criticalanalysisfolio

[criticalanalysisfolio]

Olympic Games Legacy

Hosting the Olympic Games can be regarded as one of the most prestigus features in the world. This was Rio’s hope when they bid to host the games in 2007 for 2016. The hope was that these games would display their beautiful city to the rest of the world, having millions of overseas visitors visit throughout the two-week event, generating money through these tourists, while making it look appealing for tv and social media viewers in the hope that they would be interested in travelling to Rio in the future, as also said by Jeong and Kim (2022) that ourism can be regarded as one of the largest factors into wanting to host the Olympics. Along with these benefits, the city also hoped to develop stadiums for the games that would leave legacy marks with the city that could be used for year and years post the games. 

When looking back at these hopes it was clear that Rio did not plan this out well at all as almost zero positive legacy marks have been left as a result of hosting the games. The governor declared a state of financial emergency 49 days before the start of the games and afterwards had to beg for federal support to avoid a total collapse in education, transport, health, environmental management and public security (Watts, 2016). This caused large portions of the city to be in a rough economic posiiotn causing many poor living conditions for a lot of citizens (Williamson, 2016). Socio-culturally the city was also heavily affected as mentioned by Riberio (2018) as he mentioned in his paper that the social impact of hosting the games was heavy as it left many citizens very unhappy, even forcing many to protest and outcry, which was not met well by the city police who would punish harshly. All these factors overall caused a serious negative effect on the city, as quoted by Drehs & Lajolo (2017) who say “What's left behind? A city and country shrouded by corruption, debt and broken promises.” Making the legacy of the Olympics far from a positive result for Rio and definitely not the outcome they were initially hoping for.

The grass is almost completely dry.

Ribeiro, T. M., Correia, A., Biscaia, R., & Figueiredo, C. (2018). Examining service quality and social impact perceptions of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, 19(2), 160–177. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijsms-08-2017-0080

  Watts, J. (2016, June 17). Rio de Janeiro governor declares state of financial emergency ahead of Olympics. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/17/rio-de-janeiro-financial-emergency-olympic-games-2016

Williamson, T. (2016, May 16). Holding the Olympics in Rio Was Always a Bad Idea. Www.nytimes.com. https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/05/16/should-brazil-postpone-the-olympics/holding-the-olympics-in-rio-was-always-a-bad-idea

Drehs, W., & Lajolo, M. (2017, August 10). One year after Rio: What’s left behind after the flame goes out. ESPN.com. https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/20292414/the-reality-post-olympic-rio

  Jeong, & Kim, S. (2022). The role of a mega-sporting event in attracting domestic tourists: the case of Seoul. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 34(2), 306–321. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-10-2020-0754

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Sports fan activation innovation at a sport event.

Sports fan activation is one of the key components to being able to attract fans to a sporting event. The Fan Activation Checklist: 5 Things to Consider,  (2022) explain that fan activation includes the process of attracting fans to a sporting event whether they be die-hard fans, casual fans or just bystanders by attracting them through the experience of coming to the event, this can include opening socialising opportunities, live entertainment, attractions and many more. The Australian Open does this very well, as it is very widely known now to be an outdoor party as well as just a tennis event. Held at Melbourne Park the Australian Open provides fans with multiple socialising areas, with many beer gardens, live music, big screens and game areas. This allows the non-tennis crazy fans to also be able to come to the event as it isn’t just tennis, tennis and more tennis, they can have as much fun as they want in the areas and in some cases, they might not even be there for the tennis at all. This is important as backed up in Woratschek et al., (2017) as it mentions that fans are now more enjoying the freedom and ability for socialising during sporting events. As tennis historically doesn’t allow for much talking during the matches this activation is perfect to allow for the ability for more socialising and having fun. Further backed up again in Pugh et al., (2019) who tells us in his study fans were more motivated in attending through the entertainment factors within the event. When comparing this to the Australian Open 10 plus years ago, the entire feel of the event is totally different, although there was already beer gardens and social opportunities, the current state of the event it still totally different and has had a major shift in its focus, now appealing more to the general public, rather than just targeting tennis fans.

The Fan Activation Checklist: 5 Things to Consider. One platform for digital marketing. (2022). Retrieved 8 May 2022, from https://tradablebits.com/blog/the-fan-activation-checklist-5-things-to-consider.

 Woratschek, Durchholz, C., Maier, C., & Ströbel, T. (2017). Innovations in Sport Management: The Role of Motivations and Value Cocreation at Public Viewing Events. Event Management, 21(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3727/152599516X14786350337262

 Anissa S Pugh, Frederick G Grieve, W Pitt Derryberry, & Krisstal Clayton. (2019). WHAT MOTIVATES SPORT FANS TO ATTEND MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL AND ROLLER DERBY EVENTS. Journal of Contemporary Athletics, 13(4), 265–280.

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Design innovation of a sports venue.

Nowadays stadiums are becoming more and more innovated, with greater technological advancements involved, better seating, better social areas, better food and beverage areas and overall, a better experience for the fans. Optus stadium in Perth is one of, if not the most innovated sporting stadiums in all of Australia. Completed in late 2017, and opened in early 2018, the stadium was able to incorporate the best design features that they could make the great stadium. Optus Stadium has a large array from different design features that many other large stadiums might not include, these involve the ability to add it drop in seats to suit other events such as rugby soccer or music, two 340 square meter super screens, over 1,000 different screens around the ground for fans to enjoy, cup holders in every seat, 4G coverage throughout the ground and a children’s activity zone (Optus Stadium Fact Sheet, 2022). Hassanien and Dale (2022), explain the importance of design innovation into event venue saying its important to reach the new limits in terms of viewing capacity to allow fans to have the best experience possible. One of Optus Stadiums greatest features for viewing experience includes its seating bowl shape to maximise the atmosphere, bringing the fans closer to the action, while including a lightweight roof which covers 85% of seats, further enhancing the enclosed and close environment feel. This is important as backed up by Zetlin (2022) that the concept of enclosed stadiums along with greater capacities are in desire, meaning greater resources and construction techniques have to be used. New ways to accommodate roofs, greater capacities along with a crowd that wants to be closer to the action forces these innovation ideas for end products such as Optus Stadium which also names the ‘fan first’ stadium for reasons such as these. The drop in seats which allows for different games such as rugby, soccer or even live music to be played is another great innovated technique used as this has caused trouble with other stadiums in the past, such as Marvel Stadium in Melbourne when it hosts soccer, fans are always unhappy with how far away from the action they are, and also when it hosted the USA verse Australia basketball game, which caused a massive uproar for a lot of fans who could barely see the action. By including this it helps manage a lot of these problems allowing the venue to host many different events which ultimately can attract a larger amount of money.

Optus Stadium Fact Sheet. Optus Stadium. (2022). Retrieved 8 May 2022, from https://optusstadium.com.au/the-stadium/fact-sheets/optus-stadium.

 Hassanien, & Dale, C. (2012). Product innovation in events venues: directions, process and evaluation. Journal of Facilities Management, 10(4), 266–286. https://doi.org/10.1108/14725961211265738

 Zetlin, L. (2022). stadium - Design innovations. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 8 May 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/technology/stadium/Design-innovations.

[criticalanalysisfolio]

Sports fan experience, media or service enhancement at a sports venue.

 The importance of fan satisfaction while attending a sporting event, is one of the most important aspects to a stadium’s effectiveness in hosting games. As expressed by Mondello & Gordon (2015), creating a positive fan experience in a stadium can be a factor into helping build loyal fans, as it builds the experience for them, giving them extra incentive to come again. In my opinion there is not many venues in the world that offers a better experience for fans than the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. This stadium is one of most advanced in the world and offers many benefits to fans experience, including a 360-degree, 63,000 square feet halo board, which displays everything a fan needs to see throughout the game, including live vision, replays, statistics promotions and many more ("Technology and Video Displays - Mercedes Benz Stadium", 2022). The stadium is also filled with a large array of different suites and clubs for fans to further enjoy their viewing experience. With owners’ suites, loge suites, luxury suites as well as clubs such as Truist club, Delta Sky360 club and Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Clubs, this allows for so many different viewing experiences for fans to enjoy while watching their favourite sport ("Clubs & Suites - Mercedes Benz Stadium", 2022). This can be important to include these aspects as allowing different viewing options can help attract a different range of fans who may not be wanting the normal outdoor seats, along with fans who are just looking for something different and as said in (Liang 2017), this is something that is being done more and more in newer stadiums for this very reasoning. The Mercedes Benz stadium is also built in a way that has a very compact feel to make everyone attending feel as close to the action as possible, helping with overall atmosphere and as said by Baliji and Chakraborti (2015), stadium atmosphere is one of the best attributes to live sport as it allows for greater entertainment experiences and social interactions. When the Mercedes Benz stadium was being developed the creators definitely made sure to allow the fans to have the best experience possible, making them want to always return, while also having the impact to attract fans and tourists to the stadium just to see what it is like.

Mondello, & Gordon, B. (2015). THE NBA FAN EXPERIENCE: A CASE STUDY OF A PROFESSIONAL SPORT FRANCHISE. Journal of Contemporary Athletics, 9(4), 285–285.

 Technology and Video Displays - Mercedes Benz Stadium. Mercedes Benz Stadium. (2022). Retrieved 8 May 2022, from https://mercedesbenzstadium.com/technology-video-displays/.

 Clubs & Suites - Mercedes Benz Stadium. Mercedes Benz Stadium. (2022). Retrieved 8 May 2022, from https://mercedesbenzstadium.com/clubs-suites/.

 Huawei Liang. (2017). MODERN STADIUM DESIGN: AN ADAPTIVE RENOVATION OR URBAN RENEWAL. Open House International, 42(3), 50–54.

 Balaji, & Chakraborti, R. (2015). Stadium atmosphere: scale development and validation in Indian context. Journal of Indian Business Research, 7(1), 45–66. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIBR-05-2014-0029