Event Legacy

The goal of this research is to understand the role, influence, and attitudes of downtown Atlanta business elites on downtown redevelopment policies. The downtown business elites has dominated the local politics of Atlanta for decades in order to achieve their redevelopment objectives. This research investigates the behavior of Atlanta business elites on downtown redevelopment policies from 1950s to 2000s in light of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games experience. This research explored the interplay between Atlanta's downtown business elites and the city elected officials as well as other interested parties in order to analyze the power and involvement of elites on the urban policy-making process. This study is grounded in urban regime theory to analyze how the business elites of downtown Atlanta attempted to transform Atlanta from a regional-national hub into an international city using the city's hosting of the Olympic Games as a convenient vehicle to implement their vision. First, the author lays out the picture in 1950s by introducing the regime actors in Atlanta and by explaining how the regime was shaped and has evolved over decades. Next, the author investigates how the business elites used the Olympics as a convenient vehicle to implement their own vision for downtown redevelopment. Finally, the author discusses the short-and long-term impacts of the Olympics on downtown Atlanta redevelopment. By establishing a connection between the Olympic bidding idea, Olympic legacy, and the changing role of downtown Atlanta business elites in urban policy-making process, this study contributes to the body of literature in urban politics by linking the regime theory and mega-event literatures to expand the understanding of Atlanta's local political power structure and the city's policy dynamics in light of the 1996 Olympic experience. The results indicate that the regime in Atlanta has changed since its creation because of several internal and external factors, including the relative decline of downtown Atlanta, growing and xi attractive competitive suburbs, and changing demographics. Local growth advocates have promoted Atlanta first as a regional, then a national, and finally an international city. The Olympic bid was a logical result of the existing regime in Atlanta seeks to transform the city into a worldstage player. Downtown Atlanta business elites sought to use the Olympics as a convenient strategy to create an international city image, reverse the declining trend of office and retail businesses in downtown, and to increase the primacy of downtown Atlanta over growing suburbs in the region. The elites seized the opportunity presented by a potential Olympic hosting in Atlanta to make promises and implement a vision that revitalizes certain downtown areas. Atlanta's Olympic strategy gave positive results in the short-run, however did not help to increase the primacy of downtown Atlanta in the long term due to short-term focused strategies selected by downtown business elites as well as prioritized regional issues and shifted focus of business elites to regional growth. The findings suggest that regime theory has limited ability to explain the changes in governing coalition. (Stone, 1989, p.179). The second part of chapter two explores the mega-event literature, specifically Summer Olympics, to identify the challenges and opportunities generated by the events. Overall, in chapter two, the author reviews the past literature to build a theoretical framework suggesting that the downtown Atlanta business elites used the Olympics as a convenient vehicle to implement their own vision for downtown revitalization. Chapter three outlines the methodology used in this study into four sections: Hypotheses and Time Frame for the Analysis; Study Design, Data Sources and Data Collection Activities; and Data Management and Analysis. The study was grouped into three phasesbefore, during, and after the Olympicsto facilitate the research design and analysis. Specific propositions of the study were the following:  Proposition 1: the business elites manipulated and shaped the planning decisions in downtown Atlanta to increase their business intereststhe regime that prioritizes downtown development projects. From the 1950s to the 1980s, the elites had power to implement their vision and the regime was in good shape.  Proposition 2: starting from 1980s, the local, national and international dynamics limited the power of elites in downtown policy-making process, and the business elites had difficulties influencing the planning decisions of elected officials. In this sense, the Olympic idea provided a means to facilitate the primacy of downtown Atlanta and justify the physical redevelopment of downtown Atlanta.  Proposition 3: from the business elites' perspective, the Olympics partially delivered the expected benefits, such as revitalizing specific downtown area, increasing the global recognition of Atlanta, and attracting more businesses and residents to downtown Atlanta. These effects were positive for a short-time period right after the Olympics, but these 2012 8.2 204 10,500

Objective: To examine if there is an increased participation in physical or sporting activities following an Olympic or Paralympic games. Design: Overview of systematic reviews. Methods: We searched the Medline, Embase, Cochrane, DARE, SportDISCUS and Web of Knowledge databases. In addition, we searched for 'grey literature' in Google, Google scholar and on the International Olympic Committee websites. We restricted our search to those reviews published in English. We used the AMSTAR tool to assess the methodological quality of those systematic reviews included. Primary and secondary outcome measures: The primary outcome was evidence for an increased participation in physical or sporting activities. Secondary outcomes included public perceptions of sport during and after an Olympic games, barriers to increased sports participation and any other nonsporting health benefits. Results: Our systematic search revealed 844 citations, of which only two matched our inclusion criteria. The quality of these two reviews was assessed by three independent reviewers as 'good' using the AMSTAR tool for quality appraisal. Both reviews reported little evidence of an increased uptake of sporting activity following an Olympic Games event. Other effects on health, for example, changes in hospital admissions, suicide rates and drug use, were cited although there was insufficient evidence to see an overall effect. There is a paucity of evidence to support the notion that hosting an Olympic games leads to an increased participation in physical or sporting activities for host countries. We also found little evidence to suggest other health benefits. We conclude that the true success of these and future games should be evaluated by high-quality, evidence-based studies that have been commissioned before, during and following the completion of the event. Only then can the true success and legacy of the games be established. ▪ There is little evidence that international elite sporting events such as the Olympics leads to increased participation in physical or sporting activities at the population health level. We found no evidence, in particular, relating to the Paralympic games. ▪ High-quality, evidence-based studies are needed to measure the true impact of the London 2012 games. ▪ This is a systematic review of existing systematic reviews. ▪ We restricted our search to those reviews published in English on previous Olympic and Paralympic games.

This research paper analyzes the factors affecting the success of sporting events. The paper identifies various factors, including environmental, venue-related, safety, technological, sponsorship, timing, athlete performance, and organizational management factors that impact the success of sporting events. The paper emphasizes the importance of understanding these factors to plan and execute successful events that attract large audiences, generate revenue, and promote the sport. The paper concludes by highlighting the significance of proper planning, management, and execution to ensure a successful sporting event.

The aim of this article is to study strategies and approaches to managing the integration of people with disabilities in the sports environment. The aim was achieved by using a comprehensive approach to questionnaires and interviews, as well as descriptive statistics and correlation analysis of the obtained results. The analysis of the reliability of the measurement tools was carried out using the Pearson's chi-squared test, the root mean square deviation, and the statistical significance of the results p. The results of the study showed that the successful integration of people with physical disabilities in sports depends on a number of factors, including the availability of sports infrastructure, adaptive training programmes, professional training of coaches and social support. Sports clubs that implement inclusive practices and provide opportunities for socialization were found to demonstrate higher rates of satisfaction and engagement among members with disabilities. The conducted research gave grounds to conclude that the integration of people with physical disabilities into the sports environment requires a comprehensive approach that incorporates both material and non-material aspects.

Universities play an important role in the promotion of health and active living. One way they do so is through the provision of campus recreation programs (e.g., intramural sport, drop-in sport, fitness). This undertaking cannot be accomplished effectively without understanding the specific constraints affecting participation. Such understandings can inform the creation of programs and marketing strategies aimed at increasing participation (Alexandris & Carroll, 1999). However, previous research has neglected to identify how constraints vary based on activity type. The purpose of this study was to explore how constraints affect participation in different types of campus recreation and how those effects differ based on gender. Specifically, this study explored the following research questions: (1) Is participation in intramural sport, drop-in sport, and fitness centre programs affected by the same constraints? (2) How do the effects of constraints differ based on gender? Theoretical Background and Literature Review This study employs leisure constraints theory to develop further understandings of participation and non-participation in campus recreation. Leisure constraints can be categorized as intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural (Crawford & Godbey, 1987). Intrapersonal constraints include factors that exist within the individual, such as shyness or perceived skills (Jun & Kyle, 2011). Interpersonal constraints are factors that discourage leisure participation due to social interactions with others, such as family commitments or lack of leisure partners (Shifman et al., 2011). Last, structural constraints are societal or organizational level factors, such as a lack of time, or a poor match between personal and program schedules (Jun & Kyle, 2011). Researchers typically consolidate constraints into these three categories for conceptual and analytic purposes, but doing so reduces clarity around the specific constraints associated with reduced participation (Wood & Danylchuk, 2015). Arguably, the negative impact constraints have on participation are not universal and can vary across individuals (e.g., based on gender) and contexts (e.g., activity type). A cross-sectional survey methodology was employed to collect data at a large university in Ontario, Canada. Data were collected from undergraduate students in two courses (one lower, one upper year) in three different faculties. Constraints were measured using 12 items based on previous research (Wood & Danylchuk, 2015). Respondents were asked to rate their level of agreement with a series of statements using a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 Track: Sport Consumer Behaviour © EASM 2020 Book of Abstracts 8 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Participation was measured by asking the average number of times per week they participated in each of the three activities over the past term. Variables were assessed for normality and no issues were found. Multiple linear regression was conducted to analyze relationships among constraints and participation including the moderation of these relationships based on gender. The sample in this study (n=352) consisted of 33% men and 67% women who varied in participation from 0 to 7 times per week for each activity. Results of the multiple linear regressions indicated that intramurals (Adj R2 = .10) were negatively associated with not knowing how to get involved and being a woman; drop-in sports (Adj R2 = .09) with a lack of recreation partners (higher for women) and being a woman; and fitness centre (Adj R2 = .13) with perceptions it takes up too much time and feeling uncomfortable exercising in public. The result of not knowing how to get involved being only associated with intramurals is likely due to intramurals requiring formal registration at specific times of the year. The result that not knowing enough people to participate was only associated with drop-in sports may be due to the need to recruit people to participate each week anew. Feeling uncomfortable exercising in public only affecting fitness centre participation, and not intramural or drop-in sports, may be because during sports others around the individual are typically focused on the action and have less time to evaluate people's appearances. Why women participated in intramural and drop-in sports less than men is unclear, but may be related to problematic and persistent gender norms not attached to a fitness centre. Overall, the constraints associated with participation rates were consistent with previous research (Stankowski et al., 2017). Notably, however, this study identifies specific constraints associated with each type of campus recreation. Thus, although individuals may feel constrained in a particular way about recreation in general (e.g., body image), that specific constraint may not influence participation to the same extent in all types of recreational activities because of contextual and societal factors. Campus recreation managers are advised to tailor strategies to reduce constraints by activity type. Given the negative effects of gender in varying ways, managers should consider a multi-pronged approach involving the strategic design of spaces and communication (Cunningham & Pickett, 2020). References Alexandris, K., & Carroll, B. (1999). Constraints on recreational sport participation in adults in Greece: Implications for providing and managing sport services.

Universities play an important role in the promotion of health and active living. One way they do so is through the provision of campus recreation programs (e.g., intramural sport, drop-in sport, fitness). This undertaking cannot be accomplished effectively without understanding the specific constraints affecting participation. Such understandings can inform the creation of programs and marketing strategies aimed at increasing participation (Alexandris & Carroll, 1999). However, previous research has neglected to identify how constraints vary based on activity type. The purpose of this study was to explore how constraints affect participation in different types of campus recreation and how those effects differ based on gender. Specifically, this study explored the following research questions: (1) Is participation in intramural sport, drop-in sport, and fitness centre programs affected by the same constraints? (2) How do the effects of constraints differ based on gender? Theoretical Background and Literature Review This study employs leisure constraints theory to develop further understandings of participation and non-participation in campus recreation. Leisure constraints can be categorized as intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural (Crawford & Godbey, 1987). Intrapersonal constraints include factors that exist within the individual, such as shyness or perceived skills (Jun & Kyle, 2011). Interpersonal constraints are factors that discourage leisure participation due to social interactions with others, such as family commitments or lack of leisure partners (Shifman et al., 2011). Last, structural constraints are societal or organizational level factors, such as a lack of time, or a poor match between personal and program schedules (Jun & Kyle, 2011). Researchers typically consolidate constraints into these three categories for conceptual and analytic purposes, but doing so reduces clarity around the specific constraints associated with reduced participation (Wood & Danylchuk, 2015). Arguably, the negative impact constraints have on participation are not universal and can vary across individuals (e.g., based on gender) and contexts (e.g., activity type). A cross-sectional survey methodology was employed to collect data at a large university in Ontario, Canada. Data were collected from undergraduate students in two courses (one lower, one upper year) in three different faculties. Constraints were measured using 12 items based on previous research (Wood & Danylchuk, 2015). Respondents were asked to rate their level of agreement with a series of statements using a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 Track: Sport Consumer Behaviour © EASM 2020 Book of Abstracts 8 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Participation was measured by asking the average number of times per week they participated in each of the three activities over the past term. Variables were assessed for normality and no issues were found. Multiple linear regression was conducted to analyze relationships among constraints and participation including the moderation of these relationships based on gender. The sample in this study (n=352) consisted of 33% men and 67% women who varied in participation from 0 to 7 times per week for each activity. Results of the multiple linear regressions indicated that intramurals (Adj R2 = .10) were negatively associated with not knowing how to get involved and being a woman; drop-in sports (Adj R2 = .09) with a lack of recreation partners (higher for women) and being a woman; and fitness centre (Adj R2 = .13) with perceptions it takes up too much time and feeling uncomfortable exercising in public. The result of not knowing how to get involved being only associated with intramurals is likely due to intramurals requiring formal registration at specific times of the year. The result that not knowing enough people to participate was only associated with drop-in sports may be due to the need to recruit people to participate each week anew. Feeling uncomfortable exercising in public only affecting fitness centre participation, and not intramural or drop-in sports, may be because during sports others around the individual are typically focused on the action and have less time to evaluate people's appearances. Why women participated in intramural and drop-in sports less than men is unclear, but may be related to problematic and persistent gender norms not attached to a fitness centre. Overall, the constraints associated with participation rates were consistent with previous research (Stankowski et al., 2017). Notably, however, this study identifies specific constraints associated with each type of campus recreation. Thus, although individuals may feel constrained in a particular way about recreation in general (e.g., body image), that specific constraint may not influence participation to the same extent in all types of recreational activities because of contextual and societal factors. Campus recreation managers are advised to tailor strategies to reduce constraints by activity type. Given the negative effects of gender in varying ways, managers should consider a multi-pronged approach involving the strategic design of spaces and communication (Cunningham & Pickett, 2020). References Alexandris, K., & Carroll, B. (1999). Constraints on recreational sport participation in adults in Greece: Implications for providing and managing sport services.

Featuring over 100 contributors from leading institutions from around the world, this publication captures the immediate thoughts, reflections, and insights from the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games from the cutting edge of communication and media studies of sport.

Published in the wake of the Tokyo 2020 Games, these contributions are short and accessible. Authors provide authoritative analysis of the Olympics and Paralympics, including research findings and new theoretical insights. Contributions come from a rich array of disciplinary influences, including media, communication studies, cultural studies, sociology, political science, and psychology. The report is free to download and can be deposited in any repository or library.

Brisbane will stage a more regionally focused Olympics and Paralympics in 2032 when it follows in the footsteps of a series of mega-city hosts. In this new environment, in which there are challenges finding nations willing even to bid for the event, it is important to understand how sentiment is expressed towards this Games edition, which is being promoted as delivering a sustainable legacy while experiencing different demands, levels of buzz, and risks than previous hosts. This study examines audience emotions towards Brisbane 2032 across 60,929 messages and posts from Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and online media articles between 2021 and 2023. The results highlight positive sentiment overall and outline key themes that the community perceive to be important. However, the findings also indicate early concerns and levels of anxiety towards elements of the Games. The multi-layered analytical approach of this study ensures it progresses beyond general judgements on positive and negative sentiment, providing a more nuanced understanding of emotions towards Brisbane 2032.

This chapter provides insight into the motivations and participation surrounding cycling events by analyzing data collected from 2016 in the Tour de France and Tour Down Under (Australia). The Cyclist Motivation Instrument (CMI) was used as a model that measures cycling motivations with the social-ecological theory as the foundation. Results show that those who are more active and participate in tours are more likely to attend a major cycling event, having a higher level of participation and engagement. More attention should be given to the increasing involvement of women in the events. Event managers and local administration could optimize these events as platforms for social interaction.

All historical experiences of sustained economic growthstarting at least from the English Industrial Revolutionfind their enabling conditions in a rich set of complementary institutions, shared behavioural norms and public policies.' 2 'Competitive national industries have long been seen as the wealth-generating lifeblood of nations.' 3

The purpose of the study was to test whether the Sports event sponsorships enhances the brand promotion in relation with Commonwealth Games Delhi2010. A total 2000 subjects were selected for the purpose of the study. The sample were selected from various areas which were directly and indirectly related to the conduct of the Commonwealth Games Delhi2010 for e.g. all stakeholders and partners, Governmental Publications, Athletes, representatives from the 17 Sports Federation of India etc. Non-availability of standard questionnaire on Commonwealth Games Delhi2010 had opted to construct a questionnaire by keeping in view the research criteria availability, suitability, reliability and validity. The responses of all the questions were ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’, ‘Average’, ‘Poor’ and ‘Very Poor’. The responses of the questionnaire were analyzed by using Chi-Square on the basis of Likert’s scale. For the testing significance of response given by the respondents the level of significance chosen w...

In 2016, the XXXI Summer Olympic Games took place in Rio de Janeiro. In line with the bidding procedure and the hope for an Olympic legacy, the Brazilian government and the Rio de Janeiro City Council made commitments to deliver lasting improvements to the city’s residents. These improvements relate to infrastructure like transport and facilities, but also residents’ health and well-being. Such health benefits, in particular those concerning physical activity (PA), were promised to be delivered through national and regional policies and interventions. According to official documents, changes would begin to be implemented in the years preceding the Games and one of the legacy promises was to use the event to stimulate people to engage in LTPA/sport. The main purpose of this thesis was therefore to assess the impact of the 2016 Olympic Games on LTPA/sport participation of the local population. Specifically, the investigation focused on women living in Cidade de Deus, a low socio econo...

Purpose This study aims to explore the legacy potential of the FIFA Women’s World Cup (FWWC) 2015, for the host communities across Canada. Design/methodology/approach The mixed-methods study included a link to an online anonymous survey being sent to all volunteers at the FWWC that explored their prior volunteering experience, motivations for volunteering, perceived skill development and future volunteering intentions. Documents were reviewed, and key stakeholders were interviewed. Findings The results support previous research that mega-sport event (MSE) volunteers are typically older females with prior volunteering experience. Those most likely to indicate they wanted to volunteer more are younger volunteers without prior volunteering experience. While legacy was discussed as a desired outcome, this was not operationalised through strategic human resource strategies such as being imbedded in the position descriptions for the volunteer managers. Research limitations/implications As...

Background: At a time when the economy becomes increasingly unstable, some large companies put an end to their partnerships. Sports sponsorship must therefore be reinvented with a more collaborative vision. Individuals but also corporations can now actively help their favorite teams or athletes and be rewarded for their success. Objective: The present study aims at studying these two concepts by analyzing their potential substitution as financing models. Our research offers an insight into the implementation of those two concepts. Our goal is to assess the potential substitution or coexistence of sponsorship and crowd funding in communication strategies. Method: This study is based on two qualitative analyses. The first was made with crowd funding platform professionals considered as equity financing experts. Five interviews were conducted, with an interview guide articulated around two axes: corporate motivations supporting crowd funding projects and perception of substitution between sponsorship and crowd funding. Second, based on the business objectives identified among sponsors, a grid of thematic analysis was built. A qualitative study was then conducted with project leaders (people looking for financing). The information was gathered via mail. Following those two steps, an analysis of the career financing modes chronology for the athletes prior to filing a project was studied. Results: The results of our qualitative analysis articulate points of views from platform leaders and elite athletes, i.e. users of these platforms. It appears that specialists see these two sport funding modes as complement, particularly in the communication strategy of large corporations. But results show that there is no systematic permanence between getting a project funded and having access to corporate financing. The study shows the existence of a hybrid model between sponsorship and crowd funding: participatory sponsorship. Conclusion: Sponsorship targets long-term relation whereas crowd funding is more project-based with a short-term approach.

Despite being the most watched sporting event in the world, the Olympic Games have struggled to maintain relevancy amongst younger audiences (Pentony, 2016). The purpose of this study was to explore Generation Z's Olympic brand experience. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) as a theoretical lens, this research employed a focus group methodology to uncover what the Olympic brand means to a sample Generation Z population and gain valuable insight relative to the influence of TPB variables on this generation's brand perception, brand awareness, and brand engagement with the Olympics. Notably, 59% of participants were unaware that 2020 was a planned Olympic year. Findings suggest this age cohort has fond memories of the Olympic brand from their youth, but have largely disengaged with the brand as young adults. This sample reported largely negative brand associations, a declining interest in long-form sport, and a disconnect with current digital branding strategies.

This article is an attempt to understand the changes caused by the organization of the Olympic Games. These changes are creating new places for sports, new recreational spaces and new challenges for the city. In discussing this topic, the author refers not only to scholarly sources and Internet resources, but above all to his field research, which was conducted in cities such as Athens and Barcelona. He also tries to organize and systematize those new places and objects that were created for, or transformed by, the Games. In addition, by supplementing the content with photos and accounts from his own research, the author tries to point out the potential reasons for both successes and organizational failures, which are still visible today in the heritage of the Olympic Games in specific cities.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the initial stages from the moment when the brainchild of hosting a MSE is born and until the starting position for application. Spokesmen Strength Weakness Stakeholder ISGB decides where next event V I S I O N

Although the field of Sport for Development (SfD) has been progressing in the international community for some time,1-3 the Japanese government only recently began looking for ways to contribute to the field during Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Promoting Tokyo’s bid, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe introduced the ‘Sport for Tomorrow (SFT)’ programme to bring the joy of sports to at least 10 million children in 100 countries by 2020.4 However, the progress made as of 2016 indicates that reaching this target would be difficult at the current pace. Japan’s sluggish economic growth is creating various problems for the sports world in Japan, and the significance of aiding developing countries through sport has not been properly explained. Most Japanese people are unfamiliar with both SfD and SFT, although the scope and amount of SFT activities are expected to increase as the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games approach.

Nation branding is an emerging and contested discourse at the convergence of diverse fields such as business management, tourism, social and political sciences. Sport mega-­ events have previously been associated with some degree of brand-­related benefits for the host nation. However, there have been no studies that have clearly revealed these opportunities or investigated their impact on the development of brand equity for a nation. Furthermore, no studies have examined the inherent characteristics of a sport mega-­event that create such opportunities. The contemporary emphasis on the ability of sport mega-­ events to deliver legacies also raised the question of how nation branding benefits can be sustained post an event. While sport mega-­event leveraging studies have begun to emerge, none of these has focused on the manner in which brand stakeholders can leverage and sustain nation branding opportunities specifically. This study therefore aimed to identify the strategic branding...

PurposeSport mega-events have received much criticism of late. However, there has been increasing awareness of the brand-related benefits from hosting a sport mega-event, with their hosting being a deliberate policy for many nations, most notably among emerging nations. One such nation is South Africa, which explicitly stated its nation branding ambitions through the staging of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Through this single case, this paper aims to identify the unique characteristics of the sport mega-event that were leveraged for benefits of nation branding.Design/methodology/approachAn interpretivist, qualitative study explored the insights of nation brand stakeholders and experts, elicited using in-depth, semi-structured interviews (n= 27) undertaken two to three years after the staging of the event.FindingsThree characteristics of the 2010 sport mega-event were deemed by stakeholders to be unique in creating nation branding opportunities: the scale of the event that created opport...

Cup represented by far the largest sport event to be hosted. One of the principal issues for all concerned with the organisation of the 2010 event was the issue of legacy, and in particular, the legacy of the event for the South African nation brand. Indeed, the 2010 Organising Committee made it clear that the vision for the event, and one of its main objectives, was to change the global perceptions of South Africa and the African continent (Jordaan, 2011). South Africa faces branding challenges similar to most developing nations, given the unfamiliarity of its brand and also having potentially incorrect, outdated or stereotyped associations. The "Brand Africa"/ continent brand effect results in all African nations being associated with the same attributes (Anholt, 2007). For "Brand Africa", these tend to include the negative problems associated with the continent, such as crime, civil war, famine, disease and corruption. A study of nation brand perceptions of South Africa conducted during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games (Knott, Swart, Turco & Bob, 2010) confirmed this, showing that there were limited clear perceptions of South Africa's nation brand. In addition, heightened media attention on the nation in the lead up to the mega-event had focused on many negative aspects such as inflation, crime and xenophobic riots casting doubt over the country's ability to successfully and safely host the event (Tomlinson, Bass & Pillay, 2009). As the largest sport event to be hosted on the African continent, the 2010 FIFA World Cup provided a platform for the host nation to be showcased to the largest global television audience for any single-sport event ever and created an opportunity to dispel common stereotypes about Africa and dispel Afro-pessimism (Donaldson & Ferreira, 2009; Tomlinson et al., 2009). The case of South Africa and the 2010 FIFA World Cup is therefore an interesting one as the host nation represents a country that clearly stated its intention to use a sport mega-event to develop its nation brand. The following section reviews the development of the literature related to nation branding and the role of sport mega-events. 2. Nation branding opportunities and challenges Widler (2007, p.145) refers to nation branding as a 'discourse', explaining this as 'a body of shared knowledge about a particular thing in the world'. Fan (2010, p.98) points out that despite the 'huge growth' in publications in this field in the first decade of this century, there has been a 'disappointing lack of progress in conceptual development'. According to Dinnie (2009, p.15) a nation brand is: 'the unique, multi-dimensional blend of elements that provide the nation with culturally grounded differentiation and relevance for all its target audiences'. This definition acknowledges the multi-faceted or complex nature of the nation brand. One of these complexities is that there are numerous powerful stakeholders interested in shaping the nation brand (e.g. representatives from government, commerce, not-for-profit organisations, tourism and the media) to appeal to multiple target audiences (Dinnie, 2009). The definition is linked to the "holistic" view of branding, i.e. acknowledging that a brand is more than merely the designed or created aspects, but includes the perceptions and images that reside in the consumer's mind (Blichfeldt, 2003). The core branding objective of providing differentiation is also mentioned. The wording "culturally grounded" implies that Dinnie favours a bottom-up approach to nation branding, ensuring that the brand identity is rooted in the identity, history and culture of its citizens. Fan (2010, p.101) proposes a slightly different emphasis in his definition: 'Nation branding is a process by which a nation's images can be created, monitored, evaluated and proactively managed in order to improve or enhance the country's reputation among a target international audience'. This definition stresses the process and actions of brand stakeholders and stresses the central activity of nation image management. Similar to Dinnie's definition, it notes that nation brands are constructed and managed by stakeholders and don't simply come into existence on their own, and furthermore, that there is a strategic intentionality to the process, namely that it is expected to result in positive reputation. The leadership and control of a nation brand is a particular challenge. According to Hankinson (2010), a nation brand is not owned or controlled by a single organisation, but rather jointly developed and delivered by a network of public and private sector organisations. Morgan, Pritchard and Pride (2010, p.3) even note a criticism of place branding being that 'there are too many stakeholders and too little management control'. Dinnie (2011, p.70) approaches this challenge from an ethical perspective, raising two key issues: firstly, 'Who has the legitimacy to act as the place brand manager?' and secondly, 'Who should decide upon the brand values that underpin the brand strategy?'. Although a generic list of legitimate stakeholders is not defined in the literature, the following typical roles of key nation brand stakeholders are mentioned (Anholt 2007; Scott, Ashton, Ding & Xu, 2011): tourist boards; chambers of commerce or investment promotion agencies; cultural institutes; exporters; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; government agencies; and possibly a variety of other bodies, agencies, ministries, special interest groups, NGOs and companies all conducting a form of nation branding. Although a number of stakeholders may be involved in nation branding, Anholt (2007) lays the primary responsibility for this on government. Increased global competitiveness among nations, be it for trade and investment or for tourism, appears to have led to the development of nation branding. Anholt (2007) explains that in the struggle for competitive advantage, national reputation is becoming more and more significant as countries compete for the attention, respect and trust of investors, tourists, consumers, donors, immigrants, media and governments. Van Ham (2001, p.2) explains that in 'today's world of information overload, strong brands are important in attracting foreign direct

This thesis was focussed on volunteering as a social legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (London 2012). The study identified a research gap with regard to the details on the processes through which the volunteering legacy can be achieved, for whom, in what circumstances and over which duration. Therefore, the overall purpose of this research was to explore the processes by which the London 2012 Volunteer Programme (the Games Maker Programme) was used to deliver a desired social legacy in the historical context of sport event volunteering in the UK, such as the XVII Commonwealth Games in Manchester (Manchester 2002), their Pre-Volunteer Programme (PVP) and Manchester Event Volunteers (MEV). This was done by means of examining volunteering experiences and volunteer management practices in the context of the Olympics as the least explored form of the Games-related legacy. The uniqueness and strength of this research was in its empirically grounded and historically informed case study with an embedded single-case design with multiple units of analysis, where the case was the Games Maker Programme and units of analysisdifferent aspects of the Programme. The study employed critical realism and interpretative constructivism as the basis of its philosophical framework. It used a 'realist' approach drawing on the basis of realist evaluation: context + mechanism = outcome (Pawson and Tilley, 1997). Elements of the Programme became the mechanisms activated under certain conditions (contexts) to trigger certain outcomes. A twolayered theoretical framework was applied to help study volunteering in the context of the Olympics. The research utilised the Legacy Cube by Preuss (2007) as an outer layer of the framework to help identify positive and negative, planned and unplanned, tangible and intangible structures associated with a social legacy and analyse them at specific time and space. The Volunteer Process Model by Omoto and Snyder (2002) served as an inner-layer of the framework that helped explore more in-depth personal attributes of London 2012 volunteers (Individual level), processes, experiences and consequences of their involvement, as well as the ingrained nature of volunteering in the institutional and cultural environments (Organisational and Societal levels). Longitudinal time horizon and mixed methods were used to collect a richer and stronger array of evidence to address the research aims and questions. Qualitative evidence included various documents, in-depth semi-structured interviews with volunteers (before and after London 2012) and managers (after London 2012), as well as participant observations carried out by the researcher

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Rationale/Purpose: This study examines the role of elite sport development programs in the capacity building process of disability sport organizations. Design/Methodology/Approach: An instrumental qualitative case study design was employed with data consisting of documentation and semistructured interviews with program administrators and senior leadership from seven NPCs. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and yielded four main themes. Findings: Development programs are external and incentivized stimuli which can initiate the capacity building process. Prior assessment of target groups' needs and existing capacities are key to program design and implementation. Practical Implications: Recommendations are provided for program administrators on how they may support the development of NPCs organizational capacities through each stage of the capacity building process. Research contribution: The study contributes to the literature on elite Para sport development and organizational capacity by highlighting the importance of, and challenges in, aligning development programs' objectives with the target organization's needs.

The Mega Event Planning Pivot series will provide a global and crossdisciplinary view into the planning for the world's largest sporting, religious, cultural, and other transformative mega events. Examples include the Olympic Games, Soccer World Cups, Rugby championships, the Commonwealth Games, the Hajj, the World Youth Day, World Expositions, and parades. This series will critically discuss, analyze, and challenge the planning for these events in light of their legacies including the built environment, political structures, socioeconomic systems, societal values, personal attitudes, and cultures.

The bidding process for the Olympic Games is an important tool used by governments not only to show their economic and political power, but also to demonstrate their capacity to organize mega events. For these reasons many nations and countries invest funds to candidate their main cities as possible Olympic host in order to declare their presence among the most important cities in the world. However, because losing the process is far more probable than winning most of the time cities invest million of dollars (public or private) for a quasi-unwinnable process without gathering any benefits from the process. Although, it has been found that bidding can leverage a legacy and deliver benefits to candidate cities that have lost a bid. For this reason, this dissertation is aimed at finding solutions to reduce the costs of the bidding process and to find what can make the investment made into a failed bid justifiable. The study has been done by discussing the relevant literature and conducting semi structure interviews among bidding process’ experts. The results demonstrate that the problems of the bidding process are about its formality, lack of involvement of citizenship in the decision-making process, highly technical requirements and low flexibility of the terms of the hosting contract. Moreover, the result demonstrated legacy can be forecasted, mostly tangible elements, so it is possible to know in advance what benefits can be leveraged from the bid and justify the investment made in case of losing the process. It is recommended to undertake further studies in order to deeply explore other elements that can optimize the process and deliver more sustainable Olympic Games.

It is an often quoted misrepresentation that "no previous Olympic Games has raised participation in sport and physical activity". However, this is not quite true: it is true only that there is no evidence that previous Games have raised participation, furthermore, no previous Games has employed strategies towards raising participation. Therefore, despite being vaunted by commentators as a potential benefit of London 2012, sport, physical activity and, indeed, health-related behaviours [1] have not been part of strategies or evaluations for previous Olympic Games. In seeking to inform the development of such strategies, this paper will present a worldwide review of the evidence base for developing a health and physical activity participation legacy from the 2012 Olympic Games.

The aim of this paper is to understand some elements of leisure activities in Brazilian society during the military period (1964 to 1984), highlighting the infl uence of censorship, political repression and economic growth in these activities. The main objective is to illustrate the relationship between these leisure activities (physical activity, sport, fi lm, television, theater) and the Brazilian political and economic reality of that moment. Based on the analysis proposed, it can be concluded that during the period analyzed, the leisure practices studied were censured and managed from a broad national project that has profoundly changed the country giving the basis for mass leisure activities.

Introduction. The positive legacy of the Olympics is often cited by the International Olympic Committee and national organizers. Some scholars, however, question an uncritical approach to an exclusively positive economic legacy. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of hosting the Olympics on infrastructure development, with a potential impact on economic growth in the form of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in three phases of seven Olympic Games organised in Europe in recent years. Material and methods. The effect of a particular Olympic period on the GDP was analysed using a difference-in-difference technique in which the difference between each of the analysed seven host countries’ GDPs and those of a reference set of countries was obtained. Each time, as part of the observation, an event time period was distinguished covering all three phases of the event: the preparatory phase, the event phase and the post-event phase. Results. For the Winter Olympic Games, no statistica...

This short essay, through a literary review, aims to verify whether the strategic choice of organizing a mega-event can be effective in acting as a lever responsible for significant local and global desirable effects (legacy). The mega events aim to meet the local needs of the host community and address global challenges. There is no consensus on the fact that the legacies of events, intended as a direct consequence of their staging, are positive, especially in the social sphere. For this reason, the use of mega events as a social, economic and environmental lever offers a proactive perspective with respect to waiting for results that may not be a direct consequence of the events. The concept of leverage provides a theoretical framework for reflecting on the broader theme of sustainability, organizer accountability and the appropriate mobilization of stakeholders to jointly determine a desirable future. It will be concluded that there is still a lack of operational indications and practical evidence that make the organization of mega events a preferable and reliable option for obtaining positive effects in the medium and long term, including those in the social sphere, compared to other alternatives.

Mega-events have always been an attractive topic for sports management academics. We used scientometric software packages to look at the studies on this topic that have been added to the Web of Science database in the last 68 years. Not only did we give an overview of the background information of the researchers, the status of their collaborations, and the countries and institutions they represented, but we also pointed out active and influential publication sources on this topic. We focused on the Olympic Games and other sports mega-events like the FIFA World Cups, as well as the environmental, tourism, economic, social, political, and cultural aspects of these events. We also made a list of the countries, ABOUT THE AUTHORS Sajad Gholampour is a sport management researcher at the Parseh iMetrics Institute located in Tehran, Iran. His research concerns various sport management topics, including sport marketing, sport event management, sport tourism, mega sport events, scientometrics, and bibliometrics. Behzad Gholampour is a sport management researcher at the Parseh iMetrics Institute located in Tehran, Iran. His research interests are in scientometrics, bibliometrics, altmetrics, information visualization, citation analysis, scientific collaboration and science mapping.

Although legacy frameworks exist in academia and legacies are oft discussed in relation to publicly-and privately-funded events, there remains a dearth of knowledge on practitioner conceptualizations of the concept. A case study of the Toronto 2014 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games was conducted using semi-structured interviews with event organizers and city officials to understand how practitioners conceptualize legacies, and what their goals are in relation to legacies. The findings show that organizers conceptualize legacies as solely positive, and include Games-time impacts and outcomes as part of the legacy. The positive frame supports the three central legacy goals: justifying public spending on events, boosting public support for event hosting, and advancing city development goals through event hosting. This research contributes to the discourse on event legacy and takes an important step in expanding understandings of practitioner conceptualizations of legacy.

Planning, designing, and implementing systems to support venue operations at the Olympic Games is complicated. The organizing committees must create designs that result in reliable, high-quality venue operations at reasonable cost. The organizational backdrop is unique. The organizing committee has a limited lifetime, it has no organizational memory, any learning disappears with its dissolution, and during its lifetime it must change rapidly from a function-oriented entity to a process-oriented one. The Athens 2004 Olympic Games Organizing Committee (ATHOC) used innovative techniques from management science, systems engineering, and information technology to change the planning, design, and operation of venues. We developed the Process Logistics Advanced Technical Optimization (PLATO) approach for the games. In the PLATO project, we developed a systematic process for planning and designing venue operations by using knowledge modeling and resource-management techniques and tools. We ...

The purpose of the study was to test whether the Sports event sponsorships enhances the brand promotion in relation with Commonwealth Games Delhi2010. A total 2000 subjects were selected for the purpose of the study. The sample were selected from various areas which were directly and indirectly related to the conduct of the Commonwealth Games Delhi2010 for e.g. all stakeholders and partners, Governmental Publications, Athletes, representatives from the 17 Sports Federation of India etc. Non-availability of standard questionnaire on Commonwealth Games Delhi2010 had opted to construct a questionnaire by keeping in view the research criteria availability, suitability, reliability and validity. The responses of all the questions were ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’, ‘Average’, ‘Poor’ and ‘Very Poor’. The responses of the questionnaire were analyzed by using Chi-Square on the basis of Likert’s scale. For the testing significance of response given by the respondents the level of significance chosen w...

Between 2014 and 2016, the city of Rio de Janeiro hosted two megasporting events: the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics, generating changes in the city. This study aims to analyze the perceptions of Rio residents in the lead-up to the Games. A quantitative survey was conducted face-to-face with a sample of 404 residents, precisely one year before the Olympics. The data indicate that the period before the Games was troubling for residents in light of uncertainties regarding the desired Olympic legacy for the city. In fact, residents' routines were impacted, either by transit issues or by media reports that generated expectation and apprehension. The pre-Olympic period was marked by protests, concern about overspending, construction delays and fear about the success of the mega-event. However, in the perception of residents, an evident expectation was the legacy to tourism, the visibility of the destination and lasting improvements for tourism and sport.

Brazil is currently considered one of those countries which are driving the world economy. Affected by processes of socioeconomic upgrading in recent years, today it is now at a point where it is experiencing expectations of further growth as a result of carefully formulated policies, which have allowed millions of individuals and families to rise out of poverty over the last decade and which have made the formation of a new middle class possible. It is in this context that the country has succeeded in attracting two major world sports events, the Football World Cup in 2014 in twelve Brazilian cities and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The section which follows consists of six papers and discusses the rationale behind that decision and its more critical implications.

One of intangible legacies mega events have is the acquisition and development of knowledge and skills (i.e., human capital) while working to deliver the Olympic Games. What is unknown in the literature is human capital types that are created from having worked for such event. This study explored the dimensions of human capital generated from working for a mega event and how these dimensions are used after the event to enhance the legacy outcomes derived from the Games. Semi-structured interviews with seventeen employees from the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games were conducted and analyzed. Findings yielded four main human capital dimensions: (a) network cultivation, (b) teamwork/interpersonal relationship skills, (c) adaptability/flexibility, and (d) Olympic level skillset. Theoretical implications relate to conceptualization of human capital dimensions, while practical implications include suggestions related to effective utilization of knowledge in sport and nonsport contexts generated from working at the Games.

Introduction. The positive legacy of the Olympics is often cited by the International Olympic Committee and national organizers. Some scholars, however, question an uncritical approach to an exclusively positive economic legacy. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of hosting the Olympics on infrastructure development, with a potential impact on economic growth in the form of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in three phases of seven Olympic Games organised in Europe in recent years. Material and methods. The effect of a particular Olympic period on the GDP was analysed using a difference-in-difference technique in which the difference between each of the analysed seven host countries’ GDPs and those of a reference set of countries was obtained. Each time, as part of the observation, an event time period was distinguished covering all three phases of the event: the preparatory phase, the event phase and the post-event phase. Results. For the Winter Olympic Games, no statistica...