Gonzalo A. Bravo

Sport policy in Chile

This article provides an overview of the government involvement in sport in Chile through the role of the public bureaucracies and how key legislations have shaped the state of sport in this country. It also examines the structure, funding and key strategic initiatives of the current public sport administration. Today, the public office of sport is well equipped with a solid organizational structure and a clear direction of the goals and objectives it must pursue. Nevertheless, a key challenge faced by the public sport bureaucracy is to create more effective strategies to engage the private sector in the development of sport. The article ends with a reflection of some of the issues affecting the growth of sport in Chile and the challenges facing the future.

Team USA and the 2010 FIFA World Cup: an examination of TV fans viewing intention

The study examined how cognitive, affective, behavioural functions and patriotism influence viewing intentions to follow games of the men’s US national team and games of the FIFA World Cup in general played during the 2010 World Cup. A questionnaire that included items in three dimensions of the attitude formation theory: ‘sport knowledge’, ‘sport identification’, ‘frequency of viewing’ and ‘patriotism’ was administered to 467 sport sciences students in the USA. Results revealed that sport identification was the strongest predictor followed by patriotism and sport knowledge when examining intention to watch the World Cup games. For intention to watch games of the US national team, results showed patriotism was the most important predictor followed by sport identification and sport knowledge. ANOVA results indicated there were gender differences. In both cases, male respondents showed significantly higher mean scores than female respondents. Practical implications and methodological limitations were also discussed.

Site Selection, Satisfaction, and Intent to Return: An Exploratory Study of the Perceptions of Rights Holders of Small-Scale Sporting Events

The study examined sporting event rights holders’ perceptions of factors related to their last event and identified factors germane to intentions to return. Results showed that event facility (M = 6.24, SD = .62), accommodations (M = 6.08, SD = .51), security (M = 6.04, SD = .82), supportiveness (M = 5.82, SD = .95), and travel/access (M = 5.50, SD = .91) were important site characteristics for rights holders. Discriminant analysis suggested returners rated higher than doubters on security (M = 6.31), facility (M = 6.36), accommodations (M = 6.18), and supportiveness (M = 5.77). This study was exploratory and has implications for destination marketers.

Measuring Event Quality, Satisfaction, and Intent to Return at an International Sport Event: The ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships

ABSTRACT The purpose of the study is to examine event quality, satisfaction, and intent to return of spectators attending an international sport event. A modified version of the Scale of Event Quality in Spectator Sports (SEQSS) was used in the current study. We added an additional dimension, parking, that was not included on the SEQSS. Skill, operating times, information, valence, and design explained 58.4% of the variance in satisfaction for spectators attending the event. Of this total, more than 30% of this variance was explained by valence. The results also revealed a significant correlation between parking and satisfaction and the fit of the overall model for event quality was good. The study advances the literature on event quality as applied to sport events, provides further development and refinement for measuring event quality, as well as providing a standardized way to measure event quality within multiple types of sport events.

Conceptualizing Sport Mega-Events

This chapter provides a broad conceptualization of sport mega-events (SMEs), including various definitions, characteristics, and classifications. The impacts and legacies of SMEs are explored, thus referring to the short-term consequences and more long-lasting factors such as economic growth and well-being of the population. Structural dimensions, size, and categories such as first-, second-, and third-order SMEs are also examined. We argue that no two types of SMEs of the same order are alike, neither are two emerging economies. Therefore, it is imperative to put attention to contextual differences when examining SMEs to help determine how these differences might affect the outcomes and processes of these events.

The Context of the South American Games

This chapter explores the origins and evolution of the Games in the context of a region that had experienced important political, cultural, and economic changes. Due to an increased awareness within the public sector of the role of sport, the last decade has witnessed the passage of sport legislation and the establishment of public agencies in many South American countries. Both have contributed to justify public investment in sport. While the future of the South American Games lies in the hands of the governing body ODESUR, growth and sustainability depends on governments’ willingness to fund and support these initiatives. The rise of the South American Games provides evidence of the critical role sport plays as a part of the public policies of the countries in South America.

Santiago 2014: Stakeholders’ Appraisement

This chapter discusses the media’s reaction to the South American Games, focusing on the promotion of this event, the strategies used for reaching the public, and the self-evaluation by those who were directly involved with the organization. Overall, media coverage of the games had a positive connotation with a focus on the achievements of Chilean athletes, the presence of high caliber international athletes, the quality of the sport infrastructure, and the high attendance and overall response from the public. The chapter also discusses criticism levied by some stakeholders, including a legal setback experienced by the Government Accountability Office which rejected expenses submitted by the local organizing committee. The setback revealed the inherent risks that countries face when local organizing committees possess too much freedom to operate without much accountability.

Bidding, Planning, and Organizing

This chapter describes several milestone events within the organization of the South American Games, including the local organizing committee’s (LOC’s) ability to manage the organizational complexities of staging such a venture. It also provides a historical account of the Chilean government’s failed attempts to bid and host SMEs and offers plausible explanations as to why recent government officials have changed their approach to bidding on these events. Arguably, the South American Games have served as the ignitor for bringing more and larger events to Chile. Recent success of the Santiago bid over the 2023 Pan American Games shows how the South American Games have played an important role in the current arms race for bringing larger and more challenging SMEs to Chile.

Emerging Economies and Sport Mega-Events

Most studies on SMEs have focused primarily on first-order events hosted in the global north and/or BRICS economies. Second- and third-order SMEs have received significantly less attention despite their popularity and rise in emerging economies. This chapter provides context for understanding what constitutes an emerging economy and the terms scholars have used to describe less-developed nations. It also describes Chile’s path to development and its aspirations for hosting SMEs. Because leaders of emerging economies are increasingly interested in hosting mega-events to gain international visibility, we explore the role of nation branding and soft power. This chapter helps the reader to understand the meaning of emerging economies and how this factors into the case of the 2014 South American Games in Santiago.

Lessons and Challenges Facing Sport Mega-Events in Emerging Economies: The Case of Santiago 2014

Drawing upon institutional theory within the context of emerging markets, we argue that the defining characteristics and outcomes of large-scale first-order events will be replicated in smaller-scale events. This chapter discusses the major findings of this case, suggesting that a number of outcomes and legacies reported in first-order SMEs also occurred in the South American Games. The three most salient outcomes identified in the Games included the direct tangible legacies for the sporting community, the capacity of the local organizing committee to deal with organizational complexity, and the capacity building that resulted from organizing this event. The use of institutional theory seems a plausible theoretical framework for future studies aiming to understand the dynamics that follow second- and third-order events in mimicking first-order SMEs.