A Delicate Balance: Major Sport Events and Development

Abstract

Major or hallmark sport events — those which are organized on a competitive and international basis, involve a very large number of participants and spectators, and are held according to a regular and agreed upon schedule — have become prominent and significant in recent years (Roche, 2000). Their importance stems partly from the greater degree of commercialization, and as a result, the volume of private capital which has come to be associated with such events. Their significance also relates in the extent to which their hosting has become part of public policy objectives. Today, major sport events are prominent in the planning and development itineraries of many urban and national governments across the world. They tend to be viewed by such decision makers as possible stimulants for short term and more permanent economic growth. They are commonly noted for their potential to provoke greater levels of domestic and foreign investments, to encourage the development of infrastructure that could support long-term advance, and to accelerate the growth of key sectors such as tourism (e.g. Bale and Moen, 1995; Hall, 1992; Baade and Matheson, 2002). Increasingly too, such events have political features — in the manner in which they may be used by political or sport elites toward the attainment of certain targets, or by which policy objectives may be set (see for instance Black and Van der Westhuizen, 2004; Hiller, 1998; Hall, 2006) — which may have repercussions on host societies long after the event has come to an end.