IMAGE LEVERAGING OF SPORTS MEGAEVENTS: GERMANY AND THE 2006 FIFA WORLD CUP
OVERVIEW Introduction Rationale for hosting sports ‘megas’ Case study: Germany ‘Social’ leveraging and the ‘feel-good’ factor Summary
INTRODUCTION ‘Image’ leveraging extends traditional research on sports ‘megas’ Extant literature tends to focus on ‘post-hoc’ impact studies of ‘legacy’ ‘Leveraging’ studies looks at strategies of how to produce a legacy Most work on economic leveraging of events
TREND TOWARDS ‘IMAGE’ LEVERAGING 1.
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Majority of recent/upcoming SME bound by focus on leveraging ‘image’ Less interested in host nation elite sport performance ‘Emerging’ states wishing to alter their image/with troubled histories = most to gain Concept of ‘soft power’ can aid explanation of image legacies
2008: Olympics, China (Beijing) 2010: Commonwealth Games, India (Delhi) 2014: Winter Olympics, Russia (Sochi) 2014: FIFA World Cup, Brazil 2016: Olympics, Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) 2018: FIFA World Cup, Russia 2022: FIFA World Cup, Qatar
SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
Major shift from advanced capitalist states to developing, small and ‘emerging’ states Rationale for hosting usually premised on 5 broad hoped-for ‘legacies’
LEGACY 1 Mega-events/elite sport = participation (key Olympic legacy) – little empirical evidence
LEGACY 2 Economic = ambiguous; tourism = often lower
LEGACY 3 Urban regeneration – yes, but beneficial to society? (cf. ‘social cleansing’; Westfield Group-owned shopping centre etc.)
LEGACY 4 ‘Feelgood’ = some empirical evidence, but not leveraged
LEGACY 5 Enhancing national image (‘Soft Power’) = evidence that states believe this to be the case
CASE STUDY: 2006 FIFA WORLD CUP Successful event for changing national image Germany central to history of political use of sport (1936/1954/1972/2006; GDR) Prior to 2006 Germany’s image v. negative 2006 FIFA World Cup = witnessed by a cumulative global TV audience of all matches over 26 billion (FIFA 2011)
GERMAN STRATEGY FOR LEVERAGING ‘IMAGE’ Focus on ‘leveraging’ rather than hoping for ‘legacy’ 4 key ingredients to success:
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Leveraging strategy Long-term, carefully planned campaigns to improve Germany’s image abroad Fan-centred approach Feelgood-factor
1. WHAT IS ‘LEVERAGING’? Pre-event strategy to get the most out of an event ‘Leveraging’ generally understood as the activities ‘which seek to maximise the longterm benefits of an event’ Deliberate, strategic modus operandi as opposed to haphazard, hopeful and lucky Usually targeted at something specific (economic/urban regeneration/’image’)
2. GERMANY 2006 – IMAGE CAMPAIGNS A ‘cluster’ of campaigns designed to leverage the most out of the FWC German National Tourist promoted Germany as a travel destination well in advance of the FWC ‘National Service and Friendliness Campaign’ ‘Augmentation’ – events around the FWC Land of Ideas=showcasing Germany and attracting tourism and foreign investment
3. FAN-CENTRED APPROACH Public viewing ‘spaces’ unprecedented success Over 20 million people joined in the parties at public ‘Fan Fests’ Large viewing screens set up in the 12 host cities in Germany (women=44%; 22% in stadiums) 2 million foreign visitors to Germany All games were 98% full to capacity
4. ‘FEEL-GOOD FACTOR’ Little research on ‘feelgood’ factor in sport Clearly something accompanying mass sports events Germany set out to create a feelgood factor …which leads to a sense of ‘communitas’ a ‘weness’ among fans/participants The scale of a sense of ‘celebration’ and ‘social camaraderie’ in Germany unexpected How can communitas be marshalled to affect change in society?
INCREASE IN TOURISM Year-on-year increase in tourism and ‘overnight stays’
SUMMARY Germany (2006) successful ‘image’ leveraging = probably influenced recent/next hosts Fan-centred approach and ‘feel-good’ factor will be central in future Sports mega-events with the greatest impact have been those who have pre-planned, preevent leveraging strategies