International Journal of Event and Festival Management

The inspirational effects of three major sport events

Girish M. Ramchandani, Richard J. Coleman,
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Inspirational
The inspirational effects of three effects of sports
major sport events events
Girish M. Ramchandani and Richard J. Coleman
Sport Industry Research Centre, Academy of Sport and Physical Activity,
Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
257
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Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether attending one-off sport events might
inspire audiences to increase their participation in sport or recreational physical activity.
Design/methodology/approach – Primary data collection was undertaken with spectators aged 16
and over at three major sport events held in the UK in 2010. The findings are based on an aggregate
sample of 2,312 respondents.
Findings – Around two-thirds of respondents reported that their event experience had inspired them
to increase their participation in sport or physical activity. The inspiration effect varied according to
age and respondents’ predisposition to sport. The main factors that caused the inspiration were linked
directly to the athletes and the competition. The provision of information about opportunities to
undertake sport was found to be the most important lever to convert inspiration into participation.
Originality/value – Evidence of the impact of major sport events on mass participation is relatively
scarce and inconclusive. In order for any “trickle-down” effect to occur, it would be reasonable to
assume that audiences would first be inspired by their event experience. It is this basic sense of
inspiration that the research aimed to measure.
Keywords Event impact evaluation, Inspiration, Participation legacy, Sport development, Sports,
Sporting events, United Kingdom
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
This paper examines the results of independent research conducted with spectators at
three major sport events held in the UK in 2010 in order to understand the potential of
such events to encourage or inspire audiences to participate in sport. All three events
were funded by UK Sport, the lead agency responsible for co-ordinating the bidding
and staging of major international sport events in the UK, via its National Lottery-
Funded World Class Events Programme. Government expenditure to secure and
support elite sport events is often justified through the likely legacy benefits that such
events can deliver for host cities, regions and countries. UK Sport has traditionally
supported the bidding and staging costs of major sport events with a view to
generating a positive economic impact on the communities that stage them. Whilst
economic impact still remains an important outcome, there is a recognition that not all
events that are “major” in sporting terms will consequentially be “major” in economic
terms (Coleman and Ramchandani, 2010; Gratton et al., 2000, 2005). In the lead up to
the London 2012 Olympic Games, UK Sport has broadened its major events’ strategy to
incorporate other non-financial outcomes associated with sport events, including the
delivery of elite performance benefits in Olympic and Paralympic sports from hosting
World and European Championships on home soil (see UK Sport, 2009). International Journal of Event and
Other commonly cited legacy benefits associated with major sport events include, Festival Management
Vol. 3 No. 3, 2012
amongst others, promoting the host area as a tourist destination; creating a physical pp. 257-271
legacy of infrastructure and sporting facilities for future generations; and, stimulating r Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1758-2954
mass participation via public exposure to elite sport (see e.g. Cashman, 1999). However, DOI 10.1108/17582951211262693
 IJEFM in order for any mass participation legacy to occur, it would be reasonable to assume
3,3 that audiences would in the first instance be inspired by the event in question. Indeed,
as highlighted later, one of the key shortcomings of previous research has been the
inability to demonstrate an unambiguous causal link between an event being staged
and any increase in participation that may follow. Given the lack of such evidence, it is
this basic sense of inspiration that this research aimed to measure, together with the
258 factors that may trigger the inspiration effect as well as the potential levers that might
convert inspiration into participation. In the next section of the paper we review some
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relevant academic literature including theoretical models and the policy context for the
research and its findings.

Literature review
Events as promotional tools
Elite sport events have become an increasingly popular platform for both sport and
non-sport corporations to promote their brands, a phenomenon that has been fuelled
by the extraordinary growth in the demand for, and supply of, global sport
broadcasting in recent decades. To emphasise this latter point, it is claimed by FIFA
(2011) that the final of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa between Spain and the
Netherlands was seen by at least one billion viewers globally and Nielsen (2008)
estimate that up to 4.7 billion viewers (equivalent to some 70 per cent of the world’s
population at the time) watched some part of the coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic
Games over the 17 days of the event. However, the demand for watching sport extends
beyond these two iconic competitions to incorporate both annual events and domestic
sports leagues. For example, the global cumulative television audience for Wimbledon
(tennis), held in the UK annually, is estimated at 378.8 million people in 182 countries
(Wimbledon, 2010). Furthermore, the English Premier League (EPL) (football) is
reportedly broadcast in 212 territories around the world, with a television audience
commensurate with the last summer Olympic Games, at 4.7 billion (EPL, 2011).
Crompton (1995) identified four key business motives for sponsoring sport, namely:
image enhancement, increased awareness of the product and the firm, hospitality
opportunities and product trial or sales opportunities. Numerous studies (see e.g.
Howard and Crompton, 2004; Rines, 2002), have sought to evaluate the effectiveness of
sport event sponsorship, with Kinney and McDaniel (1996) examination of advertising
by four companies (Visa, MasterCard, McDonald’s and Wendy’s) containing themes
linked to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games revealing that the strongest positive impact
of the advert in all cases was on attitude towards the brand rather than on purchase
intention. If elite sport events can be used successfully to increase the awareness of
commercial products and services that are not necessarily associated with sport in an
attempt to influence the buying behaviour of audiences, then an important question is
whether they can also be used as an effective instrument to promote participation in
sport. Evidence either for or against this notion is relatively scarce and inconclusive.

Sport development legacies

A systematic review of the literature on the health and socio-economic benefits for the
host population of previous multi-sport events conducted by McCartney et al. (2010)
found that there was an upward trend in sports participation from the early 1980s until
1994 in association with the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. However,
commenting on the findings from another study the authors indicated that overall
sports participation in the Manchester area of the UK decreased by 2 per cent after the
 2002 Commonwealth Games. Furthermore, Veal’s (2003) analysis of sports Inspirational
participation in Australia between 1985 and 2002 suggests that in the year effects of sports
following the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, seven Olympic sports experienced a
small increase in participation while nine declined; the pattern for non-Olympic sports events
was also broadly similar. The process by which major events are assumed to engage
non-participants in physical activity and sport is a “trickle-down” effect, whereby the
achievements of top athletes inspires non-participants to get involved in sport (Weed 259
et al., 2009). However, far from promoting participation, it is even possible that major
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sport events may have a “discouragement” effect (Van den Heuvel and Conolly, 2001)
because the standard of performance of elite athletes is seen as impossible to emulate.
In assessing the evidence of the “trickle-down” effect of the Olympic Games,
Hindson et al. (1994) recognise potentially dual models of the dynamics, suggesting
that, on the one hand, elite sports people can be inspirational as role models, but on the
other, they may deter participation because of the perceived competence gap. This
view is also re-iterated by Coalter (2007), who argues that patterns of behaviour change
are complex and the relationship of these processes to role models may partly depend
on a range of factors including how role models are seen, how accessible or “normal”
their profile is and also on individual or community self-efficacy. Not only is the
evidence of the sport development or participation legacy of elite sport events
conflicting, but the focus of previous research on this subject has been largely limited
to mega, multi-sport events notably the Olympic Games and the Commonwealth
Games. Very little is known about the impact of more routinely held single-sport events
and their impact on sport participation.

Theoretical considerations
Weed et al.’s (2009) systematic review of the worldwide literature relating to the
contribution of the Olympic Games, other major sport events and sports franchises to
the development of physical activity and sport participation, or to the promotion of
positive health behaviours, identified three models of engagement with physical
activity and sport – the transtheoretical model (TTM) (Prochaska et al., 1992), the
exercise adoption model (EAM) (Brooks et al., 1996) and the psychological continuum
model (PCM) (Funk and James, 2001). Even though each of these models were
developed in contexts other than physical activity and active sport, there are broad
similarities between them that suggest a staged process of engagement in physical
activity and sport. Nonetheless, the TTM has been most widely adopted and
researched in the sport and exercise literature (see Marshall and Biddle, 2001; Spencer
et al., 2006). Empirical evidence pertaining to the TTM suggests that individuals
attempting to change their physical activity behaviour move through a series of five
stages that differ according to an individual’s intention and behaviour. The stages can
be summarised as follows: pre-contemplation (no intention of becoming physically
active), contemplation (thinking about becoming physically active), preparation
(making small changes in physical activity behaviour), action (meeting a criterion of
physical activity, but only recently) and maintenance (meeting a criterion of physical
activity for a sustained period of time). Marshall and Biddle (2001, p. 229) note that
stage progression is likely to follow a cyclical (rather than linear) pattern “where
individuals progress and regress through stages in an effort to create a lasting
change”, although Prochaska et al. (1992, p. 1105) argue that the TTM is spiral in
nature, which suggests that “most relapsers do not regress all the way back to where
they began”. In other words, once people have progressed from pre-contemplation to
 IJEFM contemplation, a return to the pre-contemplation stage is unlikely. In comparison with
3,3 the TTM, the PCM suggests that recreation participation (whether active or passive)
occurs within four general hierarchical stages of “awareness”, “attraction”,
“attachment” and “allegiance”, whereas the series of stages within the EAM range
from “not aware/not interested” to “long-term commitment”.
An alternative way to look at the promotion of participation in sport and physical
260 activity through the medium of sport events, not normally employed for this purpose
in academia, is the application of Ansoff’s (1989) growth matrix, according to which
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there are four possible scenarios for achieving business growth, namely: market
penetration (existing products for existing markets), market development (existing
products for new markets), product development (new products for existing markets)
and diversification (new products for new markets). In terms of promoting engagement
with sport and physical activity, the market penetration strategy can be likened to
increasing the participation frequency of those who are already active, whereas market
development might refer to encouraging previously sedentary people to take up sport
through exposure to an event.

Policy context
Even though the evidence to date of sport and physical activity legacies associated with
major sport events is inconclusive, their use as a policy tool to foster participation has
been documented in a number of countries for more than a decade. For example, in
examining the evidence for a “trickle-down” effect in Australia between 1976 and 1996,
Hogan and Norton (2000) highlight specific examples of strong political belief in favour of
the inspirational value of elite performance underpinning sport development policy in
Australia, New Zealand and the USA. In a UK context, Weed et al. (2009) liken such
political and policy making thinking in relation to the potential physical activity and
sport benefits of major events to the “Wimbledon-effect” through which, there is claimed
to be an increase in the use of tennis courts around the country in the two to three weeks
around the All England Lawn Tennis Championships (Wimbledon) each year. Similar
predictive claims have been made in relation to the London 2012 Olympic Games,
although previous research suggests that whilst more than a quarter of the English
population (26 per cent) were inspired by British medal-winning performances at the 2004
Olympic Games in Athens, this figure comprises those “who are now involved in more
sport” (11 per cent) and those “interested in doing more sport” (15 per cent), “as a result of
Team GB’s success” in the event (Hamlyn and Hudson, 2005, p. 882). This indicates an
increase in the participation frequency of those already active i.e. a market penetration
effect, rather than an increase in participants (market development), which is also flagged
by Weed et al. (2009, p. 33) as a “common misrepresentation in evaluations of this kind”.
As noted previously, the three events included in this research were funded by UK
Sport. From a national (UK) perspective, UK Sport’s objective of investing in major
events in order to provide people with high profile opportunities to engage with sport
events complements the work of Sport England, which is the national agency
responsible for grassroots and community sport. In particular, there is potential
synergy between any sense of inspiration that events might generate and the delivery
of Sport England’s agenda to grow and sustain the numbers of people taking part in
sport, particularly young people. If one-off sport events can be shown to generate a
notable inspirational effect on those who experience them, then they can be used by
relevant authorities as strategic tools, and in conjunction with other longitudinal sport
development initiatives, in the drive to achieve participation targets.
 Research methods Inspirational
The events effects of sports
The events included in the research were the FIH Women’s Hockey Champions Trophy
(Nottingham), the Triathlon World Championships Series (Hyde Park, London), and the events
IRB Women’s Rugby World Cup (Guildford and London). The selection of these events
was made by UK Sport, as part of a pilot study to examine the prevalence of the wider
benefits of its investment in elite sport (which have historically been evaluated in 261
economic terms). Collectively, up to £768,000 of public money was awarded to the three
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events by UK Sport. Whilst there is a high significance attached to these events in their
respective sport calendars, they are fairly routine, albeit still major, competitions in
world sporting terms. The hockey and rugby events were exclusively elite
competitions whereas the triathlon involved both elite athletes and non-elite
participants. It is also worth noting that an invitational men’s competition involving
four nations was integrated within the hockey programme. Thus, two events (hockey
and triathlon) involved participation by both men and women, whereas the rugby was
a women-only event. The triathlon was also different to the other two events in terms of
access, being a free to view event whereas the hockey and rugby were both ticketed
competitions.

Data collection and analysis

The assessment of the inspirational impact on spectators’ willingness to participate in
sport was undertaken using a standard self-completion questionnaire at each event
with adults aged 16 and over. Data collection with spectators was conducted on six of
the nine event days for the hockey (including competition for both genders), on all five
match days and at both venues for the rugby, and on both days of the triathlon.
Moreover, in order to achieve as representative a sample as reasonably possible within
the window of opportunity available to survey at each event and the resources
available for the research, interviews were conducted at various times throughout the
day. However, care was taken not to survey spectators too early in the day in order that
they had watched at least some part of an event to make an informed judgement about
their experience. Overall, 2,312 responses were achieved across the three events –
hockey (781), triathlon (781) and rugby (750). Further details regarding the approach to
data collection employed in the research, including event-specific considerations, are
available from SIRC (2010). The key issues covered by the core survey instrument are
summarised as follows:
. whether attending an event inspired spectators to participate in sport or
recreational physical activity more often;
. the attitudinal changes caused amongst inspired spectators;
. what the key factors were that triggered this inspiration; and
. identifying the factors by which spectators might activate this inspiration.
The questionnaire also contained demographic questions and others linked to
spectators’ attitudes towards, and participation in, sport and physical activity. The
survey data were analysed using the statistical package PASW Statistics (formerly
SPSS). Variables such as gender, age and physical activity levels of respondents were
used to explore differences in the level of inspiration experienced by different groups.
Where appropriate, statistical procedures, including independent sample t-tests and
 IJEFM analysis of variance, were used to comment on the level of significance attached to the
3,3 findings.

Sample profile
Before presenting and discussing the research findings, it is worth considering the
nature of the sample obtained from the three events in order that the findings can be
262 put into an appropriate context. Table I summarises the key characteristics of the
respondents.
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Perhaps the most noteworthy point in Table I relates to the predisposition of

spectators to participation in sport and physical activity. More than half (53.7 per cent)
of the aggregate spectator sample undertook sport or recreational physical activity on
a regular basis (for at least 30 minutes at moderate intensity on 12 or more days in the
previous four weeks) and a further 40 per cent were occasional sports participants
(i.e. they had done at least 30 minutes sport or physical activity on between one and 11
days in the four weeks before interview). The high level of adherence to sport by
spectators can be explained by three key factors. First, the majority of the spectators
surveyed were relatively young (56 per cent were aged 16-34), did not have a limiting
long-standing illness or disability (95.2 per cent) and described their ethnic origin as
“white” (94.6 per cent). These demographic groups tend to have participation rates that
are above the national average, as revealed by Sport England’s annual Active People
Survey. Second, more than 90 per cent of respondents at each event considered sport to
be either a “very important” or “quite important” part of their lives. Third, each event
had high concentrations of spectators who took part in the sport being featured with

Hockey, Triathlon, Rugby, Overall,

n ¼ 781 n ¼ 781 n ¼ 750 n ¼ 2,312
Variable Category (%) (%) (%) (%)

Gender Male 48.1 49.8 34.5 44.1

Female 51.9 50.2 65.5 55.9
Age 16-34 52.9 59.1 56.1 56.0
35-44 34.0 33.1 34.6 34.0
55 þ 13.1 7.7 9.2 10.0
Disability Yes 4.8 3.8 5.6 4.8
No 95.2 96.2 94.4 95.2
Ethnicity White 95.2 95.0 93.6 94.6
Other 4.8 5.0 6.4 5.4
Participation in sport/physical activity
(last four weeks) Zero days 5.6 4.6 8.5 6.2
1-11 days 46.0 31.3 43.0 40.1
12 þ days 48.4 64.1 48.5 53.7
Very
Importance of sport important 68.4 61.3 57.4 62.5
Quite
important 25.8 29.1 34.1 29.6
Not important 5.7 9.6 8.5 7.9
Participation in sport being watched Yes 66.7 42.8 52.7 54.1
Table I. No 33.3 57.2 47.3 45.9
Sample characteristics Club member of sport being watched Yes 94.0 44.9 90.5 80.1
by event and overall No 6.0 55.1 9.5 19.9
 many being club members of that sport. If spectators who attend major sport events Inspirational
are already relatively active in sport, then any subsequent inspiration effect on effects of sports
spectators, in accordance with the Ansoff Matrix alluded to previously, is likely to be
one of market penetration (i.e. inspiring those who participate to do so more frequently) events
rather than market development (i.e. inspiring non-participants to take up sport). This
view is tested in the following section.
263
Results and discussion
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The results of the research are presented and discussed in five sections. First, we
consider the headline level of inspiration reported by the sample of spectators at each
of the three events and for the combined sample overall. Second, we examine
differences in inspiration levels by key demographic and other sport-related variables.
The third and fourth sections examine the changes in attitudes of inspired spectators
that occur as a result of their event attendance and the factors that trigger the
inspiration effect, respectively. In the final section, the potential levers to convert the
initial inspiration into subsequent participation in sport are examined.

The inspiration effect of the three events

The key survey question asked spectators whether they felt inspired to do more sport
or recreational physical activity as a result of attending an event. An extremely
encouraging finding for sport development authorities is that, across the three events,
around two-thirds of spectators interviewed (67.6 per cent) either “agreed” or “strongly
agreed” that their experience of attending the event in question had made them feel
inspired to participate in more sport or physical activity than they would normally.
This statistic comprises those who felt inspired to participate more frequently in the
sport featured at the event that they attended, in other sports and/or in general
physical activity. Being inspired represents an important step in helping people to
consider undertaking more sport or indeed taking up sport. Within the TTM, this
would translate to people moving from the pre-contemplation stage to the
contemplation stage.
There are variations in the magnitude of the inspiration effect recorded at each
event. In particular, spectators interviewed at the triathlon (76.1 per cent) were
significantly more inspired than those at the hockey (61.6 per cent) and rugby (65.2
per cent) events ( po0.05). A relative limitation of the hockey inspiration score is that it
does not differentiate between the primary attraction (i.e. the women’s event) and
secondary attraction (i.e. the men’s event) since the research instrument did not ask
respondents specifically which component of the programme they found more
appealing.
There are two likely explanations for the higher inspiration effect at the triathlon.
First, in addition to being an elite competition, the triathlon also comprised a
programme of mass participation races; by contrast, the hockey and rugby were both
exclusively elite events. In the triathlon sample, 28.8 per cent of people who were
interviewed as spectators had also taken part in one of the mass participation races
and such people had a particularly high positive inspiration effect of 81.9 per cent,
whereas for those spectators who were not involved in the mass participation element
the corresponding score was 74.9 per cent. This finding is not altogether surprising,
given the widespread notion that prior participation in, or experience of, physical
activity and sport predicts current and future participation. Indeed, Hagger et al. (2002)
report that the effect of past behaviour on planned behaviour in physical activity is
 IJEFM twice that of any other variable studied and Weed et al. (2009) suggest that there is also
3,3 some limited evidence that past behaviour predicts engagement in or with sport or
health behaviours in a sport event context. Nonetheless, those who did not take part in
the triathlon event still recorded higher inspiration scores than spectators at the
hockey and rugby events. This latter finding indicates that there may be something
inherently more inspiring about events that have a mass participation element in
264 addition to the main spectacle of an elite event. Further research at future events may
help to confirm or refute this interpretation.
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The headline findings above may mask further variations in inspiration levels
according to respondents’ age and predisposition to sport. These and other differences
are considered in the next section of the paper.

Who is inspired by major sport events?

The purpose of this section is to explore the characteristics of the people who are
inspired by major sport events. This is conducted: first, by demographic variables; and
second, by behavioural and attitudinal variables. Figure 1 compares the inspiration
levels across the three events according to gender, age, ethnic origin and whether or not
respondents considered themselves to have a disability.
When the data are analysed by gender, ethnicity and disability, there are no
statistically significant differences in the inspiration effect on spectators ( p40.05).
However, there is a significant difference in the inspiration effect on spectators by age.
Specifically, the inspiration effect for the 16-34 age group is significantly higher than
the other two age categories ( po0.05). There is a difference of more than 19 percentage
points between the most inspired age group (16-34) and the least inspired age group
(55 þ ). Moreover, respondents aged 35-54 reported a higher inspiration effect
compared with those aged 55 and over, albeit the difference between these groups is not
significant in statistical terms ( p40.05). Together these findings indicate that the
inspiration effect is negatively correlated with age. If this is accepted, then it could be
argued that events that attract relatively younger audiences will generate a higher
inspiration effect than other events.
Figure 2 shows the inspiration effect on spectators broken down by behavioural and
attitudinal variables. As reported previously in Table I, 53.7 per cent of spectators at
the three events were undertaking at least 30 minutes of sport or recreational physical

No 67.9
Disability
Yes 66.0

Other 70.5
Ethnicity
White 67.6

55+ 54.9

Age 35-54 61.0

16-34 74.1

Figure 1. Female 69.6

Inspiration levels – by Gender
Male 67.9
demographic variables
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
 Club member of
sport being watched
No 65.8 Inspirational
Yes 70.7
effects of sports
Participate in sport No 62.2
events
being watched
Yes 72.7

Importance of
Very important 73.4
265
Quite important 64.7
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doing sport
Unimportant 32.4

Regularly active 72.0

Participation in
Figure 2.
Occasionally active 65.3
sport Inspiration levels – by
Inactive 48.9
sport-related variables
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

activity on 12 or more days every four weeks. Conversely, we also know that only 6.2
per cent of the sample was inactive (zero days activity). An important cross-tabulation
therefore identified the inspiration effect according to people’s level of participation in
sport and recreational physical activity.
It is evident from Figure 2 that the inspiration effect increases with the level of sport
or recreational activity in which respondents take part. For people who are inactive
(zero days activity) the inspiration effect is 48.9 per cent whereas for those who are
already regularly active (12 þ days activity) the corresponding figure is 72 per cent.
The differences in the inspiration effect according to the categories of activity levels is
statistically significant ( po0.05). Moreover, there is also a significant difference in
inspiration scores according to how important sport participation was to respondents
– the higher the importance of sport the higher the inspiration felt. The idea that the
inspirational effect is felt more strongly by those already connected with sport is
further supported by results that consider participation in the featured sport at each
event and club membership in that sport. For both participants in, and club members
of, the featured sport the inspiration effect was significantly higher compared with
non-participants and non-members, respectively.
The findings above indicate that major events have the potential to support market
penetration in that they can inspire those already connected to sport to participate
more frequently. This is consistent with the work of Funk et al. (2007), who in their
investigation of active participation in the 2005 Gold Coast Marathon in Australia
found that, among international entrants, prior sport involvement was identified as a
key motivation for participation, regardless of gender or cultural group. From a
national perspective, market penetration is a worthwhile outcome and clearly
contributes to Sport England’s agenda for retaining participation in sport. This value
is further strengthened given that the inspirational effect of the three major sport
events examined is strongest amongst younger audiences, for whom retention in
sport is particularly important. There is also some evidence that major events can
support market development, given that nearly half (48.9 per cent) of spectators who
were not active in sport also reported an inspiration effect.
Spectators who responded positively to the inspiration question were asked follow-
up questions about the nature of the attitudinal change they experienced, the factors
that had caused the inspirational effect and levers to subsequent participation in sport.
The findings from this enquiry are now examined.
 IJEFM The potential changes in attitude brought about by the events
3,3 There is a gap in extant literature about how the process of inspiration generated from
attending a major sport event might work in practice. Those who said they were
inspired were asked to score, on a four-point scale ranging from strongly disagree (2)
to strongly agree ( þ 2), statements about how their attitudes towards taking part in
sport and physical activity had changed. The responses were analysed to produce the
266 mean scores presented in Figure 3.
Whilst all statements had a positive mean score, three scored particularly well with
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scores in excess of þ 1 (agree). These statements related to a reconnection with the

enjoyment of sport, a desire to get fitter and a desire to improve performance or achieve
personal sporting success. The relatively low (albeit still positive) mean scores for
the other two statements in Figure 3 may be related to the fact that the spectator
sample across the three events was primarily sensitised to sport and physical activity.
The levels of agreement with the various statements also appear to be consistent
across the three events (i.e. there are no significant differences between the mean scores
at event-specific level compared with the sample overall). Despite these findings,
attitude change is not the same as behaviour change, as illustrated previously by the
different stages within the TTM and the other sport/physical activity engagement
models, and therefore there can be no assumption that a change in attitude towards
sport during the excitement of a major sport event will translate into future action.

The likely causes of the inspiration effect

Respondents who were inspired were asked to rate features of the events in relation to
the impact of each feature on their desire to undertake more sport or physical activity.
The features were scored on a scale of “none” (0) to “high” (3) and the mean impact
scores for the sample as a whole are summarised in Figure 4.
Five of the seven features had mean impact scores of 2 (moderate impact) or better.
One feature was in the low to moderate impact range (activities going on around the
main event, with a mean score of 1.36) and another feature (information received about
opportunities for doing more sport) had a mean score below 1 (low impact). The impact
ratings for the seven factors reviewed are also consistent across the three events.
Together, these findings indicate that the highest impact ratings tend to be those that
are intrinsic to the events. The three factors that achieve the highest impact ratings are

The event has reminded me about the enjoyment of

1.38
doing sport/recreational physical activity

The event has inspired me to want to get fitter 1.28

The event has made me want to improve my own sport

1.21
ability and/or to achieve personal sporting success

I had like to learn something new and challenge myself 0.84

I have picked up tips/learned something I can use when 0.56

Figure 3. I am taking part in sport myself
Attitudinal changes for
–2 –1 - 1 2
inspired spectators Strongly Disagree Agree Strongly
disagree agree
 The skill and ability of the athletes/players 2.42
Inspirational
effects of sports
The quality of the competition 2.30 events
The performance of the team or athlete(s) I am/have
2.17
been supporting

The whole atmosphere i.e. the spectacle, the crowd, the 2.12
267
excitement, etc.
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The physical environment in which the event is taking 2.02

place i.e. the actual venue/stadium, etc.

Activities that have been going on around the main event 1.36

Information I have received at the event about Figure 4.

opportunities for doing sport or recreational physical 0.88
activity
Impact of potential
- 1 2 3 factors on inspiration
None Low Moderate High

dependent upon the athletes in the event (skill and ability) and the sporting context in
which the event takes place (quality of competition and performance of the team or
athlete being supported). This finding supports the idea of a “trickle-down” effect
referenced previously. Moreover, these factors can also be experienced by people
following an event away from the actual venue, that is, on television or via other media
platforms. In this context, a limitation of the research is that it does not consider media
viewers. Nonetheless, the impact of factors linked to live attendance (in this case the
whole atmosphere and the physical environment) was also regarded by inspired
spectators as being moderately high. On this basis, it could be argued that the potential
of events to inspire audiences is higher amongst those who attend events rather than
those who experience them elsewhere.
Factors that are extrinsic to the event such as ancillary activities and information
received at the event have much lower inspirational impact ratings. Only a small
minority of the spectators interviewed at the hockey (7 per cent), triathlon (18.8 per
cent) and rugby (4.4 per cent) events indicated that they had received any information
at these events about opportunities for undertaking sport or recreational physical
activity. This finding may explain the relatively low score for this particular feature.
Nonetheless, for spectators who received information at the event that they attended
about opportunities for taking part in sport and recreational physical activity, the
inspiration effect score was significantly higher (85.1 per cent) than for those who did
not (65 per cent).

The levers that might cause people to act on the inspiration effect
In order to identify how inspiration (contemplation) might be converted into
participation (action), respondents were asked to state the degree of importance they
attached to a list of seven types of intervention. The list of intervention types and the
mean scores for the sample overall (not at all ¼ 2, very ¼ þ 2) are shown in Figure 5.
As noted in the previous section, spectators interviewed at the three events reported
that the factor with the lowest level of impact on their sense of inspiration was
information that they received at the events about opportunities for doing more sport.
However, the highest scoring interventions (in terms of their importance) were both
 IJEFM Information about sports that I can do where I live at a 0.72

3,3 level appropriate to my fitness and ability

Information about local clubs or centres where I could 0.69

have a go

The chance to try sport in a non-threatening

0.47
environment with other inexperienced people

268 The chance to meet athletes and hear how they got
started in their sport
0.38
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The chance to talk to sports people about the right types

0.36
of sport for me to try to do

Taster sessions where I live 0.25

Taster sessions here at the event – 0.14

Figure 5.
Potential levers –2 –1 - 1 2
Not at all Not Quite Very
to participation important particularly important important
important

concerned with information: either about local sports clubs, or about sports that people
can do at an appropriate level given their fitness and ability. The provision of this type
of information can be termed as “sign posting”. By contrast, taster sessions in sport,
either at the events or where people live, were rated of relatively low importance by
spectators – this in turn may be linked to the relatively high proportion of respondents
who were existing participants in the sport featured at the events. Taster sessions tend
to be aimed at those people who do not play a particular sport but who might be
persuaded to do so and are therefore likely to be of less relevance to existing
participants.
There were no notable differences in the mean scores of the seven interventions
between events, indicating that the levers to converting inspiration into participation
were common across the events included in the research. Taking into account that only
10.2 per cent of the overall sample reported receiving information at the events, the
main policy implication of these findings is that sport development organisations
should work closely with event organisers to disseminate information about
opportunities to undertake sport at major sport events. The value of such an approach
lies in moving those who are inspired by their event experience further along the stages
of the TTM, from “contemplation” to “preparation” and “action”.

Conclusions and future research

The measurement of the inspiration effects of three major sport events in the UK
provides an insight into the potential of events to stimulate audiences to undertake
more sport. The study found that the audience drawn to these events was primarily
active in sport and that the inspiration effect was significantly higher amongst more
physically active spectators. Consequently, the primary effect generated was one of
market penetration rather than market development. In order for such events to be
used as a tool for market development, organisers should seek to attract a different mix
of spectators, that is, those who are not normally connected with the featured sport.
Across the three events, there is consistency in terms of how an event has changed
attitudes towards sport. Clear patterns emerge with respect to the factors that trigger
inspiration amongst spectators watching an event. Without exception, the factors
 regarded as having the highest inspirational impact are those that were intrinsic to the Inspirational
three events, linked to the athletes and the competition. Extrinsic factors such as effects of sports
activities going on around the main event also appear to influence spectators, albeit not
to the same extent. The levers that might cause people to act on their sense of events
inspiration are also broadly consistent between the three events. The most important
lever to sport development appears to be “sign posting”, that is providing people with
access to information about sports clubs (and other opportunities) as well as about 269
sports that people can do at an appropriate level relative to their fitness and ability.
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It cannot be claimed that the sense of inspiration triggered by major events will
automatically lead to a participation increase. One approach that has attempted to
explain when and how people are likely to change their physical activity behaviour is
the application of the TTM. The process of inspiration through the medium of events
effectively moves people from the stage of pre-contemplation to contemplation. There
are many subsequent causal factors beyond the control of a major event that determine
whether people translate inspiration into actual behavioural change i.e. the
preparation, action and maintenance stages. These may include, for example, health
issues, monetary and lifestyle considerations, and the availability of opportunities to
participate. What this study does show, however, is that major events can play an
important role at the start of what is a complex process, sparking people’s desire to
participate or participate more frequently, and sign posting them towards the next
stage of that journey.
The findings emerging from this pilot study raise some pertinent questions and
provide several directions for future research. First, further investigation is required
across a wider range of events and audiences. More assertive generalisations about the
power of major sport events to inspire spectators to participate more often in sport can
only be made following a sufficiently robust sample of events of varying sporting
significance. For example, do age group competitions and disability events encourage
spectators to be just as active as open and non-disabled events, respectively? Moreover,
the target audience of this study was adults aged 16 and over. It is arguably more
worthwhile for future research efforts to encompass the inspirational effects of
attending major sport events on children and young people.
Second, do audiences who follow live sport away from the actual venue (i.e. on
television or via alternative media platforms) also experience a sense of inspiration
and, if so, how does this compare with any inspiration effect reported by spectators at
such events? A study by Downward and Ralston (2006) involving volunteers at the
2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester found that previous live attendance at
sport events was a factor in raising both interest and participation in sport, but that
this did not extend to those who watched sport on television. This, albeit isolated,
evidence suggests that there may be a staged relationship, and that if those watching
sport on television progress to watching live sport, this may also be a first step
towards active sport participation.
Third, what is the lifespan of inspiration generated by watching major sport events
and to what extent does the initial intent to increase participation in sport translate
into physical behaviour change? Whilst stimulating inspiration represents a step in the
right direction, the ultimate aspiration of sport development professionals is for target
audiences to make positive changes in their participation levels. However, as suggested
previously, there is no guarantee that “intent to change” (contemplation) will
necessarily result in “behavioural change” (action) that is sustainable in the long-term
(maintenance). Longitudinal research to assess the subsequent actions of individuals
 IJEFM who are inspired is required to understand fully whether, and how, major sport events
3,3 can contribute to a quantifiable increase in sport participation amongst spectators.
Such research will facilitate a better understanding of the unique benefits and
limitations of major events in the overall drive to encourage people to participate in
sport.

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Corresponding author
Girish M. Ramchandani can be contacted at: g.ramchandani@shu.ac.uk

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