The Governance of Co-Hosted Sport Events and the Impacts for the Society

In the academic discourse of sport events we see a shift from ex-ante studies on the economic impacts of sport events to a closer analysis of social impacts (e.g., Heere et al., 2013), sport event legacy (e.g., Preuss, 2018), and greater (social) sustainability of sport events (e.g., Smith, 2009). In view of society’s changing expectations for more sustainability also in sports (e.g., Babiak & Trendafilova, 2011), greater consideration of social concerns (e.g., Walzel et al., 2018), and an increasingly critical analysis of sport events (e.g., Langer et al., 2017). Considering the increasing number of co-hosted sport events in the recent years this research addresses the following central research questions: To what extent can co-hosted sports events generate a greater added value for the society at large in compare to single hosted sport events? The theoretical foundation of this study lies within the Social Exchange Theory (SET). The body of literature regarding co-hosted sport events is limited to two sporting events, which has been the subject of sport management research so far. Heere et al. (2012) as well as Horne and Manzenreiter (2004) were the first ones who analyzed the FIFA WC 2002.Kristiansen et al. (2016) chose the EYOF in 2015 for their study. Considering the existing studies of these two events almost no knowledge exists about the benefits, drivers, motives, costs, challenges, and risks of cohosting sport events. One of the very prominent aspects of sport event research is the question what is the outcome of the event for the society (Hover et al., 2016). Social outcomes became more important in the academic discourse, although they have the problematic characteristic that they are often difficult to measure and to prove causal relations to sport events. Social impacts of sport (events) include among others sport participation, changes in attitudes and beliefs, and social cohesion. The existing knowledge about managing co-hosted sport events and more specifically optimizing the social impacts of such an event is very limited. There are no studies available that include extensive quantitative data. Furthermore, the occurrence of negative social impacts was hardly considered in the presented studies. The special nature and potential of co-hosted sport events must be carved out by conducting further research in this field. Based on the identified research gap, the first study aims to explore the nature and evolvement of co-hosted sport events. For the study one we chose for an explorative research approach and conducted 23 semi-structured in-depth interviews with senior managers involved in seven different co-hosted sport events. In order to test the findings from study one we conducted a second study and interviewed 499 spectators of the Men’s Handball WC in Denmark and Germany in January 2019 with a standardized questionnaire. The interviewees mainly perceived the co-hosting of sport events positively. The major opportunity with co-hosting a major sport event is seen in the chance to host the event economically beneficial, due to having more than one home team, shared risks, pooled resources and infrastructure as well as allocating the workload on different federations. Having more than one home team is a key aspect and almost automatically fills up the arenas, consequently generates more ticket revenues, contributes to a better atmosphere in the arena and raises more interest in the sport at the same time in different countries. The data analysis of study two was not completed by the time of the abstract submission and will be presented at the conference for the first time. Co-hosted sport events can be perceived as a platform for social exchange. The results of this research help sport organizations and sports policy makers to better-understand the chances and risks of co-hosted sports events. Additionally, the findings allow the potentials for social impacts to be better assessed through co-hosted sports events and to work on factors relevant to the success at an early stage. This is the first research ever that analyses in a first explorative study seven various co-hosted team sport events and empirically test the findings in a quantitative study.