– Ultimately, we have to bankrupt the almost new hall. That’s what Øistein Hansen says, who heads the Tromsø sports club’s (TIL) junior department. Tromsø’s oldest football team provides approximately 900 children and young people with a broad range of football and futsal services, but struggles with the large expenditure gallop that characterizes society. The new indoor hall Lerøyhallen is packed with children and young people every afternoon. At the same time, operating expenses and interest have exploded. – We have gone from just over 2 million annually to around 4 million just in operating expenses and interest, says Hansen. TIL photographed when it was announced that their new indoor hall would be called Lerøyhallen. Lerøy has contributed to sponsoring both the building of the hall and to owning the name, but their generous contribution is still not enough to run the hall, says head of TIL’s junior department, Øivind Hansen. The doubling of expenditure has occurred in just one year. Now he hopes to start a debate about who should bear the costs of operating such investments. Sports Confederation: Kicking the ball to the authorities Hansen receives support from the Norwegian Sports Confederation. Sylvi Ofstad is organizational manager in Troms and Finnmark sports circle and says TIL are far from the only ones struggling with expenses. – There is a great social responsibility in ensuring that children, young people and adults have facilities to carry out activities in. We have a clear message to both national authorities, but also regional and local authorities. – They have to see the great social value the sports teams have taken by building and operating facilities, and give an operating subsidy to these, says Ofstad. Ofstad believes the authorities should support sports teams that pay from their own pockets to build sports facilities. She says that this is a problem for sports teams all over the country, and points out that it is to a greater extent a problem in the districts. In the big cities, there are far more public sports facilities that are often debt-free and therefore cheap or free for sports teams to use, but Ofstad. – Our sports teams here in Troms and Tromsø have, to a greater extent than elsewhere in the country, taken a major social responsibility for building and operating sports facilities. Øivind Hansen from TIL is concerned about the spending spree their grassroots sports are struggling with. He is supported by Sylvi Ofstad from the sports circle, who says other teams and sports are also struggling with the increase in expenses during the expensive period. Photo: Ingrid Wester Amundsen She asks politicians to see how big the consequences can be if sports clubs can no longer afford to run sports halls. – If the authorities believe that the fact that we have volunteering in Norway, that sport is important for children and young people and public health in general, then they should take greater responsibility and ensure that there are good framework conditions. – Other voluntary organizations probably have, to a greater extent, public buildings to run their voluntary work from. Football is the biggest children’s and youth sport in Norway, according to the Norwegian Football Association. Over 370,000 children and young people participate in some form of grassroots football activity around the country. Photo: Ken Willy Wilhelmsen / news – The expenses cannot be passed on to the members Hansen in TIL says the expenses have become dramatic in a short time, and that they are turning over every stone to see how they are going to cover it. The club manages to cover the costs for this year without having to increase the training fee, but from next year they will have significant problems with the expenses if they do not find a better solution. – As a sports team, we are unable to cover this through the sale of advertising signs inside the hall, or waffles in the kiosk. It won’t do. – We are aware that other clubs, both here in Tromsø, but also beyond the city’s borders, are struggling in these times we are in. For the sports team, they are facing a demanding problem: at the same time that operating expenses have doubled, they have never had many members who have struggled to pay their dues. – We are at a point where the ultimate consequence is auctioning off the hall, i.e. bankruptcy, if we do not have sufficient funds to operate the hall. That’s how honest we have to be. But we hope we won’t get there. It is not only football clubs that operate sports halls. Many gymnastics associations across the country are also struggling to pay bills for the expensive operation of halls. Photo: Sigurd Steinum / news Different solutions in the municipalities Erlend Hanstveit (Ap), State Secretary in the Ministry of Culture and Equality, says that sports facilities should be available to as many people as possible, depending on who they are and where they live. – That is why the state contributes when the sport itself builds facilities, both through direct grants and VAT compensation when the facilities are completed. Hanstveit points out that an electricity subsidy scheme has been created for the voluntary sector, which is similar to the electricity subsidy scheme for households. – Today’s situation with increased cost and interest levels is challenging for many, both private individuals, companies, volunteers and sports. – This is of course something we are concerned about. As for private individuals, it is important that sports take account of changes in interest rates when they take out loans and invest in large projects, says Hanstveit. Photo: Henrik Myhr Nielsen / news It is different how the municipalities themselves contribute to local sports, says Hanstveit. – It varies to what extent the municipality itself builds and operates sports facilities itself, and to what extent sports build facilities. – Many municipalities allow sports to use municipal facilities free of charge or at low rent. A number of other municipalities choose to provide grants to the sports teams. He believes that the municipalities must find solutions that work locally. Sparebank1: Takes individual assessments Giving sports teams or other associations that carry out socially useful work better interest rates is not an easy solution for the banks. Stein Vidar Loftås, executive vice president for communications, society and sustainability at Sparebank1 Nord-Norge, says that their intention is that as many people as possible should be able to participate in leisure activities. – We cannot give special interest rates to entire groups, but if sports teams reach the point where they reach the limit of what they are able to finance, we are obliged to have a conversation with them and an individual assessment to look at solutions. Director of Sparebank1, Stein Vidar Loftås, says the bank can provide individual assessments of sports teams that are struggling to make ends meet. But he cannot promise a general reduction in interest rates for teams and associations. Photo: Petter Strøm He also refers to support schemes under the auspices of the bank, such as their scheme Samfunnsløftet, are measures that can help clubs and associations that are struggling. But this scheme does not support ordinary operations, which is where the shoe really presses for most teams. But Loftås sees that more people are applying in the gray area of the scheme’s statutes. – The primary thing is to support activities that are good for the local communities. How the support is arranged is of course important, but the primary thing is to ensure that they are actually able to deliver these activities. Ofstad from the Norwegian Sports Confederation met representatives of Sparebank1 this week to give input on how the banks can be helpful in easing the expenditure burden on sports teams. And Loftås does not rule out that it is possible to negotiate better interest rates for those who are really struggling: – Providing special interest rates for those facing major challenges is not entirely out of the question for us. We have to make individual assessments of that, says Loftås. Mayor: – A national responsibility Mayor of Tromsø municipality, Gunnar Wilhelmsen (Ap), believes that the animal age we are now in, like the pandemic, is a state of emergency. – In the same way, national authorities should see if part of the costs can be compensated for those who own their own sports facilities. Tromsø’s mayor shares the concern of sports that it has become too expensive to run sports halls. Photo: Eirik Hind Sveen / news The mayor shares the sports association’s concern, and believes this is a national matter as most cities have a mix of municipal halls and facilities owned by sports teams. But they also consider measures at local level: – We want to bring it up for consideration at the next municipal council meeting, perhaps as early as November, he says. Wilhelmsen believes that the problem must be handled as an exceptional condition, and not introduce any permanent models. – In an ideal world, sports should have played sports and the facilities should also be publicly owned. But it is no longer like that.
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Operating costs skyrocket – news Troms and Finnmark
