Community benefits of major sport facilities: The Darebin International Sports Centre

Abstract

Community benefit is a term used frequently in an Australian government context to justify the construction of sport facilities that require initial and ongoing financial support from the community. The purpose of this research is to investigate the community benefit derived from the development of a new sport facility, in this case the Darebin International Sports Centre (DISC), Melbourne, Australia and examine community (user) perceptions to verify claims that the venue delivers a range of community benefits. Interviews were undertaken with both facility users and key stakeholders at the venue, and the data was qualitatively analysed to identify specific incidents and coded into concepts to identify predominate themes or patterns: social/psychic impacts; community visibility and image impacts; developmental impacts and political impacts. The findings of this study indicate that, from a user perspective, DISC provides an extensive range of noneconomic benefits such as increased accessibility, exposure, participation and success. The majority of facility users stated that the development of DISC has had a positive effect on their sport, sporting community and sporting experience.