“I think therefore I abduct”: The abduction of public-private collaboration in aquatic center concession projects

In France, 83 percent of sports facilities are owned by local authorities that must fund their renewal and adaptation to new recreational and hygienic standards, in a context of increasing budgetary constraints. As a result, public actors have developed collaborations with the private sector that have recently taken the form of concession contracts, making it possible for a group of private companies to be delegated a comprehensive mission for a facility project (financing, design, construction, and operation-maintenance). This new form of contracting redefines the positioning and strategies of stakeholders within sports facilities projects. The purpose of our work is then to study these new modalities of public-private collaboration within the framework of aquatic center concession projects. Given the complexity of the organizational phenomenon studied, an abductive approach was used. This contribution aims to demonstrate the benefits of using this method and to provide an illustration of the approach in the context of public-private relations within sports facilities projects. It offers feedback and shows the relevance of this approach in analyzing the complex phenomena resulting from the hybrid nature of the organizations studied in sports management.