Host Communities, Event Leveraging and Participatory Sport Events

Abstract

This paper examines participatory sport event (PSE) organisers’ perceptions of, and interactions with the communities in which they host events. Internationally, PSEs are burgeoning in popularity and may be strategically leveraged to promote positive economic and social development in host locations. Yet little is known about who organises such events, or how PSE organisers approach their interactions with event hosting communities.Further, it remains unclear if/how PSE organisers may contribute to broader strategic event leveraging activities. Twenty-two in-depth interviews were conducted with PSE organisers in the United Kingdom. The results indicate all interviewees value effective relationships withhost community stakeholders, although those organising events for-profit tended to regard stakeholder interaction in highly instrumental terms. Many organisers viewed the production of beneficial outcomes from their events as integral to ensuring community support. While organisers expressed a sense of responsibility to ‘do the right thing’ when interacting with stakeholders, it was those who organised events in the location where they lived whoexhibited greatest concern for production of benefits in the host community. This research has implications for smaller cities/locations seeking to build sustainable event portfolios as a strategy for economic or social development and may help guide decisions around whichevents are selected and why.