Economic Benefits of the Olympics

This research examines the economic benefits to states and cities of sponsoring the Olympic Games. As the term "states" is used in this research, the reference may be either a country or to a component of a federal system, such as a state in the United States. Among the issues addressed in this research are the following: (1) how states and cities generate revenues to support their sponsorship of the Olympics, as well as how such revenue generation may be maximized; and (2) the nature and scope of the economic benefits to a state or city of sponsorship of the Olympic Games.

The costs associated with staging sports events, including such massive venues as the Olympic Games, may be generated in a number of ways. One increasingly popular strategy is to persuade an entity external to the sport to underwrite such costs through a sponsorship arrangement. Sports sponsorship differs from both advertising and rights licensing. Rights licensing may involve an authority to produce and market products with themes of a sport or sports event, or the authority to broadcast sports events electronically. Sports sponsorship, by contrast, permits an entity to promote itself as an official sponsor of some sports event or sports team in return for underwriting all or parts of the costs of staging the event or operating the team in question. While advertising, rights licensing, and sports spo

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were given prominence at the games themselves. In this way, the international television community was subject to the Official Snack Food (M&Ms) and hundreds of other similar boasts by companies. By 1992, approximately 70 percent of the USOC's $250 million budget came from corporate sponsorship. A major factor in the growth of commercial sports sponsorship has been the near phenomenal technological development of electronic communications. The advances in global telecommunications, together with the globalization of the international economy, may be expected to fuel even greater growth in commercial sports sponsorship (Grimm, 1995). As well as generating an audience and thereby influencing corporate or brand awareness, a sponsorship program can also transfer certain image connotations inherent in the activity onto the sponsor. An example of image transfer is provided by Kodak and that corporation's 1988 Olympic involvement. The Olympic theme was used to enhance brand image on a worldwide basis and particularly with the youth market. Kodak built a highly effective campaign centering on consumer products such as film, batteries, and cameras using the highly appropriate "Go for the Gold" theme (Meenagahan, 1991, p.81). Econ
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Olympic Games, Food M&Ms, Golfers Association, Los Angeles, Olympics Committee, Europe Pacific, Economic Analysis, Committee USOC, Georgia University, South Wales, olympic games, sports sponsorship, los angeles, south wales, wales treasury, commercial sports sponsorship, south wales treasury, commercial sports, regional economic analysis, treasury centre regional, treasury centre, regional economic, economic analysis, centre regional, centre regional economic,
Approximate Word count = 1805
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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