The impact of sport events on a host region:

A literature review

Abstract

Japan will host the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, and the 2021 Kansai World Masters Games. To ensure the success of these events, understanding each event’s impact is extremely important for governments and organizing bodies. However, the structure and influencing factors of event impact are poorly understood in Japan, despite research on event impacts conducted previously in western countries. Additionally, no previous studies in Japan have ever attempted to review and evaluate the literature on event impact. The present study reviewed the literature on the impact of sporting events. Event impact in a sports context can be divided into 3 categories based on the Triple Bottom Line approach (Fredline et al., 2005), namely (1) the economic impact, (2) the social impact, and (3) the environmental impact. For our systematic review, data were selected through electronic searches of several computer databases (SPORT Discus with Full Text, Science Direct, CiNii, and Google Scholar). Based on the studies by Deery and Jago (2010) and Deery et al. (2012), this review focused on 3 aspects: 1) the construct of impacts, 2) the theoretical approach, 3) methodology and 4) the relationship with other constructs. The main conclusions were as follows. First, with regard to economic impact, positive impacts included effects on employment, infrastructure that helped in development and improvement, and increased investment. However, negative impacts were also confirmed, including price increases, construction costs, crowds, and social issues. Second, with regard to social impact, positive impacts mainly included cultural development, awareness and image improvement, new opportunities, increased interest in different cultures, and so on. Negative impacts included increased traffic jams, rising crime rates, and an increase in prostitution. Third, with regard to environmental impact, positive impacts included motivation for conserving the environment and historical buildings, promotion of environmental education, conservation of resources and ecosystems, and environmental improvement for sustainable development. Negative impacts included the destruction of the environment. This research has highlighted practical implications and areas for future study for the development of event impact in Japan.