Does the Olympic legacy and sport participation influence resident support for future events?

ABSTRACT

This study aims to explore and describe the structural relationships among (a) perceptions of Olympic legacy, (b) sport participation in the community and (c) resident support towards future events. A field study was conducted in Rio de Janeiro five-year post-Games, and data were collected from local residents who lived in the Olympic city using an online questionnaire (n = 400). A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) analysed the psychometric properties of the constructs, and a subsequent structural equation model (SEM) examined the relationships between the constructs. Results indicated that the Olympic legacy can positively influence sport participation in the community and its support for future events. In addition, the findings also confirmed the predictive power of the community sport participation on the support behaviours, suggesting its inclusion in future models. Implications focus on effective synergies of political, sportive and social participation to enhance the local support level in the host community.

KEYWORDS:

• Olympic legacy
• sport participation
• support future events
• local community
• Rio de Janeiro

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tiago Ribeiro

Tiago Ribeiro is an Assistant Professor in sport management at the Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, Portugal. His research is in sport mega-events, social impacts and Olympic legacies.

André Calapez

André Calapez is a Phd student in sport management at the Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, Portugal. His research focuses on consumer behaviours, eSports identity and sport events.

Victor Manoel Cunha de Almeida

Victor Manoel Cunha de Almeida is an Associate Professor in marketing and business at the COPPEAD - The Graduate School of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His research is in sport marketing, sport events and eSports.