Managing Sport Mega-Events

Stephen Frawley, Stephen Frawley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317633785
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Managing Sport Mega-Events explores global developments in the management of sport mega-events. Sport mega-events such as the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup have been examined from a number of academic perspectives including history, sociology, politics, urban planning and economics. What is lacking, however, is a book which identifies and evaluates the current issues and complexities faced by those charged with the responsibility of managing these sport mega-events. This book fills the gap.

The book addresses three broad but interconnected themes. First, strategic matters are explored focusing on the rise of sport mega-events, the management of stakeholders and governance issues. Second, how organisers can best ensure the sustainable management of sport mega-events is considered. Third, operational matters and related issues are examined including media management, broadcast management, venue management, risk management, marketing and sponsorship management.

The book draws on leading international sport management scholars, each of whom has expertise in the organisation of sport mega-events. It makes a valuable contribution to the existing literature.

1 Sport mega-events

Managerial dimensions

Stephen Frawley

Sport mega-events

The two biggest sport events in the world today, by any measure, are the Summer Olympic Games and the Football World Cup (Frawley & Adair, 2013, 2014). Both events are held every four years and given the global media impact and attention these two events achieve they can be truly classified as sport mega-events. Cities and nations bid aggressively for the right to stage these events and through doing so seek to accrue a range of (potential) benefits (Baade & Matheson, 2002).

The main advantages often sought by bidding cities and nations include: generating increased economic activity arising through international tourism, infrastructure development and interconnected financial investment (Barney, Wenn & Martyn, 2002); the chance to position, brand or re-brand a city or nation (Hall, 2006); the ability to generate national pride and identity derived from staging a successful event (Tomlinson, 2005); and helping the national team achieve better results by competing on familiar territory, leading to further positive social outcomes (Bloomfield, 2003).

While the benefits of hosting a sport mega-event at first seem attractive, the staging of such large events requires extensive and detailed planning and multifarious stakeholder management across local, national and international institutions (Guttmann, 2002). The cost of failure, both financially and politically, can therefore be significant (Searle, 2002). The complexity of sport mega-events is highlighted by the number of groups and networks that become involved and engaged (Young & Wamsley, 2005).

In the Olympic context, for example, some of these groups and institutions include: the international sports federations, who are regarded as the peak governing bodies for the sports represented at the Games and who have responsibility for the conduct of their sport at the Games; the National Olympic Committees; the Organizing Committees for the Olympic Games (Chappelet & Bayle, 2005); the media and broadcasters of the Games (Jackson & McPhail, 1989; Kidd, 1989; Lenskyj, 1999; Rowe, 1999, 2000; Whitson, 1998); the sponsors of the Olympic Movement (Brown, 2000; Burton, 2003); the local, state and national governments that support the staging of the Olympics in their countries (Houlihan, 2005; Whitson & Macintosh, 1996); and most importantly, the athletes (Toohey, 1990; Frawley & Adair, 2013).

Central characteristics of sport mega-events

According to Malfas, Theodoraki and Houlihan (2004), sport mega-events display two central characteristics. First, these events are shaped by external organizational factors such as: extensive global media coverage; international tourists attracted to attend the events; and the types of impacts that result from hosting such events (Cashman, 2006). Second, sport mega-events are influenced by the complexity of internal organizational factors such as: the scale and scope of the event; the event duration and preparation time; and the number of athletes, officials, fans and media that attend the event (Chappelet & Bayle, 2005).

A number of sport-event management researchers have also commented and discussed the internal and external characteristics that impact the management of sport mega-events (Frawley & Adair, 2013, 2014). Horne and Manzenreiter (2006) have described sport mega-events, for instance, as events that are large enough in size to impact national economies in addition to generating wide international media coverage. Roche (2000) has also argued that sport mega-events have “a dramatic character, mass popular appeal and international significance” (p. 1), while Waitt (2001), citing the important work of Harvey (1989), suggests that sport mega-events “generate a euphoric mass consciousness through the excitement, civic achievement and party syndrome associated with the occasion” (p. 251).

Mega-events/mega-projects

Not only are the Summer Olympic Games and the Football World Cup regarded as sport mega-events, but it can be argued that they should also be considered ‘mega-projects’. For instance, Leonardsen (2007), drawing on the Olympic Games in particular, has stated that these events “have become an illustrative case for what have become known as the terms ‘mega-event’ or ‘mega-project’” (p. 11). While the project management and sport-event management areas of study are viewed as largely separate and distinct fields, more recently both categories are informing each other (Frawley & Adair, 2013). Projects can be described as having: organizational activity that is shaped by a specific and finite task; being temporally bound by once only activity and clearly established goals and objectives; divided into component tasks that must be completed for the project to be finished (Meredith & Mantel, 1989). As presented by Lowendahl (1995), projects “are typically time constrained, resource constrained, oriented towards a specific and predefined goal, and involve a complex or interdependent set of activities” (p. 347).

The management of a sport mega-event from this viewpoint can be regarded as a typical project in that it is time constrained with a non-negotiable delivery time frame, resource constrained (including economic and human capital), goal focused, extremely complex, multi-stakeholder and multi-functional (Lowendahl, 1995). The successful management of mega-projects is influenced by a number of characteristics. These include: clear leadership and direction provided by project managers; well considered performance measures and indicators; strong and effective management that achieves the stated performance measures and indicators; and project coordination that is focused on timing, cost and quality (Lowendahl, 1995; Flyvbjerg et al., 2003). With reference to project timing, mega-events and mega-projects are shaped by their time-dependent operating cycle which includes: a starting phase, a growing phase, a declining phase and a termination phase (Meredith & Mantel, 1989).

While mega-events and mega-projects have their own organizational lifecycle it is easy to forget that this unfolds interdependently with related organizations who continue to operate post-project (Frawley & Adair, 2013). Many projects for instance are managed under the auspices of a parent institution that may be managing multiple projects at any given point in time (Meredith & Mantel, 1989). The owner of the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for overseeing the organization of Summer, Winter and Youth Olympic Games at any one point in time. The complexity of managing a number of projects at one time can create significant organizational challenges and conflicts (Flyvbjerg, 1998). As stated by Lowendahl (1995), sport mega-events like the Olympic Games (and the Football World Cup) are often characterized by “conflict over project resources and leadership roles when it comes to solving project problems” (p. 348).

In summary, the mega-event and the project management literature suggests that sport mega-events are shaped and influenced by a range of internal and external organizational characteristics. These characteristics include external elements such as media exposure, tourism attraction and event impacts and legacies (i.e. social, economic and environmental). Internal organizational features include the size and scale of the event (i.e. number of athletes, fans, employees, etc.), the event duration, the available event resources, the goals and objectives of the event, the effectiveness and leadership of the event management team, and the interdependence between the event organizers and other stakeholders. These features and their relevance to the planning, management and delivery of sport mega-events are thoroughly explored throughout this book. In order to provide further contextual detail, the next section of this chapter outlines the aim of the book and the chapter structure.

Aim and structure

The explicit aim of this book is to explore the key themes and debates that have shaped and that are currently shaping sport mega-event research. The book is particularly focused on matters relating to the staging and management of sport mega-events. Key themes such as: defining the scope and scale of sport mega-events; event governance and risk management; financial management and cost overruns; commercial revenue generation through broadcast rights and sponsorship; and social and environmental impacts and legacies are explored in the book. The chapter structure of the book is now presented.

Chapter 2 by Martin Müller examines how sport mega-events can be defined. Drawing on recent debates within the sport mega-event literature, Müller argues that such events can be separated into three distinct categories: major, mega- and giga-events. In developing such a schema Müller notes that large sport events are multidimensional and that when examining their scale and size a range of indicators need to be analyzed.

Chapter 3 by Arnout Geeraert explores the conflicts of interest and the information asymmetries that shape the governance, and therefore the organization, of sport mega-events. Drawing on agency theory, Geeraert discusses the value of adopting control mechanisms before and after major contracts are signed between host cities and nations with sport mega-event owners, such as the IOC.

Chapter 4 by Will Jennings analyses the risk management consequences that impact the management of the sport mega-events. Jennings a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• 1 Sport mega-events: managerial dimensions
• 2 What makes an event a mega-event? Definitions and sizes
• 3 Theorizing the governance of sport mega-events: a Principal–Agent perspective
• 4 Risk management for the Olympics and Football World Cup
• 5 The hosting of sport mega-events: a cost efficient perspective
• 6 Managing the finances of sport mega-events
• 7 Broadcasting sport mega-events
• 8 Sponsorship and sport mega-events
• 9 New media development and strategies for sport mega-events: the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup
• 10 Event leverage and sport mega-events
• 11 The social and environmental consequences of hosting sport mega-events
• 12 Legacy and sustainability aims and outcomes at the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup
• Index