Hosting major sports events, such as the Winter Olympics or football World Cup, can help boost a city's economy and global image, a new report says.
Social development also benefits, says the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu report.
It says hosting an event allows a city or country to move quickly on a wide range of issues and activities that might otherwise not get under way.
Winter Olympic host Vancouver has used the games to build a convention centre, rapid transit rail line, and motorway.
"Emerging countries and cities are seeking to distinguish themselves in the new economy by hosting major events to put themselves front and centre on the global stage," says the report's co-author Greg Pellegrino, of DTT.
'Critical role'
He said the rigid deadlines associated with international sports events could help accelerate economic development.
Mr Pellegrino said major sports events could boost tourism, improve infrastructure and provide an opportunity to elevate the host's stature among the top global brands.
The report, A Lasting Legacy, also looks at how hosting such international tournaments can foster collaboration among the public and private sector.
But host countries and cities must increase their investments in security measures.
"A critical role for the government is keeping people safe," says Mr Pellegrino.
"Aspiring hosts need to do what is necessary to address these challenges. With time, money and effort, overall security can have a positive and lasting impact on the athletes, spectators, international organisations and the host itself, long after the event finishes."
I think hosting a large sporting event is an obvious way to boost the local economy. With all the fans being in the area for an extended period of time, multiple markets will flourish. These fans need a place to stay, food and are more than likely going to buy souvenirs of the event. All of these aspects equal money into the economy and causing a boom. I wish Detroit made more of an effort to improve the city when the Super Bowl was hosted. Those efforts could've made Detroit a top contender for future Super Bowls and other large conventions, etc. E
ReplyDeleteThis makes perfect sense too me. With sporting events such as the olympics coming to a city, this brings in people from all over the world to that city, which will boost the economy because those people, for example, will buy products and go to restaurants in that city which will pump money into the economy. A top sporting event coming to a city will also usually lead city officials to clean up their city and build new facilities so that the image it gives off impresses people so that they will come back, and so potential sporting events down the road can come back to the city as well. This cleaning up and building will lead to job creation which also contributes to the boosting of a city's economy. With this said, it is clear that top sporting events will definitely help out a city's economy. (A)
ReplyDeleteI hate to be the one that jumps in and says, "No, that's completely wrong," but it is, at best, woefully inaccurate. The Olympics is widely acknowledged to be a mixed bag for the host city. Here's a Forbes article from 2006 detailing the budgetary issues resulting in every single host city for the last few decades. Contrary to common belief, the Olympics has been known to turn away as many visitors as it attracts, and the boon to local business is hardly worth the massive debts inflicted on the local cities that scramble to build superfluous sports arenas.
ReplyDeleteA sporting event is probably the quickest way to make a cities economy flourish in a very short period of time. It also depends how long a big sporting even will take place and which sporting event it is. The Olympics, for example, last a long period of time and will attract many spectators from all over the globe. The more people a sporting event attracts for a longer period of time, the more the economy in the area will flourish. Hosting a big sporting event does mean the city must step up their standards and clean up the city. Making the city feel comfortable and clean is half the battle and will only help bring in more revenue.
ReplyDeleteMy first sentence was a lie, as I love to be contrary. I also have no appreciation for sports. However, it is still true that the benefit of sporting events and the Olympics are easily outweighed by the investment sunk into facility building, maintenance, and security. As a resident of the Twin Cities, I despise the local teams for threatening to leave unless the taxpayers give up tens of millions of dollars unless we get another football stadium and another baseball stadium. Professional sports are a great example of the free market not playing moderating role: tickets are some outrageous price, yet the consumer keeps coming back because of some false emotional attachment to the local team. Rational actors they are not. (A, E, and maybe T? to this and the above post)
ReplyDeleteI think Olympics do help quite a bit in the processing and goals of a town. For example, the Olympics will be a huge boost to Rio de Janeiro when there are there in establishing infrastructure and other establishments. I understand what Sean is saying, however sports teams pay huge taxes over the course of the life of the stadiums and such, not to mention other revenue and employment. Furthermore, everyone watches the Olympics, World Cup, and so on because it is the one place to be patriotic and regain their pride (Germany), like the World Cup in 2006.
ReplyDeleteThis is very true! I visited Beijing in 2002 and already Beijing was starting huge building projects to ready itself for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Hosting a major event such as teh Olympics or the World Cup gives a country huge incentives to come up to date with its infrastructure and technology. They want to give themselves a positive and modern image since the whole world will be visiting and watching them. They have a lot of money to gain in return.
ReplyDeleteHosting the Olympics or any other type of sporting event can attract many tourists; boosting the community’s economy like many have said above. One main concern that many people have when attending such events is security and it the whole city is secured then that means that there is less criminal acts because they city wants to keep its reputation clean for all the tourists that want to visit. Overall I think that it will be a smart idea for countries to host such events because people will attend games from all over the world and spend time, money on their country, boosting their economy.E.A
ReplyDeleteI believe this is true, and i bet this is part of the reason many countries strive to host Olympics, since the host can gain fame and tourists considerably during the game time. It is quite expensive to make all those preparations, but it's definitely worth the cost.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, I find myself in agreement with Sean. Hosting the olympics is a bad choice for just about any city.
ReplyDeleteWhen Chicago was contending for the games, it seemed every resident was doing their research about the benefits of hosting the games, and many found only horror stories from cities not being able to repay debts for nearly 30 years.
studies were prompted that showed that the olympic games have a marginal impact on the local economies. There's very little evidence that shows benefits to tourism, and a lot of evidence for the contrary.
I feel like the only way a city could benefit to even minorly desirable standards would be if it was in incredible shape to begin with, and cities seldom are.
E,A,some T I suppose.
I can see this happening. When a large sporting event is in a certain city, many people gather around in said city. These people will need a place to sleep, eat, shop, etc. which thus improves the market and economy of a smaller area.
ReplyDeleteAt first glance it seems like it would benefit the city, but the city has to do so much to prepare that it becomes such a risky investment. Even the smallest things can be thrown askew. Before the games started in Vancouver, I read an article about taxi drivers. The article mentioned there were 4 or 5 major taxi companies, but the city added about 50 more taxi permits well before the games began to accomodate early press and visitors, etc.but now aren't even allowed to be on the blocked off streets around the games. Most of the original companies aren't even expected to recover.
ReplyDeleteIt's tons of little things and many large things that make the cost of building up a suitable area for the olympics than cities tend to make from the tourism.
E, A
i agree with this idea, there are always countries fighting over which should be the next place for the world competitions because ti brings in so many opportunities. People must build new stadiums like they will be doing in england for soccer and they just did in south africa. This provides many jobs and then all of the restraunts will bring in a lot of money and so on. Each country knows what the benefits are of hosting these prestigious events.
ReplyDeleteThis is definately a key factor in why many countries, states, and cities try to host major sporting events. It can create some temporary jobs as well as boost the economy around that area. A key example is when the all-star game was held in Detroit. The city wanted to look good and be a good host and part of that was putting money into the city to make it look good to the fans that would soon be there. I think major sporting events can drastically help the economy of the area which holds it.
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