A stakeholder approach to sporting events: A case study of Spokane Hoopfest

Spokane Hoopfest is the largest outdoor 3-on-3 street basketball tournament held on the final weekend of June in downtown Spokane, Washington annually. As the largest outdoor basketball event in the world, more than 1,000,000 visitors come to the Spokane area to enjoy the event annually and about 27,000 players on 7,000 teams coming from 42 states participate in the basketball event (Spokane Hoopfest Association, 2016). The Hoopfest event has given $46 million of economic benefit to the Spokane area annually. Even though the Hoopfest event has increased profit since 1990s, Spokane Hoopfest Association (SHA) has faced issues regarding the event operation. This case study was analyzed based on 1) Stakeholder theory that concerns how the environment of people affects organizations and/or how those people are affected by the organizations’ actions and 2) SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis to diagnose problems that SHA faces and to suggest recommendations for SHA.