Abstract:
It is recognised that government involvement in sport events is based on various rationales, and these rationales influence the potential outcomes a city may experience from hosting such an event (Gleeson & Low, 2000; Searle & Bounds, 1999; Veal, 2002). Over the last few decades, the economic potential that sport events offer a city has seen increased government interest and governments have been criticised for neglecting the social outcomes (Carrière & Demazière, 2002; Misener & Mason, 2006; Searle, 2002). Yet there is limited research that has empirically investigated government involvement in sport events. This paper aims to address two main objectives: to develop an understanding of rationales for government involvement in sport events and to understand how these rationales influence subsequent event outcomes.
