Sports Mega-events Research Articles

Politics of Sport Mega-Event

Politics of Sport Mega-Event

Social-and-Ecological Metabolism of the Russian Megalopolis under the Influence of Sports Megaevents

Social-and-Ecological Metabolism of the Russian Megalopolis under the Influence of Sports Megaevents

Why woman run? Motivations for running in a half-marathon among female local runners and sport tourists

The purpose of the study was to examine the motivations to participate in a half-marathon among women – local runners and sport-tourists – and also to evaluate the differences between these two groups of respondents. Most of the research concerns motivation to run among men. With the increase in the popularity of mass running events, the question what encourages women to engage in physical activity, especially outside their everyday place of residence, becomes very important now. The sample comprised 214 women that participated in the 6th Poznan Half Mara-thon in Poland. To evaluate the motivation to participate in the half-marathon event, a self-constructed questionnaire was used. Results indicated that local runners and sport-tourists have similar forms of motivation and similar meanings to the event participation with some significance differences. A socio-demographic profile of a half-marathon female participant was also examined. In general, the findings of the present study provide an understanding of motivation to participate in a half-marathon event in different women groups. Current research on the motivation of the running event participants was aimed at determining how meaningful some aspects are. These aspects were not only a willingness to stay fit, healthy, and slim, but also to build social relationships and look for the experiences and emotions that come with recreational sport. These results might be useful for sport managers and city government to analyze consumer behavior and utilize the results in the strategic planning, marketing and implementation of physical culture in connection with massive sport events organizations. References 1 Papanikos G. The economic effects of a marathon as a sport tourism event. Athens Journal of Sports. 2015; 1: 225. 2 Chappelet JL. Heritage sporting events and place marketing, In: Plevnik M, Ratar I, Pisot R. and Ovid A, editors. Sustainable development of sport tourism. Annales University Press; 2015. 3 Pinson J. Heritage sporting events: Theoretical development and configurations. Journal of Sport & Tourism. 2017; 21(2): 133-152. 4 Taks M. Governance in sport and the Olympic Movement: The future of mega-sport events. In: International Olympic Academy – 12th International Session for Educators of Higher Institutes of Physical Education. Ancient Olympia-Greece; 2017. 5 Report Physical Activity of Poles, 2017 [cited 2019 Jul 20]. Available from: https://www.msit.gov.pl/pl/sport/badania-i-analizy/aktywnosc-fizyczna-spol/575,Aktywnosc-fizyczna-spoleczenstwa.html 6 Schulze G. Die Erlebniz-Gesellschaft. Kultursoziologie der Gegenwart. Frankfurt am Main: Campus-Verlag; 1992. 7 Zduniak A. Event as a postmodern form of participating in social life. Roczniki Nauk Społecznych. 2010; 38(2): 207-234. 8 Zuckerman M. The sensation seeking motive. Prog Exp Pers Res. 1974; 7:79–148. 9 Gracz J, Walczak M, Tomczak M. Search for sensations as a trend in contemporary sports and recreation activities. Sport and recreation versus the challenges of modern civilization. University of Szczecin; 2011. 10 Stempien J. Running, sightseeing and the middleclass – a few sociological comments and observations on running tourism. In: Kazimierczak M. (ed.). Sports inspirations in cultural tourism. Poland: University of Physical Education in Poznan; 2016. 11 Crawford R. Healthism and the medicalization of everyday life. International Journal of Health Services. 1980; 10 (3):365-388. 12 Borowiec A, Lignowska I. Is the ideology of healthism a distinctive feature of the middle class in Poland? Culture and Society – Sport in Culture. 2012; 56(3): 95-111. 13 Gibson H, Attle S, Yiannakis A. Segmenting the active sport tourism market: A life-span perspective. Journal of Vacation Marketing. 1998; 4(1): 52-64. 14 Ross D. Developing sports tourism. National Laboratory for Tourism. Illinois: University of Illinois; 2001 15 Roberts C. Sport and adventure tourism. In: Robinson P, Heitmann S, Dicke P. Editors. Research Themes for Tourism. Oxfordshire-Cambridge, UK: CABI Publisher; 2011. 16 Ogles BM, Masters KS. A Typology of marathon runners based on cluster analysis on motivations. Journal of Sport Behaviour. 2003; 26:69-85. 17 Krouse R, Ransdell L, Lucas S, Pritchard M. Motivation, goal orientation, coaching and training habits of women ultrarunners. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2011; 25(10): 2835–2842. 18 Ogles BM, Masters KS. Obligatory running and gender: An analysis of participative motives and training habits. International Journal of Sport Psychology. 1995; 26: 233-248. 19 Freyer W, Gross S. Tourismus und Sport-Events. Dresden, Germany: FIT Forschungsinstitut für Tourismus; 2002.

Public trust in mega event planning institutions: The role of knowledge, transparency and corruption

The political ramifications of hosting mega-events are huge. In this article, we investigate the relationships among corruption, transparency, knowledge, and public trust using data collected from 3786 Brazilians in the context of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Games. Findings from the structural equation modeling indicate that public trust in government is determined by the respondents' perceptions of corruption and transparency and their level of knowledge about the roles of government and the local organizing committee in the mega-event. The respondents’ level of trust in the local organizing committee also exerts an influence on their trust in the government. The implications of the findings for governments planning to host mega-events in the future are discussed. This research makes an important contribution to the literature, being the first study to test a theoretical model that analyses the relationships between corruption, transparency, knowledge, and public trust in the context of a mega-sport event.

Predicting Intention to Volunteer for Mega-Sport Events in China: The Case of Universiade Event Volunteers

Attracting and retaining a loyal base of volunteers is critical to the success of mega-sport events (MSEs). The purpose of this study was to examine the antecedents of MSE volunteering in a Chinese context. Drawing upon self-determination theory, the study establishes a valid structural equation model of antecedents of Chinese volunteers' satisfaction and their intention to volunteer in future MSEs. The XXVI Summer Universiade provides a case-specific context. After a pilot study to validate questionnaire items, location-based convenience sampling was employed to collect data from Universiade volunteers. A total of 1,015 questionnaires were completed and analyzed. Results from the covariance-based structural equation modeling analysis showed that all of the three exogenous factors—external attractiveness, altruism, and intrinsic motivation—emerged as significant predictors of volunteer satisfaction. In turn, volunteers' perceived level of satisfaction predicted future MSE volunteer intention. Our findings reveal unique differences between Chinese sport event volunteers and their Western counterparts. Implications for event planning and volunteer program design are discussed.

Building sustainability in sport:a clear offside or chance for a "slow" rebirth?

Training, selection, peaking, workloads are common notions associated with our society. However, these concepts are also inherent in sport as well, where ‘the winner takes all’. Thus the logic of modern sport resembles the capitalist milieu in which it has evolved: individualism, competitiveness, peak performance, and productivity are all essential components. Modern sport is also often depicted as being a remedy to society’s ills, making sport a linchpin of the population's well-being: empowering control over health, educating people to reach their goals or serving as a good example for future generations. But there is a danger that modern sport is primarily becoming a tool for generating profit. The aim of this paper is to formally examine how sport is related to the principles of sustainability, and its potential impact on well-being. Although several project aims to safeguard three dimensions of sustainability: environmental, social and economic values, drawing on a growing body of scholarships on sustainability best and worst practice, this article discusses the environmental, social and economic consequences of sport activities, using the aspect of society and insights from sport mega-events.

The expected social impact of the Winter Olympic Games and the attitudes of non-host residents toward bidding

PurposeUsing Beijing’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games as an example, the purpose of this paper is to explore the expected social impact of mega-sporting events, as perceived by non-host city residents, and the way in which this perception affects attitudes toward bidding.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical survey study was conducted in which data were collected from residents in Shanghai, comprising a sample of 483 respondents. An exploratory factor analysis identified 40 items loaded on eight distinctive factors that underlie the expected social impact of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine the effect of the perceived impact on residents’ attitudes toward the bid to host the Olympics.FindingsAmong the eight identified impact factors, six were found to be positive and two negative. While all factors were significantly higher above the point of indifference, perceived positive impact factors tended to outweigh those that were negative. In addition, seven out of the eight factors were found to be significantly predictive of support for Beijing’s bidding: while the effect of “tourism and environment,” “social capital and psychic income,” “international cooperation and exchange,” “infrastructure,” “national image,” and “sport development” was positive, the effect of the “higher living cost” factor was negative with regard to the support of the bidding. This study seeks to contribute by taking a non-host community perspective.Originality/valueA growing body of literature has documented perspectives on events and their specific timing during event cycles, i.e., during the bidding stage. In addition, it also offers insight into the perception and attitudes of citizens from emerging markets toward event bidding and hosting, both of which play an increasingly important role in global sports but, on the whole, remain relatively under researched.

Debating the success of carbon-offsetting projects at sports mega-events. A case from the 2014 FIFA World Cup

ABSTRACTForests are seen as climate mitigation mechanisms by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In addition, their importance in the sustainable development paradigm has been confirmed through their inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are designed to provide a global orientation toward inclusive and sustainable development, yet their implementation presents new challenges for forestry practitioners. This paper uses an ethnographic case study to examine a forestry-based carbon-offsetting project in Mato Grosso, Brazil, and uses several SDGs to analyze the level of project success. The project was created to offset the emissions from the construction of the new football stadium built for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Mato Grosso and, therefore, attracted international attention. The project provides analytical points for a discussion on how forestry-based carbon offsetting fits within the wider discussion on sustainable development and how the success of project outcomes can be influenced in several key areas.

Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the Social Impacts of Megaevents

The objective of this work is to analyze the expected positive and negative impacts of the 2016 Olympic Games from the perspective of public policy managers of sports and leisure within Brazil. Previous research demonstrates that sports megaevents generate both positive and negative impacts for every host country and it is essential that the host nations use research to base the construction of their public policies within sports and leisure in order to minimize the negative aspects and amplify the positive ones. For this study, field and bibliographic was conducted. The field research was conducted via semistructured interviews with public policy managers of sports and leisure. Our findings indicated that in order to be effective, there needs to be adequate management and public policies that enable the population to practice sports and it can minimize the negative social impacts of 2016 Olympic Games.

Rituals, Emotional Entrainment and National Identification

Abstract Although the effects of nationalized mega-events on national identification have been theorized and examined by a number of studies, little is known about the specific mechanisms that bring about changes in people’s attitudes towards their country. The authors hypothesize that during nationwide rituals, in particular sports mega-events, participants experience collective emotional entrainment in the context of national symbols and practices that in turn increases their identification with their nation. The authors present results of a naturalistic quasi-experimental study around the 2012 uefa European Football Championship with participants from Germany, the United Kingdom, and Poland. Using a multidimensional measurement of national identification, the authors show that the experience of emotional entrainment is associated with changes in symbolic, civic, and solidary facets of identification in ways specific to the different national contexts.

Configuring human rights at EuroPride 2015

Events, predominantly sport mega-events, have received an abundance of academic scrutiny. Some of these commentaries have critiqued how the staging of mega-events can violate a range of universal human rights. Far less is available that is concerned with how events are mobilised for human rights advocacy. This paper, drawing from an ongoing qualitative research project (Baltic Pride 2015–2017), focuses on the venacularisation of human rights to offer a view of the intricacies of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) activism at the level of the local. Discussion starts with an appraisal of existing universal human rights policies surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), specifically United Nations (UN) and European Union (EU) legislative frameworks. This legislative premise is followed by a focus on vernacularisation; a concept that reveals the complicated processes of human rights claiming. A brief history of Baltic Pride provides the context for EuroPride 2015 as well as the subsequent analyses of research findings, which are explored through the themes: EuroPride 2015 Pride House and EUroPride’s Super VIPs. Methodologically, the research relies on a combination of ethnography and autoethnogarphy, and findings are embedded within the critical analyses. Photographs, field notes that are more akin to autoethnographic narrative and commentary from the interview participants help highlight the conceptual value of vernacularisation to research on human rights.

Human Rights and Sports Mega-Events: The Role of Moral Disengagement in Spectators

Human rights issues such as freedom of speech, equality, and displacement are repeatedly connected with the hosting of sports mega-events. Governments and event organizers require public backing to ensure these events remain sustainable; this study provides an explanation as to how the general populations continue to provide this support in spite of these concerns through the framework of Bandura’s social cognitive theory of moral agency. Four focus groups consisting of 18 individuals who had attended a sports mega-event were carried out using a semistructured format, covering the topics of freedom, protection, access, equality, and ability. Subsequently, the data were analyzed deductively using definitions of the mechanisms of moral disengagement. The findings provide preliminary evidence of moral disengagement in members of the public who support sports mega-events. Implications for human rights organizations and other key stakeholders are discussed.

Sports Mega-events and Gangnamization in South Korea after the 1980s

Sports Mega-events and Gangnamization in South Korea after the 1980s

Evaluating tourist behaviour in sport mega-events through a structural equation model

In defining destination marketing strategies, a specific role is played by megaevents as critical tool to improve the economic development. In tourism marketing literature, researchers have analysed the holistic perspective of tourist behaviour to understand the factors that influence the level of satisfaction and the intentional behaviours. Accordingly, the paper aimed at analysing relationships among destination image, event satisfaction and tourist behavioural intentions in sport mega-event. Six research hypotheses have been formulated and empirically tested by using structural equation models (Partial Least Squares - PLS approach) on survey data from 304 international tourists who attended the America’s Cup World Series in Naples. The findings put in evidence the relevant role of the mega-event to create value for tourist in destination management.

Mega-sporting events and children’s rights and interests – towards a better future

The public subsidy of Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup hosting opportunities is invariably justified on the basis that they will secure a range of public good outcomes. Problematically, the information available inspires less confidence that these ambitions will be met and highlights how social costs and benefits are unevenly distributed. As a result, interest in the social dimension of hosting has grown, yet the knowledge to support responsive and evidence-based events policy remains relatively underdeveloped, particularly in relation to the specific needs and experiences of affected communities. The impact on children as a particularly stakeholder group reflects this context of recognition and knowledge gap. For example, while it is accepted that immovable deadlines and risk of reputational consequences raise a variety of social justice concerns throughout the event lifecycle, the nature and scale of these impacts on children is poorly understood and frequently mismanaged. Findings drawn from research commissioned by Terre des Hommes International Federation which explored the intersections between children’s rights and social justice concerns highlights how such initiatives present risks and opportunities that cannot be managed effectively until children are included within associated planning processes as a specific stakeholder group with distinct needs and interests.

Exploring the domestic relationship between mega-events and destination image: The image impact of hosting the 2012 Olympic Games for the city of London

Contemporarily, the hosting of mega-sport-events (MSEs) is one of several strategies used by cities and governments to bring about improvements in a place’s image and recognition. With that in mind, the overall aim of this study, underpinned by theoretical-methodological social representation theory, was to evaluate the domestic image impact of hosting the 2012 Summer Olympic Games for the city of London, and in doing so, whether any image-transfer (or co-branding) processes occurred between the place and event. In addition to adding to the emergent body of work aimed at using social representation theory to measure place image, the authors are among the first to employ a matched-sample research approach to measuring the impact of an MSE on the domestic perceptions of the host. Employing an abductive research strategy, a survey was carried out among the domestic English population (n=156) to identify cognitive and affective image components, in the form of social representations, of London as a city (or its place brand), the Olympics as a MSE, and the 2012 Games as a one-off event. The content and the structure of the pre-and post-event social representations were established (using image elements cited by at least 15% of the respondents), analysed (using hierarchical cluster analysis) and then compared (within- and between items) to determine whether any changes or image transfer occurred. The findings of this research reveal that the pre-event concerns regarding the hosting of the London 2012 Olympics and the potential of the event to negatively impact the city’s pre-established image, were, to a degree, fulfilled. Conversely, from an event perspective, respondents perceived the Olympics as a somewhat successful enterprise.

Enabling Event Volunteer Legacies: A Knowledge Management Perspective

Human capital development delivered through the volunteers is espoused as one legacy outcome of hosting mega-sporting events such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games. However, to date the reality of such a legacy remains largely undemonstrated. In this article, Nonaka and Tacheuchi's SECI model and Lee and Yang's knowledge value chain (KVC) are integrated to identify insights to support the development of a potential human capital legacy from volunteers in future mega-sport events through focusing on knowledge management. A case study of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games demonstrates gaps in the knowledge management systems in place, both in terms of the identification of knowledge and the processes for capture and reuse. It is argued that, unless those involved in hosting the events reconsider their approach to human capital legacy development, using the creation and management of knowledge as a core element, it is unlikely that long-term human capital legacy outcomes will be achieved for host communities.

Volunteers with Disabilities at the London 2012 Olympic And Paralympic Games: Who, Why, and Will They Do It Again?

People with disabilities are often the recipients of volunteer services but are rarely considered as a potential volunteer resource, such as in sport events where volunteers are an essential component of major sport event operation and legacy potential. For London's 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, there was a determined effort by the Organizing Committee to recruit people with disabilities to be Games Makers (i.e., volunteers). This exploratory research investigated 786 London 2012 volunteers who self-identified as having disability or access needs. The research design involved an online questionnaire examining their motivations for volunteering, their experiences, their likelihood to continue volunteering, and their sociodemographic profile. This article contributes to the literature by examining the motivations of people with disability volunteering at a mega-sport event, as this has not been done previously. The factor analysis identified eight components: transactional; altruistic; it's all about the games; volunteering community; rewards; availability; variety; and application. The solution highlighted the duality of human capital-related transactional components where the individual wanted to improve their skills and the altruistic components of giving back and it's all about the games experience. The discussion examined these components in comparison to other mega-event volunteers to examine commonalities and contrasts.

2016 OLYMPIC GAMES: SOCIAL IMPACTS FOR PUBLIC PARKS GOERS

The objective of this work was to analyze the positive and negative social impacts of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for public park goers. Sports megaevents have gone through tremendous changes since the 1960s. In the 1990s, they became a kind of business, an instrument of commercial, political, urban and media interest, aimed at profits and the image of the host nation. Consequently, there has been a lot of competition on the choosing of the next host nation, and they say the games bring significant improvements to the host nations in economical, social and urban aspects, besides the repercussion of the country's image, which will be reflected internationally and could generate a higher number of tourists and bigger foreign investments, and in this way contribute to boosting the local ecnonomy. It is, therefore, essential that host nations conduct research to inform public policies of sports and leisure targeted at minimizing the negative social impacts and amplifying the positive ones at such events. Field and bibliographic data were used as method procedures for this mixed-methods investigation. The field research was done through questionnaires for public parks goers. Most public park goers said that the positive impact of the 2016 Olympic Games is social interaction, but the negative is the high budget.

Economic impact of international second-rate mega-sporting events on tourism: case study of EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania / Tarptautinių didelių sporto renginių ekonominis poveikis turizmui: 2011 m. Europos krepšinio čempionato Lietuvoje atvejo studija

According to Zipf’s Law, the scale (frequency, abundance, strength, popularity, etc.) of many real-world phenomena increases or decreases logarithmically depending on the class, rank, or weight of the studied phenomenon. This law also applies to the popularity and attendance of mega-sporting events; therefore, it is pertinent for the assessment of an economic impact of the event. If this peculiar feature of mega-sporting events is ignored, any accurate forecast of the popularity of the event and the assessment of its economic impact becomes difficult. The paper illustrates this thesis by highlighting the economic impact of the European Basketball Championship, held in Lithuania in 2011, upon the tourism and hospitality industry in this country. The aim of the study was to assess the applicability of Zipf’s Law in the case of mega-sporting events by surveying the popularity and economic effect of international second-rate sport event such as the European Basketball Championship, which was held in a small peripheral country, Lithuania. The ethnographic survey was based on a series of semi-structured in-depth face-to-face interviews (Tribe, 2010). It was conducted from August to September in 2011. The key interviewed persons were various stakeholders, representing Lithuanian tourism and hospitality industry on different levels – from local café owners, staff of tourism information centres in the cities where EuroBasket 2011 took place to the high-level officials of the Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association. Altogether, 25 interviews have been accomplished ex-ante, during, and ex-post the championship. The results of the in-depth interviews were further supplemented, compared, and correlated with similar interviews that had been conducted ex-ante, during, and ex-post EuroBasket 2011 by different Lithuanian mass-media and had been available on the internet and various published sources. In addition to the ethnographic survey, we have conducted an internet survey, concerning the popularity of various team sports in selected countries of Europe. We have conducted a simple survey, aimed at assessing how many results for the terms defining team sports are extracted from the internet by the most popular web search engines (Google for the terms in the Latin alphabet and Yandex in the Cyrillic alphabet). Italian, Russian, and Lithuanian languages were chosen in order to eliminate the global scope of the Anglophone, Hispanophone, and Francophone terms and to avoid any confusion with ambiguous terms, for example “American football”. [...]