Staging Olympic sustainability? A critical analysis of the IOC’s framing of sustainable practices on YouTube

Abstract

ABSTRACT As a significant pillar of the leisure world, the sports industry makes substantial contributions to climate change through carbon emission and its influence on sustainable practices, rendering some sport mega-events environmentally destructive. In line with wider trends, researchers have increasingly examined sport mega-events, their governance and environmental impacts. In this context, this article contributes towards an understanding of how ‘sustainability’ is framed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through a digital sociological analysis of its YouTube channels. Drawing on Ulrich Beck’s concept of ‘staging’, the article addresses two research questions focused on (1) how the issue of climate change is publicly staged by the IOC and (2) how social media provides another outlet for the IOC’s sustainable practice discourses. By exploring these questions, the article develops an understanding of how policies staged to address global risks now formulate a key aspect of sport governing bodies’ presence on social media.