MASH
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Olympic City: Munich
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Country: Germany
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Edition of the Games: 1972 Olympic Summer Games
MASH, Fabulous Sports – International Contests – Festival of Arts & Music
MASH is a successful and developing action sports event format that was initiated in the famous Munich Olympic Park in 2014. It combines top level action sports with its laid-back cultural spirit and lifestyle.
Over 3 days, MASH presents the international elite of action sports in various disciplines, like Wakeboard, Mountainbike Slopestyle, BMX Street and Skateboard Street and other. Each discipline features the world’s best athletes showing breath-taking tricks and combos and creating an adrenaline filled atmosphere with international flair. A never seen before set up mesmerizes spectators and athletes alike. The supporting program – MASH Fest – is an inspiring mixture of music, arts, fashion and design. Free of charge for all visitors and a place to watch, test, experience, interchange and just “be”.
The premiere of MASH at Munich Olympic Park in July 2014 attracted more than 52’000 spectators to experience and celebrate “Next Level Action Sports”. The number increased to 68’000 in 2015 and 80’000 in 2016 & 2017. In 4 years, MASH has developed into a high potential action sports festival, that can successfully be adapted to other locations and countries. The Olympic Park hosts the MASH festival which contributes to activate Munich’s Olympic legacy.
The Olympic Park, located in the north of Munich, is managed by the Olympiapark München GmbH, a 100% subsidiary of the City of Munich. The company’s tasks include the maintenance of the venue’s facilities, buildings and outside areas and to run the facilities by filling it with life.
For the past four decades, the Olympic Park has been the ideal platform for a wide spectrum of events and leisure activities. And that’s what it will continue to be in the future. Especially with respect to the Olympic Stadium and the Olympic Hall, the Olympiapark München GmbH will focus its attention on important and economically promising events. These events are the main target. In each of the last years approx. 400 events took place in the facilities of the Olympic Park. It is also crucial to preserve the unique architecture such as the Olympic tent roof as a hallmark of the City of Munich and at the same time gear the venues facilities towards the future.
Promote social and constructive behaviour
By mixing sports with culture, music, arts and fashion, by mixing people from different origins and ages, MASH contributes to connecting people together and sharing common values in a place marked with Olympic history.
At MASH, visitors are invited to be not only an audience but also actors through the various activities proposed and the various places animated. Interaction is a key word in the success of MASH.
Promote the City by leveraging its affiliation with the Olympic movement
As organized within the Olympic Park, MASH directly refers to the Olympic history and legacy of Munich. MASH is one event that showcases Munich as a city truly open to sports, youth and culture. The Olympic facilities are used at this occasion and highlighted as both historical and future-oriented spots in the City of Munich.
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Evaluation
The number of visitors and the diversity in proposed activities are key indicators to measure the success of MASH. The number of visitors has been constantly growing since 2014 and the panel of activities is diversifying. This comprises sporting activities as well as cultural activities.
Success is also assessed through the quality of organisation and the organisational skills that are displayed during the festival.
Top-level athletes’ participation in MASH confirm the high quality of the event.
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Key Challenges
Managing the success
One of the key challenges has been to cope with the growing number of visitors while preserving the quality of the sports contests and the diversity of the cultural programme. Besides that, offering all outdoor activities and contests for free is crucial for the success of the event. Only indoor contests like Street League Skateboarding are subject to an entry fee.
Skills and replicability
With growing success, the team in charge with organising MASH had to constantly evolve and increase its management and organisational skills in order to maintain the high-quality of the event.
Moreover, the event has been conceived as replicable and adaptable to other places around the world. The organising team is currently looking for opportunities to duplicate the event in other locations. This is made possible through the sound network that the team has developed and is constantly feeding.
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Key Learnings & Recommendations
The Olympiapark company’s motto is: Think and act in a creative, innovative, economic as well as customer- and future-oriented way. Its main tasks consist of acquiring and/or generating new events, keeping leisure facilities up-to-date and ensuring that the venues are in state-of-the-art condition.
Olympic Games and other sports events accelerate sustainable urban development
Since the Olympic Games in 1972, the chronicles have recorded 33 World, 12 European and more than 100 German championships as well as a wide range of other important sports events, concerts with pop, rock and classical stars, trade fairs, congresses and exhibitions. With their many additional and modern attractions, the leisure and tourist facilities have been just as successful, too.
With this unique concentration and combination of different event and leisure facilities and corresponding attractions, the Olympic Park in Munich has developed to become one of the most important centres of its kind.
New international connections
A festival like MASH allows creating new international connections that benefit the whole Olympic Park. International event centre, sports and recreational park and tourist attraction with world fame – that’s the Munich Olympic Park. With its unique architectural buildings, the Olympic Park has already admitted more than 207.1 million registered visitors, 116.7 million of them visiting 13,121 sports, cultural and commercial events and about 90.4 million being guests in the recreational and tourist facilities. In the business year 2016 alone there were 4.1 million visitors, 2.5 million of them visiting 414 events and more than 1.6 million the recreational facilities.
More information
The full case is available in printable version on the members’ portal.
In addition to the above description, the PDF version also gathers practical information including internal and external partners involved; finance and cost; use of the olympic brand; human resources and time; and contact details.
The World Union of Olympic Cities’ team remains at your disposal for any further information and contact’s facilitation at info@olympiccities.org
Additional resources can be found through the following links:
