully to determine what would work best. The strategic policy advisor also says that it is important that the development of sports facilities is not only done by the municipality, but also in collaboration with other societal actors, such as professional sports associations.

Two important conditions that have to be taken into account in the design of new policies are that the quality of training facilities for professional sports should be good, and that the new or improved facilities that might be developed can be used all day, and be accessible to a non-professional public as well, according to Dijk.

Table tennis © Job Doornhof

The local faction of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), a Christian democratic, conservative party, in the city council of Groningen has filed questions to the mayor and city councilors about the future of sports facilities in Groningen.

“We have a great environment for sport in our city with a lot of sports associations,” says Jalt De Haan, faction leader of the CDA in the city council of Groningen. “However, sports have been given too little priority in Groningen. There is currently not enough capacity and space for many sports associations.”

According to De Haan, more facilities are indeed needed for professional sports as well, and he believes that a new multifunctional sports center would be part of the solution, as well as the improvement of existing facilities. However, he also recognizes that the biggest obstacle to realizing these plans is money, as building or improving professional sports facilities would be expensive.