The economic importance of major sports events: a case-study of six events

This paper reports the results of an economic impact assessment of six major sports events held in the UK in 1997. Major sports events are now regarded by many cities as a significant part of their tourism strategy. However, staging a major sports event normally involves the host city making a contribution to the costs. Whether such a contribution is justified depends on the economic benefits generated in the local economy. The results reported in this paper indicate the wide variability in such benefits as well as the difficulty sometimes encountered in predicting what these benefits will be prior to the staging of the event. An attempt is made to develop a typology of major sports events in terms of their potential to generate significant economic impact.