Large Sporting Events Research Articles

Public health impact of mass sporting and cultural events in a rising COVID-19 prevalence in England.

A subset of events within the UK Government Events Research Programme (ERP), developed to examine the risk of transmission of COVID-19 from attendance at events, was examined to explore the public health impact of holding mass sporting events. We used contact tracing data routinely collected through telephone interviews and online questionnaires, to describe the potential public health impact of the large sporting and cultural events on potential transmission and incidence of COVID-19. Data from the EURO 2020 matches hosted at Wembley identified very high numbers of individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 and were traced through NHS Test & Trace. This included both individuals who were potentially infectious (3036) and those who acquired their infection during the time of the Final (6376). This is in contrast with the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, where there were similar number of spectators and venue capacity but there were lower total numbers of potentially infectious cases (299) and potentially acquired cases (582). While the infections associated with the EURO 2020 event may be attributed to a set of socio-cultural circumstances which are unlikely to be replicated for the forthcoming sporting season, other aspects may be important to consider including mitigations for spectators to consider such as face coverings when travelling to and from events, minimising crowding in poorly ventilated indoor spaces such as bars and pubs where people may congregate to watch events, and reducing the risk of aerosol exposure through requesting that individuals avoid shouting and chanting in large groups in enclosed spaces.

Organizing sports events: the promoters’ perspective

PurposeThis study aims to develop a battery of items that assess the factors affecting sports events’ success from the promoters’ perspective and a measurement tool that identifies these stakeholders’ main priorities based on the importance-performance analysis (IPA) framework.Design/methodology/approachThe research was conducted using mixed methods. In the first qualitative step, sports event management’s main dimensions were identified based on the existing literature and a comprehensive battery of corresponding items were developed via content analysis of interviews with experts. The second quantitative step focused on Lisbon, the 2021 European City of Sport. Promoters of 21 different medium or large sports events (number = 41 respondents) were asked to fill out a survey ranking each dimension’s items by performance and room for improvement. The IPA’s results are presented both for the overall sample and by promoter type (i.e. events with or without sports facilities).FindingsThe 46 items identified fall into the following three categories: sports infrastructure, city image and hospitality and event management (i.e. pre-event, event and post-event). Pre-event includes stakeholder management, organigram and responsibilities, business plan, marketing mix, risk assessment and sponsorship management. Sponsorship management stands out among the areas considered a priority by event promotors.Originality/valueThis study adds to the literature by offering a comprehensive approach to assessing empirically all stages of the event management process.

Reusing Stadiums for a Greener Future: The Circular Design Potential of Football Architecture.

Since the turn of the new Millennium, there has been an increase in efforts to build environmental-friendly sports arenas around the world. Fuelled by large sporting events like the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the ‘Green Games,’ and the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, stadium architecture has become a vehicle for this trend. So far, the emphasis has primarily been on new arenas, in line with the widespread belief in international architecture of the 2000s that older buildings are less energy-efficient by default. In addition to that comes a conviction that newness is needed to attract sponsors, investors, and larger audiences—a position powered by commercial interest and the idea of the stadium as an ‘urban generator.’ While new stadiums may have a significant potential when it comes to green performability, that does not necessarily mean that older stadiums are surplus to requirements, even from a climate perspective. In this paper, we look critically at the well-established strategy of replacing old stadiums with new ones by questioning the climate impact of new arenas and investigating the reuse potential of existing ones. We carry out in-depth analysis of two existing stadiums, Tynecastle Park in Edinburgh and Stadio Flaminio in Rome. One of them has already gone through renovation to remain in use while the other is vacant but currently under way to be renovated. We bring in fresh perspectives from sports science, preservation, architecture, and circular design theory to explain why older stadiums become obsolete and to challenge the premise of that destiny. The aim is not only to scrutinize the general lack of reuse but also to highlight green strategies which could give existing stadiums a longer life.

Evaluation of Large-Scale Sports Project Based on Analytic Hierarchy Process

When the evaluation system of regular sports events is applied to evaluating large-scale sports events, there is a shortage of the coverage rate of events evaluation and the low calculation precision of events economic evaluation index. This paper proposed the evaluation system of large-scale sports events based on the analytic hierarchy process. Firstly, we construct the evaluation system of large-scale events. Secondly, we determined the evaluation principles and evaluation procedures of events. The proposed model implies a fuzzy standard form system to get an optimal network structure, eliminate conflict rules, and trim nodes and links. The economic indicators of events are evaluated according to the content of events, such as financial cash flow, net present value, and profit margin of events. We also analyzed the evaluation of the content of social benefit and calculated the social impact assessment index to realize the evaluation of large sports events based on the analytic hierarchy process. According to the test data, the evaluation system’s performance is better than the traditional evaluation system, and the coverage is increased by 47.85%. The accuracy of the events economic evaluation index is improved by 32.45%. It is more applicable to the evaluation of large-scale sports events.

Eye care and ocular findings at the Olympic and Paralympic Games Rio 2016

ObjectivesTo describe the attendance and ocular profile of competitors and members of delegations who attended the Polyclinic Ophthalmology Division during the Olympic and Paralympic Games Rio 2016.MethodsThe eye clinic was...

A uniform sample preparation procedure for gas chromatography combustion isotope ratio mass spectrometry for all human doping control relevant anabolic steroids using online 2/3-dimensional liquid chromatography fraction collection

Androgenic anabolic steroids are the most misused substances in sports because of their performance-enhancing effects. Often synthetic analogues of endogenously present steroids are administered. To determine their endogenous or exogenous origin, Gas Chromatography Combustion Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS) is used in the field of doping control. Compounds subjected to IRMS analysis must be interference-free, with liquid chromatography fraction collection (HPLC-FC) being the crucial clean-up step. However, this clean-up is challenging, particularly for compounds present at low concentrations in samples with pronounced matrix effects. The compounds of interests for IRMS analyses in doping control are testosterone (T) and its main metabolites (androsterone, etiocholanolone, 5α-androstane-3α,17β-diol, 5β-androstane-3α,17β-diol), epitestosterone, 19-norandrosterone (19-NA), boldenone (B) and its main metabolite (BM), formestane (F) and 6αOH-androstenedione (6aOHADION). Currently, the available methods only deal with a selection of the above-mentioned compounds. Some of these compounds (e.g., 19-NA, B, BM, 6aOHADION) are present in very low concentrations, requiring an extensive and dedicated sample clean-up, and this makes it challenging to develop a universal clean-up procedure. Many of these methods require different and multiple offline HPLC-FC setups, which are labour-intensive and time-consuming. That is problematic during, e.g., large sports events, where reporting time is limited (e.g., 72 h). Therefore, in the current work, we developed a uniform online 2D/3D HPLC-FC method, capable of purifying all relevant target compounds in a single run, leading to the fastest clean-up procedure so far (i.e., 31 min for T and its main metabolites; 46 min for 19-NA, F and 6aOHADION; 48 min for B and BM).

SPORTS EVENTS IN THE FUNCTION OF CITY BRANDING AS TOURIST DESTINATIONS

Branding is a concept of contemporary business and is considered one of the key elements for positioning products or services in consumers’ minds. A brand should be built on the clear foundation, while continually enforcing the same brand values, visibility and authenticity. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role of sport events in the process of destination branding. The paper begins with theoretical explanations of the process, models and the importance of destination branding, highlighting the models of city branding with special regard to the importance of organising sport events. The special attention is given to one of the most famous models which measures the attractiveness and the positioning of a city and it is the Anholt’s model City Brands Index (Anholt, 2006) that unifies six aspects of the city and which is based on the previous Hexagonal model of the competitive identity (Anholt, 2002). The research question of this paper is based on how every mentioned element can be improved through the organisation of the sports events in the function of city branding as tourist destinations. The analysis presented in this paper undoubtedly shows that the use of sports events in the function of city branding as tourist destinations is a complex and demanding process that enriches tourist potential of the destination and makes it sustainable in the tourism market. Organising sports events, especially large sports events, can contribute to the improvement of the city’s recognisability in the international environment. Big sports events are making the existing image of the city stronger by adding the new component as the host city of a certain event. In this way, they contribute to the creation of the active image of the city (Xing i Chalip, 2006). There is also an improvement of the sports and accomodation infrastructure of the city after the completion of the events. The pulse of the city gets the new dynamic element, so the sports events are used in the function of rebranding the city like Singapore (Oi, 2015). Regardless if it is the co-branding approach i.e. the application of the first level access of destination accreditation or the organisation of the sport events that emphasise the characteristics of the destination, sports events are the opportunity to emphasise the physical aspects of the city. Organisation gives the opportunity to ‘make what is intangible tangible’ i.e. to display to the visitors the sports spirit of the city and its residents and therefore improve people as the last component of the Anholt’s model of the city branding. In the paper, there are examples of the successful organisation of the sports events in the function of destination branding and the conclusive remarks are given for the application of the sports events in the further practice with a special review on the challenges of destination branding on the grounds of the sports events organisation in the period of the pandemics.

Developing a population data science approach to assess increased risk of COVID-19 associated with attending large events.

IntroductionIn summer 2021, as rates of COVID-19 decreased and social restrictions were relaxed, live entertainment and sporting events were resumed. In order to inform policy on the safe re-introduction of spectator events, a number of test events were organised in Wales, ranging in setting, size and audience.ObjectivesTo design and test a method to assess whether test events were associated with an increase in risk of confirmed COVID-19, in order to inform policy.MethodsWe designed a cohort study with fixed follow-up time and measured relative risk of confirmed COVID-19 in those attending two large sporting events. First, we linked ticketing information to individual records on the Welsh Demographic Service (WDS), a register of all people living in Wales and registered with a GP, and identified NHS numbers for attendees. Where NHS numbers were not found we used combinations of other identifiers such as email, name, postcode and/or mobile number. We then linked attendees to routine SARS-CoV-2 test data to calculate positivity rates in people attending each event for the period one to fourteen days following the event. We selected a comparison cohort from WDS for each event, individually matched by age band, gender and locality of residence. As many people attended events in family groups we explored the possibility of also matching on household clusters within the comparison group. Risk ratios were then computed for the two events.ResultsWe successfully assigned NHS numbers to 91% and 84% of people attending the two events respectively. Other identifiers were available for the remainder. Only a small number of attendees (<10) had a record of confirmed COVID-19 following attendance at each event (14 day cumulative incidence: 36 and 26 per 100,000, respectively). There was no evidence of significantly increased risk of COVID-19 at either event. However, the event that didn’t include pre-event testing in their mitigations, had a higher risk ratio (3.0 compared to 0.3).ConclusionsWe demonstrate the potential for using population data science methods to inform policy. We conclude that, at that point in the epidemic, and with the mitigations that were in place, attending large outdoor sporting events did not significantly increase risk of COVID-19. However, these analyses were carried out between epidemic waves when background incidence and testing rate was low, and need to be repeated during periods of greater transmission. Having a mechanism to identify attendees at events is necessary to calculate risk and feasibility and acceptability of data sharing should be considered.

The Economics of Sex Work and Major Sporting Events: Learning from the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa

Risk-taking in sex work is related to financial gains from condom-protected and condomless-acts alongside vulnerabilities, including socio-economic factors, which influence the safety of sex workers. Large international sporting events have been shown to significantly impact the economies of host countries, but there is a dearth of studies that examine how major sporting events may affect the economics of sex work and the risks taken by sex workers and clients. This study examines the determinants of the price of commercial sex alongside the price premium for and correlates of, condomless sex before, during and after the 2010 world cup in South Africa. We analysed data from three phases of repeated cross-sectional surveys with sex workers. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models were fitted to examine the predictors of condomless sex. We also fitted fixed-effect regression models to examine the determinants of the price of commercial sex across each survey phase. Findings suggest that the price of sex was higher during the world cup compared to before and after, whilst the price premium for condomless-sex increased from 36% before the world cup to 40% (p-value<0.001) and 57% (p-value<0.001) during and after the world cup, respectively. Across the survey phases, anal, oral or masturbation sex were more likely to be supplied without a condom compared to vaginal sex. The type of sex was the primary determinant of the price of sex across all phases. We show indicative evidence that the 2010 world cup was associated with an increase in the price of sex and supply of condomless-sex. Although these findings should be interpreted as associations rather than causal relationships, we recommend that countries with substantial sex-worker populations that host major events should explicitly consider the context and structures of sex work, and promote client-focused safe-sex-interventions that explicitly consider the economic pressures faced by sex-workers to provide riskier acts, to minimise health impacts.

Development of a sustainable environmentally friendly waste management system at large mass and sports events (2023 WJC in Novosibirsk)

Large public events (forums, championships, contests, olympiads) are events with a large number of spectators and participants, which, as a rule, leads to the generation of a large amount of waste. Mass sporting events are no exception, and when planning them, a special role is assigned to the creation of environmentally friendly waste management system. The subject of the research is the concept of waste management at the upcoming World Junior Ice Hockey Championship in 2023 in Novosibirsk. The article also discusses the types of waste generated in the functional areas of the competition grounds, studied the practice of handling solid waste: possible technologies for utilization and collection. The scheme of waste management at various stages of sports competitions is presented. Reasonable waste management should be based on the following principles: waste minimization, repair and restoration of faulty equipment and inventory, reuse of goods and materials, maximum recycling and composting, minimum burial and storage at landfills. Based on the results of the article, the main methods and recommendations for effective waste management at WJC-2023 were identified

Identification and assessment of direct and indirect economic effects of the sports sector on the economy

The sports sector makes a significant multilateral contribution to the development of economic systems. This study examines the scale and structure of the impact of the sports sector on the economy. Direct and indirect effects of such an impact are highlighted. The significance of the indirect socio-economic effects of major sporting events is illustrated by the example of the 2013 Universiade project in Kazan. On the basis of empirical data, the growth of sports activity of the population of the Republic of Tatarstan during the Universiade is shown. Using previously obtained econometric models on the indirect effects of the growth of the sports activity of the population, the indirect socio-economic effects of the Universiade were estimated: the infrastructural effect, a decrease in health care costs, an increase in labor productivity, additional income from tourism, and the creation of additional social capital. An extended model for assessing the payback of large sporting events, including investments in the infrastructure capital of the region and a number of intangible assets, is proposed and tested.

MEDIA WAVES AND MORAL PANICKING: THE CASE OF THE FIFA WORLD CUP 2010

1. Introduction In the run-up to the FIFA World in South Africa, human made headline news in 27 South African newspapers. This resulted in series of news waves pertaining to perceptions of forced prostitution and child to come during the World Cup. Evocative headlines capitalising on societal fears appeared in the local media. Out of 350 articles covering human in South African newspapers between 2006 and 2010, 82 (or 24 per cent) directly linked this sporting event with human trafficking. A sample of headlines included: Flesh trade fear for World Cup (Citizen 2006); casts shadow over (Sunday Independent 2007); may escalate ahead of World Cup--report (The Weekender 2008); Warning on child in (Cape Argus 2008); 2010 exploitation: Human traffickers ready for World Cup (Daily News 2009); red alert: Women, children under threat as World sees prostitution demand rocket (Daily News 2010). As with previous international sporting events, the threat of human quickly became part of public consciousness. Advocacy organisations, such as Molo Songololo, Justice Acts, Not for Sale, Doctors for Life, STOP (Stop Trafficking of People) (1) and politicians (2) publicly repeated inflated estimates of numbers of women and children who would be trafficked, brutalised and forced into life of sexual servitude in order to meet the demands of hordes of sexually deviant, inebriated football fans. It was erroneously portrayed that large sporting events--particularly football--attracted and facilitated the demand and supply of illicit sex. Based on the myth of 40 000 sex slaves who were imported from Eastern Europe into Germany, resultant media hype and moral panic, became part of the South African World discourse. We claim that media hypes based on constructed moral panics might be recycled in similar scenarios demonstrating the staying power of such media hypes and the utility of moral panics. As Vasterman (2005: 517) claims: [M]edia coverage can be self-fulfilling prophecy. A situation becomes real crisis because it is described as crisis; condition becomes an important social problem because it is described in terms of sudden deterioration of the situation. In this way media-hype can create new realities, independent from other non-mediated realities. 2. The dark side of sex, football and South Africa Up until 2008, South Africa was ranked as Tier 2 (Watch List) country for the fourth consecutive year by the United States (US) TIP Report for failing to with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking (UNHCR 2008). According to the report, the government failed to provide adequate data on (cases investigated and/or prosecuted), and deported and/or prosecute suspected victims without providing appropriate protective services (UNHCR 2008). Although South Africa was taken off the watch list in 2009, the report noted that it still did not comply with the minimum standards. This assessment remained the same in the report. To date, formulation and harmonisation of legislation in accordance with the prescripts of the Protocol have yet to be fulfilled. The TIP Report, identified South Africa as a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to in persons, specifically forced labour and forced commercial sexual exploitation (US Department of State 2010). An exploratory study by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) released in March on the dimensions of human in southern Africa supported the findings of previous studies that suggested South Africa is key destination and, to lesser extent, country of origin and transit for people trafficked to and from Africa, globally, and internally (HSRC 2010). …

The Economic Impact of Participant Sports Events: A Case Study for the Winter World Masters Games 2020 in Tyrol, Austria

The Winter World Masters Games (WWMGs) are a large sports event for 30+-year-old athletes. As there are neither competitive qualification requirements for participants, nor entrance fees for spectators, the event can be considered as a participatory sports tourism event rather than a spectator event. In 2020, the WWMGs were staged in Innsbruck, Tyrol. In this study, we estimate the payoff of the event for the regional economy by assessing the impacts generated by participant spending and organizational expenditure. Furthermore, we discuss the peculiarities of the masters sports concept. Our empirical work is based on three distinct analyses: (1) economic impact analysis of participant spending, (2) cost-benefit analysis of organizational resource flows, and (3) discussion of impacts with experts in a focus group setting. Our results support the previous findings that masters sports events attract rather affluent and consumption-oriented participants. Indeed, the WWMGs were found to have a regional economic impact of €6.18 million and an estimated yield of €4.40 for each publicly subsidized euro. For an audience interested in the economic impact of events, this paper presents a novel method for handling non-normal expenditure distributions and adds to the understanding of how visitor segmentation can be utilized in an assessment of event impacts.

Does Formula-1 Grand Prix Attract Tourists?

Why would a country like Malaysia relinquish a glamorous spot in the Formula-1 Grand Prix calendar? Doesn't this popular sport attract tourists? Previous research has examined the impact of large sporting events like the Olympics and the football World Cup on tourism inflows, but research on whether international sporting events held annually in the same city/country also attract significant number of tourists is limited. In this article we examine the above questions empirically and find that the hosting of a Formula-1 event indeed attracts tourists, an increase of about 6%, on average. We also find that street races, on the margin, attract more tourists. Our findings call policy makers to be absolutely certain before they give up their spot in the F1 calendar.

Can large cycling events promote active mobility? Expectations versus reality on the example of the 2018 UCI Cycling World Championship

The Austrian province of Tyrol positions itself as a leading sport region in the Alps, which is reflected in the number of large sport events it holds. A prominent example is the 2018 UCI Cycling World Championship. The study investigates whether, besides promoting the host region as a cycling destination, a large cycling event can also leverage a positive change in residents' travel behavior towards active mobility. The analysis of panel data reveals that respondents have high expectations regarding the event's impact on cycling infrastructure and on their travel behavior, but their optimism decreases considerably after the event. They also cycle less frequently than before. These trends however are far less distinct in the group that spectated the event live. A large sport event, even if positively perceived by local populations, is not capable of leveraging a behavioral change towards active mobility only on its own and must be accompanied by complementary measures. It is recommended to involve residents in active participation in the event as spectators. Besides, an event of this size should result in substantial improvements in local cycling infrastructure. Otherwise, an opportunity to make the behavioral change happen can be missed easily.

Research on logistics scheme design of large sports events based on Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process

Research on logistics scheme design of large sports events based on Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process

Analysis of Construction and Dissemination of Beijing’s International Image with Taking the Opportunity of Two Olympic Games

The Olympic Game is the largest and largest sports event in the world, which is regarded as an important opportunity for host countries or host cities to display or reshape the image of the country. With the continuous improvement of China’s international status and the integration of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the hosting of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is worth studying in how to build Beijing’s international image. This paper uses the STA model to compare and analyze the successful hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games and the 2022 Winter Olympics from the perspective of the Proximization theory proposed by foreign scholar professor Piotr Cap, and proposes corresponding measures for the construction and dissemination of Beijing’s international image.

Resource scheduling of green communication network for large sports events based on edge computing

The operation of large-scale sports events requires strong support from the network foundation. At the same time, network resource scheduling in the era of big data not only determines the operating efficiency of communication network systems, but also plays an important role in effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In order to improve the green energy-saving effect of large-scale sports events network operation, this study analyzes the operation process of its network system and uses the time slot method to perform task routing decision processing. Moreover, this research uses Lyapunov’s optimization technology for algorithm design and algorithm construction for service chain cache and routing problems. In addition, this study combines large-scale sports event communication networks to conduct controlled trial design and performs algorithm performance analysis through simulation analysis. The research shows that the algorithm proposed in this paper can obtain a solution with better performance and can provide theoretical references for subsequent related research.

The COVID-19 pandemic in the USA: what might we expect?

The COVID-19 pandemic in the USA: what might we expect?

대규모 국제행사 테러대책 발전방안

각 국가는 올림픽·월드컵 등의 대형 국제행사를 유치하기 위해 막대한 비용을 투자하 고 있다. 이는 국가의 외교·정치 발전은 물론 관광·문화 등 소프트파워 성장과 경제적 이득 등으로 긍정 파급효과가 크기 때문이다. 우리나라도 2000년 들어 체육·문화 등 많은 분야에서 대규모 행싸 개최가 급증하는 추세에 있다. 하지만 국제적인 이목이 집중되는 대규모 행사의 경우 테러단체의 집중 타깃이 되어 왔기 때문에 각 국가들은 천문학적인 예산을 들여 안전대책을 강구하여 왔다. 이 연구는 대규모 국제행사에서의 안전활동을 수행하는 방안을 모색하기 위한 것으로 우리나라에서 개최된 평창 동계올림픽에서 운영된 대테러대책을 살펴보고 긍정적인 부분 과 부정적인 부분을 파악하여 발전적인 대책을 제시하고자 한다. 연구결과 드론안전, 질병관리, 사이버대응 등 새로운 형태의 안전위협에 대비한 철저한 대책이 이루어지지 않았고 예산 또는 기술적 한계 그리고 상상력 부족에서 나타난 문제점 들이 발견되었다. 또한 조직위와 정부 컨트롤 타워인 대테러안전대책본부와의 협력에서 다소 미흡한 점이 나타났다. 이에 기관들 간의 협조관계를 더욱 심화시키면서 책임 분담을 명확히 하는 MOU체결 및 민간안전인력활용 확대와 노하우 및 첨단장비, 사전교육 등의 발전방안을 제시함으로써 안티드론, 사이버대책, 질병안전, 민간경호·경비업의 발전 등이 이루어길 기대한다.