‘Race’, sport and leisure: lessons from critical race theory

This paper presents and explores critical race theory (CRT) as an ontological starting point for the study of sport and leisure. CRT is based on five precepts outlined by Solorzano and Yosso that centre ‘race’ and racism, social justice, plurivocality, transdisciplinarity and challenge orthodoxies. There have been a number of recent criticisms and debates amongst leisure and sports studies writers that challenge their general focus of study as narrow and myopic. The five precepts have been fundamental to radical shifts in critical legal studies over the past fifteen years and have significance for the development of critical sport and leisure theory. CRT and ‘race’ critical perspectives are drawn out, clarified and their mutual agendas focussed. It is argued here that researchers and writers need urgently to centralize ‘race’ and racism as core factors in the study of social relations in sport if Birrell's optimism in the development of sport (and leisure) theory is to be realised.     

Approaching paradox: Loving and hating mega-events

This paper examines the role of paradoxes in research and proposes strategies of engaging with them. For this purpose, it analyses the ways in which six paradoxes are constitutive of sports mega-events such as the Olympic Games: the universalism paradox, the compliance paradox, the winner's paradox, the participation paradox, the uniqueness paradox and the passion paradox. It then develops three strategies of how researchers and practitioners can approach paradox. The first, exploration, examines the consequences and effects of the ambiguity of paradoxes. The second, differentiation, enquires into the spatio-temporal and social make-up of paradoxes. The third, reframing, recasts paradoxes by shifting theoretical perspectives. Instead of pressing to resolve paradoxes, researchers and practitioners alike should make productive use of their ambiguity.     

A longitudinal study of Olympic Games’ impact on the image of a host country

This study tracked the change in Brazil’s image due to hosting a mega event. The authors measured perceptions of Brazil before and at three points in time after the 2016 Summer Olympics. The findings revealed some differences in the country image but no significant changes in destination image or Olympics image over time. This may indicate how difficult it is to change people’s perceptions positively in a world filled with negative media coverage, such as what Brazil received leading up to and during the Olympics. For DMOs, controlling the media narrative is more important than ever when forming the destination image.     

北京居民对2008奥运会影响的态度和看法

通过时1165名北京居民的电话调查分析其对2008奥运会影响的态度和看法,本文验证发展出4个方面的(社会心理、社会生活、城市发展、经济发展)20条具体盛事影响的条目.另外,依照对奥运影响的看法,居民被分为两个组群:积极派和中间派.一些影响居民组群归属的固定变量得以确认.调查结果建议在奥运规划准备过程中更多了解当地居民的意见将有助于取得奥运会的全面成功.     

Watching the FIFA World Cup 2010 in England: the sojourner perspective

Recent years have seen an emergence of a varied academic literature focused on the football fan, with a wealth of studies exploring issues such as hooliganism, fan behaviour and fan identification. No research, however, has documented the experiences and perspectives of the international sojourner, who follows the televised tournament far away from the home country. This paper offers a contribution to the literature on fandom by focusing on the experiences of becoming a temporary fan among a sample of nine international students in England during the period of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It shows the importance of the tournament for students away from their home nation, acting as a point of celebration and as a means of bringing sojourners of the same nationality together to support their team. It reveals how the tournament offered escape from stress, became a focal point for social interaction, provided the opportunity for recreation of home, and for the reinforcement of feelings of national identity.     

Why travel to the FIFA World Cup? Effects of motives, background, interest, and constraints

Events have become a significant component of destination marketing. Previous work suggests that event interest, risk constraint, and financial constraint will affect potential attendees’ desire to attend and their sense that it is feasible to attend. For large sport events, interest in the event and perceived constraints should derive from the level of fan motives, travel motivations, and the potential attendee's background. These expectations are tested in a survey of 556 members of American soccer clubs prior to the FIFA World Cup. Results were generally consistent with expectations, although some motives had both positive and negative effects. Event interest and constraints fully mediated the effects of motives and background on respondents’ sense that it was feasible for them to attend. Financial constraint did not affect desire to attend. The desire to learn about the host country had direct effects on interest in the event and the desire to attend the event. Results suggest the value of segmented sport event marketing that appeals to both travel and fan motives.     

国内外奥运旅游研究进展综述

自公元前776年举办第一届古代奥运会以来,旅游与奥运会便形影相随.随着现代人类休闲时间的增多与经济承受力的增强,作为大型事件的奥运会吸引了越来越多的旅游者观光游览,同时也受到旅游学术界越来越多的关注.本文以奥运旅游的起源、奥运旅游的定义与特点出发,从奥运旅游研究历史、吸引物研究、市场特征研究、经济社会影响研究等多方面对国内外奥运旅游研究进行了总结.     

Effect of Event Service Quality and Satisfaction on Happiness Among Runners of a Recurring Sport Event

The consumption of sport events through direct participation can influence participants’ perception of happiness with that experiential purchase given the time and resources invested in that experience. The purpose of the study was to examine how sport event service quality aspects operationalized through the physical environment, interaction, and outcome factors influence overall satisfaction with the event and experiential happiness. Data were collected from 300 runners who participated in 5k and 10k races. Structural equation modeling analysis revealed the positive effect of outcome and physical environment factors on satisfaction with the event and the positive influence of event satisfaction and outcome quality on experiential happiness. The overall expectations on the quality of the event experience can be a focus for event managers aiming to achieve social marketing goals related to positive psychology from the event participation.     

The impact of mega-sport events on tourist arrivals

While a mega-sport event is scheduled at least once every year somewhere in the world, these events are rare occurrences for the host cities and countries. The benefits of such events seem lucrative; the very fact that many countries bid to host these events suggests that the benefits – be they tangible or intangible – more often than not outweigh the costs. Using a standard gravity model of bilateral tourism flows between 200 countries from 1995 to 2006, this paper measures a very direct benefit of such mega-events: the increase in tourist arrivals to the host country. In general, the results suggest that mega-sport events promote tourism but the gain varies depending on the type of mega-event, the participating countries and whether the event is held during the peak season or off-season.     

Disorganised host community touristic-event spaces: revealing Rio’s fault lines at the 2016 Olympic Games

ABSTRACT

We investigate the live staging spatial-organisational requirements of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, exploring the extent to which the project sequestrated, territorialised and commodified public space. Relatedly, we examine the role of new legal, regulatory and securitised event conditions in affording an effective and efficient ‘Olympic takeover’. We do this by drawing on i) official Rio 2016 planning documents, ii) observations of the live Olympic-city spatial effects, and iii) interviews with key informants. Findings reveal that Rio’s specially created Olympic event zones sought to transform visitor flows and circulations across the city, appropriating and regulating public space in-line with a desired tourist aesthetic. Rio’s public civic space became reimagined and controlled for commercial exploitation by Olympic sponsors, supporters and suppliers– facilitated by the creation of areas of exclusivity. And yet, we also reveal how the Rio Olympic city simultaneously emerged disorganised, open and fluid in places– a (temporary) break in the (neoliberal) economic logic we have come to expect. We argue that localised conditions affecting Rio afforded closer connectivity between event visitor economies and host communities. While these gains remain marginal and largely symbolic, they demonstrate that with effective planning, the Olympic host city need not only serve corporate interests.