EventRights — Addressing inequality, enhancing diversity and facilitating greater dialogue in the hosting of sporting mega events.

Results in brief

Addressing inequality, enhancing diversity and facilitating greater dialogue in the hosting of sporting mega events.

EventRights will seek to explore, and share knowledge, on the extent to which the landscape of major sport events (MSEs) can be improved to ensure a progressive, rights-focused agenda is pursued by awarding organizations, host governments and implemented in the formal institutions tasked with organizing these events. The project will produce recommendations as to how MSE organizing committees, awarding bodies, and the local/national state can be mandated to ensure that opportunities to address inequality, enhance diversity and facilitate greater dialogue are enshrined in the planning, delivery, and legacy plans for the events themselves. We extend previous evidence provided in the scientific literature, practice, and public policy in three ways: •we refer to the different stages that determine social outcomes of MSEs; •we study the peculiarities of the different stakeholders that are involved in MSE management from an interdisciplinary perspective, providing insights into the different facets of the concept; •we build up sustainable platforms for learning and knowledge sharing across European countries.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Major sporting events (MSEs) have been the subject of increasing levels of critique in recent years for the social costs associated with their bidding, planning and delivery. The rationale used by cities and countries for hosting MSEs is often the potential for an event to generate positive economic and social transformation within the host area (Brittain, Bocarro, Byers and Swart, 2017). However, research has repeatedly demonstrated actual impacts of hosting MSEs fall short of these lofty claims and in reality often result in detrimental effects for host populations. The negative impacts of MSEs have variously been reported as: exacerbating human rights abuses; facilitating corruption; supporting elite beneficiaries over those most in need; and transforming host destinations’ urban environment by displacing vulnerable populations. Recent mega sport events (a specific category of the largest MSEs, such as the Olympic Games and World Cup; Muller, 2015) have been the subject of international condemnation for being the catalyst for forced evictions (Beijing 2008; Rio de Janeiro, 2016), restricting media freedom through censorship (Sochi, 2014), abuse of migrant labour in the construction of facilities (Sochi, 2014; Qatar, 2022) and increased political repression (Beijing, 2008). Human Rights Watch has suggested that “Time after time, Olympic hosts have gotten away with abusing workers building stadiums, and with crushing critics and media who try to report about abuses…the right to host the Olympics needs to come with the responsibility not to abuse basic human rights” (Minky Worden, Director of Global Initiatives, HRW). The EventRights project will explore and produce recommendations as to how MSEs can influence MSE organizing committees and other stakeholders to ensure that progressive social opportunities to address inequality, enhance diversity and facilitate greater dialogue are enshrined in the planning, delivery and legacy plans for the events themselves.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN · MuenchenCoordinatorGermany
COVENTRY UNIVERSITY · CoventryUnited Kingdom
FUNDACAO GETULIO VARGAS · Rio De JaneiroBrazil
GEORGE MASON RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC · FAIRFAXUnited States
GOETEBORGS UNIVERSITET · GoeteborgSweden
JOHANNES GUTENBERG-UNIVERSITAT MAINZ · MainzGermany
MEIJI UNIVERSITY EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION · CHIYODA KU TOKYOJapan
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY · RaleighUnited States
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO · ONTARIO - LONDONCanada
UNIVERSITAET INNSBRUCK · InnsbruckAustria
UNIVERSITY OF BATH · BATHUnited Kingdom
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA · OrlandoUnited States
UNIVERSITY OF PELOPONNESE · TripolisGreece
UNIVERSITY OF SURREY · GuildfordUnited Kingdom
UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND · PaisleyUnited Kingdom
WASEDA UNIVERSITY · TokyoJapan

EventRights · Addressing inequality, enhancing diversity and facilitating greater dialogue in the hosting of sporting mega events.

Results in brief

Addressing inequality, enhancing diversity and facilitating greater dialogue in the hosting of sporting mega events.

Project objective

Participants

Links