Institutionalisation in professional freestyle snowboarding – Finnish professional riders’ perceptions

By employing W. Richard Scott’s neo-institutional tools this study examines how Finnish professional snowboarders perceive the possibilities of self-expression amid the changes that have taken place in the field of professional snowboarding in recent years. The results indicate that snowboarders perceive competitions and filming or photo shoots as two different subfields in which different institutional elements are emphasised. Both subfields play a strong role in marketing the sponsor and the riders appear to have adopted their role in this system well. However, the pro snowboarders express concern about the regularisation of courses, styles and formats of the competitions and the loss of participant control. They are, however, able to accept many new influences by adapting them to fit in with the ethos of snowboarding. The riders value the freedom offered by the niche and social media, but also express concern about a decline in riding performance emerging owing to the informal organisational models used outside the regulated arenas.