•Uses social identity theory and attachment theory to understand team and event attachment.•Discrete emotions as outcomes of team identification are evaluated.•The relationship between satisfaction ...with team performance and team attachment is evaluated.•Examines pride as a moderating variable.•Evaluates fans’ attachment to the All Blacks team and the Rugby World Cup 2015.
Understanding the psychological aspects that influence fans’ attachment to a sporting event can help shape its legacy as well as preparations for similar future events. Using theories of social identity and attachment, this study evaluates the cognitive and affective predictors of fans’ attachment to an event. The study models discrete emotions (i.e., anger, sadness, happiness, and love) as outcomes of team identification, which in turn influences fans’ satisfaction with team performance and, by extension, team and event attachment. This proposition was tested using a sample of 324 ‘All Blacks’ fans who were surveyed online during the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The findings suggest that team identification has a positive influence on the discrete emotions of happiness and love, which then predict team attachment. Pride, meanwhile, moderates the relationship between team and event attachment. The paper discusses the implications of these results for event sustainability and fandom management.
A common trend among hosts of women's international sporting events is to tout the opportunity to positively impact women's and girls' sporting and physical activity practices. Yet, many scholars ...have shown that such 'trickle down' effects from the event to society are seldom realised. Nonetheless, organisers continue in their attempts to 'leverage' large-scale sporting events to produce a range of positive impacts. Here, we use the extraordinary context of Aotearoa New Zealand hosting the Women's Cricket, Rugby, and Football World Cups in 2022 and 2023 to consider the potential prospects, pitfalls, and challenges involved in attempting to leverage such events to improve societal and sporting opportunities for women and girls. More specifically, we explore the proposed leveraging strategies for the tournaments and examine how such initiatives align with the New Zealand Government's 'Strategy for Women and Girls in Sport and Active Recreation' (WGS). Drawing upon strategy, planning and policy documents, press releases, and media coverage, we adopt a critical discourse analysis approach to understand how current strategies of organisers, national sports organisations, and governing bodies align with the three main 'pillars' of the WGS (leadership, participation, and visibility). Through our analysis we present empirical and theoretical challenges (and opportunities) faced by the tournament stakeholders. We end with a critical analysis of the challenges and possibilities hosting three world cups can have on enacting meaningful and important change for women and girls' sport in Aotearoa.
There is considerable ambiguity about what makes an event a mega-event. Intervening in this debate, this paper develops a definition and classification scheme for mega-events. On the basis of a ...review of existing definitions, it proposes four constitutive dimensions of mega-events: visitor attractiveness, mediated reach, costs and transformative impact. The paper develops indicators for each dimension and maps onto these four dimensions a sample of the latest editions of nine large events (Expo, Summer and Winter Olympics, Football World Cup, European Football Championship, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games, Universiade). From this, it develops a multi-dimensional, point-based classification scheme of large events according to size, distinguishing between major events, mega-events and the recently emerging class of giga-events. Concluding, it identifies the need for more systematic data on the size, costs and impacts of a broad range of large-scale events over time.
Abstract
This study conducts a detailed investigation into the interplay between major sporting events, specifically the ICC Cricket World Cups and FIFA Football World Cups, and their potential ...impact on the relationship between dividend announcements and stock market returns. Beyond the customary exploration of investor sentiment and its connection to stock market returns, our research thoroughly examines the effects of these significant sports events on the stock market's reaction to dividend announcements. Drawing on extensive FTSE 350 index data spanning January 1990 to December 2021, we employ event study methodology as the primary analytical framework. To bolster the reliability of our findings, we apply the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation method, addressing potential endogeneity concerns. Our results uncover a distinct pattern—the stock market exhibits a less favourable response to dividend increases announced following England's victories in major sporting events, such as the FIFA Football World Cup and ICC Cricket World Cup, compared to instances where they faced defeat. Additionally, we observe a more negative market response to dividend decreases announced following England's losses in these pivotal sporting events, as opposed to England emerging victorious in these key contests. This research contributes valuable insights into the intricate relationship between sports passion and market dynamics, offering implications for both scholarly discourse and investment strategy formulation.
•We used a big data approach to analyze U.S. soccer fans’ sentiments in their tweets.•Tweets were used to express joy and anticipation and to express emotions.•U.S. fans’ fear and anger were common ...and reflected U.S. team’s goals or losses.•Emotions in two non-U.S. games were unclear.•This paper provides support for disposition theory of sport and sentiment analysis.
The present project collected real-time tweets from U.S. soccer fans during five 2014 FIFA World Cup games (three games between the U.S. team and another opponent and two games between other teams) using Twitter search API. We used sentiment analysis to examine U.S. soccer fans’ emotional responses in their tweets, particularly, the emotional changes after goals (either own or the opponent’s). We found that during the matches that the U.S. team played, fear and anger were the most common negative emotions and in general, increased when the opponent team scored and decreased when the U.S. team scored. Anticipation and joy were also generally consistent with the goal results and the associated circumstances during the games. Furthermore, we found that during the matches between other teams, U.S. tweets showed more joy and anticipation than negative emotions (e.g., anger and fear) and that the patterns in response to goal or loss were unclear. This project revealed that sports fans use Twitter for emotional purposes and that the big data approach to analyze sports fans’ sentiment showed results generally consistent with the predictions of the disposition theory when the fanship was clear and showed good predictive validity.
Sustainability has become a key component of Sports Mega-Events (SME) since its inception in the 1980s and has evolved to include themes around social, economic, and environmental fronts. The 2022 ...Qatar World Cup is the first to be hosted in the Middle East, which presented a unique opportunity not only for Qatar to demonstrate its culture and heritage globally but also to allow people from around the world to connect with and share the Middle Eastern way of life. However, the event faced consistent criticism from Western media, governments, and NGOs, which became the key global narrative around the World Cup and reflected in the event’s sustainability strategy. This study first analyzes the sustainability frameworks of recent SMEs and finds an overwhelming focus on human rights issues in the Qatar World Cup, unlike other contemporary events. To understand this phenomenon, a content analysis of the coverage of the World Cup in major global news agencies found largely negative reporting of the event on issues such as corruption, human rights abuses, and intolerance towards marginalized communities. Applying the framework of Orientalism helps explain this disparity, and the paper furthers some tentative suggestions for governments and sports organizing bodies to adopt a sustainable framework, which is culturally responsive and aware of the needs of countries from the Global South.
This study aimed to identify the social impacts of hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar on its citizens and residents. Also, it aimed to reveal the differences in these impacts across various ...demographic variables, including identity, age group, and gender. The researcher adopted a descriptive methodology to achieve these objectives, collecting data mainly through a questionnaire administered to a diverse sample of 411 individuals who willingly participated in the study. The study's findings unveiled a range of significant social effects from this momentous event hosted in Qatar. Notably, these effects manifested in improving the country's image, fostering an incomparable sense of community pride, developing a heightened feeling of belonging, and arousing an overwhelming enthusiasm within the populace in Qatar towards hosting such grand-scale sporting events. Moreover, the World Cup fostered stronger feelings of security and social cohesion. Based on these results, the study advocates recommendations for future investigative endeavors. Despite its significant results, the study recommends future research to encompass a more diverse and inclusive representation from various regions. This is crucial to understand better the social outcomes of large-scale sporting events among the population.
This study aimed to identify the social impacts of hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar on its citizens and residents. Also, it aimed to reveal the differences in these impacts across various demographic variables, including identity, age group, and gender. The researcher adopted a descriptive methodology to achieve these objectives, collecting data mainly through a questionnaire administered to a diverse sample of 411 individuals who willingly participated in the study. The study's findings unveiled a range of significant social effects from this momentous event hosted in Qatar. Notably, these effects manifested in improving the country's image, fostering an incomparable sense of community pride, developing a heightened feeling of belonging, and arousing an overwhelming enthusiasm within the populace in Qatar towards hosting such grand-scale sporting events. Moreover, the World Cup fostered stronger feelings of security and social cohesion. Based on these results, the study advocates recommendations for future investigative endeavors. Despite its significant results, the study recommends future research to encompass a more diverse and inclusive representation from various regions. This is crucial to understand better the social outcomes of large-scale sporting events among the population.
When France both hosted and won the World Cup in 1998, the face of its star player, Zinedine Zidane, the son of Algerian immigrants, was projected onto the Arc de Triomphe. During the 2006 World Cup ...finals, Zidane stunned the country by ending his spectacular career with an assault on an Italian player. InSoccer Empire, Laurent Dubois illuminates the connections between empire and sport by tracing the story of World Cup soccer, from the Cup's French origins in the 1930s to Africa and the Caribbean and back again. As he vividly recounts the lives of two of soccer's most electrifying players, Zidane and his outspoken teammate, Lilian Thuram, Dubois deepens our understanding of the legacies of empire that persist in Europe and brilliantly captures the power of soccer to change the nation and the world.
Based on worldwide experience we should take as an example the best athletes to develop and reach the world elite. Based on this hypothesis, we believe that a detailed analysis of motor mobility ...during toplevel football matches will support sports theory and practice. The following study aims to analyze the covered distance from the World Cup 2022 based on players’ field positions. The study includes all players with official playing time during the World Cup playing in the main three lines – defenders, midfielders, and forwards. The total number of matches is 64, staged in five stages: groups, round 16, quarterfinals, semi-finals, and final. Based on obtained results we can point out that in contemporary football is obligatory to cover over 10 km per game, and the sum of covered distances by a team must exceed 100 km. We present evaluation models which can be used in sports practice. Also based on this data, we can propose an individual approach based on players’ position during condition training.
PDF
