This chapter reveals the pre-event predictions, perceptions and expectations of three senior event managers over a year prior to Auckland’s hosting of the 36th America’s Cup (AC36). The findings reveal expectations that AC36 will offer destination marketers the opportunity to reinforce the hosts reputation as an international sports event tourism destination. The desire to diversify Auckland’s existing event portfolio was also evident, with AC36 being strategically positioned to showcase the region’s unique cultural heritage. The chapter highlights the value and viability of co-branding from the outset of the event bidding phase. It also reveals the significance of making a visible connection with the host community during the pre-event planning phase. The recommendations focus on educating, engaging and empowering the stakeholders responsible for both managing and marketing major sports events to leverage the long-term legacies of previous events.

It has been argued that all serious leisure activity is founded upon a strong sense of companionship and community. Besides, social capital is widely believed to generate mutual understanding and communal reciprocity. Sport event volunteering is considered a form of serious leisure. However, the interrelationships between these concepts deserve further investigation. This study analyzed the interrelationships between serious leisure volunteering and social capital acquisition of 311 World Masters Games volunteers using a structural equation model. Moreover, differences between groups of volunteers were assessed. The findings revealed a significant relationship between serious leisure and social capital. For example, local volunteers identified significantly more with serious leisure volunteering than those from outside of the host region.

This paper critically examines Pakistan's sports policy, from the design, development and delivery phases through to its public evaluation. In doing so, we identify and address the emerging trends and associated challenges facing sports organisations in a large politically unstable developing nation. Ten interviews and an analysis of over 15 policy documents, including annual reports, were conducted over the three-year period 2019-2021. This critical case study documents the sport-politics nexus in Pakistan, including the ongoing impact of the 2011 18(th) constitutional amendment on sport. The key conclusions from this study are that the development and delivery of sport policy, at both a domestic and international level, was negatively affected by administrative inefficiencies in organisational structures and the devolution of the Pakistan Sports Board. A lack of public and private sector investment and an unjust distribution of funds were also found to have hindered the nation's ability to use sport as a vehicle for socio-economic development and soft power projection. In sum, Pakistan's sports policy and underlying structures fall short of modern international sports requirements, and reform is strongly recommended.

This chapter considers the impact of COVID-19 on sport stadia. The cancellation and/or pausing of sport leagues and events around the world had a large impact on the sport stadium sector. Thousands of stadia and sporting facilities were closed, with very little warning, as nations and cities were placed in lockdown and social distancing measures were established. These events had significant financial consequences and placed pressure on the managers of sport stadia to explore creative ways for staying financially afloat. The chapter features a case study of the famous New Zealand sporting venue Eden Park, and how management planned to recover from their period of closure.

… What if I am paralysed?… What if Carleen has to care for me for the rest of my life?… How could I have been so selfish to do this to her? … Why now when she is going to need me the most?I grip Carleen's hand as tight as I can.I don't want to let go!I never want to let go of her ever again!A last-minute decision to take a shortcut while riding to work and an inattentive truck driver came together in a split second.It was a second that very nearly killed Richard Mitchell.As it was, his life was shattered, his hopes and dreams in tatters, his body broken.He was facing more than a dozen surgeries, six months away from his dream job and years of recovery and rehab.While their worlds hadn't yet come together, Richard Mitchell (RM) and Richard Keith Wright (RKW) were soon to have the very visceral shared experience of September 11 th 2001.As you'll soon discover, RKW was just starting out on his journey, while RM had been in his dream job teaching wine, tourism and hospitality for just six months.He had found his passion and was utterly devoted to it.Stebbins (2014, p, 4) defines 'devotee work' as "an activity in which participants feel a powerful devotion… to an occupation that they are proud to be in".The foundations for this special edition pre-date COVID-19 by a couple of decades.The ongoing global pandemic, however, caused RM and RKW (and a billion others) to

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council's (WTTC) most recent reports, one in every ten jobs (an estimated 330 million) is influenced if not directly supported by travel and tourism-related activity, making it one of the world's largest economic sectors. Whilst the boundaries that separate adventure tourism from active/sport tourism are blurred, the subject is certainly not lacking in terms of evidence-based definitions, conceptual frameworks, or typologies. This chapter offers a critical overview of the existing body of knowledge that relates to the emergence of a global active and/or adventure-based tourism economy. The authors complement their review of the literature with a case study looking at the ‘home of adventure', Queenstown, New Zealand.

Sometimes it is easier to not think too long or hard about the future, and to just accept that 'what will be, will be' (that the future is pre-determined or out of our control). My paper invites you to consider the application of socially-constructed creative analytical practice (CAP) within the production and consumption of critical sports event tourism discourse. In January 2017, following months of media speculation about the future of several major tourism-generating sports events, 20 experienced event professionals located across multiple time zones were asked to respond to a piece of thought-provoking narrative foresight. The scenario offered several reasons as to why Auckland, New Zealand, could submit a bid to host the 2032 Summer Olympic Games. The consensus amongst the respondents was that the dream would never become a reality, but a number of alternative options were suggested offering some meaningful insight into the minds and mindset of those employed to deliver major sports event experiences. Having scripted a piece of creative non-fiction, I seek to temporarily transport you into the middle of an ongoing conversation occurring all over the globe around the long-term future of the world's biggest multi-sports events. My goal is to mix hindsight, insight and foresight. I hope to offer something evocative, provocative and, most of all, informative. The story concludes with a new piece of narrative foresight for you all to consider.

The sudden rise of coronavirus in the world had various effects on the sports industry Nevertheless, sports organizations around the world adopted new and different methods to manage the crisis, which in turn, enriched global knowledge of sports management Also, some industries changed their products and adapted their structure and performance according to the new situation The new Experiences gained during the pandemic showed that sports organizations need crisis management programs to deal with crises in the future So, it’s necessary to manage sports organizations with a different perspective and new plans to encounter future needs and problems To do this, sports managers must learn from the experiences of the pandemic era and be prepared to predict the world in the future, and better manage their organizations © 2021 All Rights Reserved

Bringing together preeminent international researchers, emerging scholars and practitioners, Paul M. Pedersen presents the comprehensive Encyclopedia of Sport Management, offering detailed entries for the critical concepts and topics in the field.

ABSTRACT I seek to demonstrate the extent to which meaningful truth(s) can be extracted from a work of memorable literary fiction. This evocative autoethnography employs elements of Creative Analytical Practice (CAP) within a trilogy of short stories (episodes) each inspired by ‘Shoeless Joe’, the fictional novel that provided the inspiration for the fantasy baseball movie ‘Field of Dreams’. Whether consumed individually or altogether, the three-part production offers the opportunity to experience the power and potential of producing personal narratives. Episodes One, Two and Three are piece of creative non-fiction that incorporate the aspects of personal narrative, ethnodrama and autobiography. The principles and practices of occupational devotion and heritage sports tourism are explored and exploited throughout, providing a platform for new learning and a potentially a new way of seeing the world(s) we inhabit.

The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis management strategies adopted by world leaders across the globe in 2020 impacted the work-life balance of billions of people. Entire populations were forced to stay at home and maintain a safe distance from family members, friends, colleagues, and customers. Occupational devotion is defined as a feeling of strong, positive attachment to a form of self-enhancing employment, where achievement and fulfillment are high, and the core activity has such intense appeal that the line between this work and leisure is virtually erased. Although it is not a new concept, this area of the serious leisure perspective has been largely overlooked by scholars observing the world of sport events and entrepreneurship. Using Creative Analytical Practice (CAP), a post-qualitative methodology, we present the personal narrative of a New Zealand-based active lifestyle entrepreneur who, as a result of a nationwide COVID19 lockdown, was forced to re-assess his long-established occupational devotion. Our co-constructed story offers an emotive insight into the personal cost and consequences of finding yourself living in a lockdown.

The sports event sector has increased over the past decades, becoming a profitable part of the leisure and tourism industry. While there is no shortage of knowledge surrounding the legacies of large-scale sports events, little is known about the smaller competitions. The authors seek to fill this gap by establishing a profile of the spectators attending the 2018 World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships, hosted in Tomaszów Mazowiecki (Poland). The results were gathered from 349 intercept survey questionnaires. Over half of the respondents were from the host city or the region. The majority were women. The event attractiveness, uniqueness and novelty, including the venue were the main reasons for attendance. The respondents' willingness to attend a similar event in the future was another key finding. The conclusion and recommendations focus on the need for further research into the motives of those attending small-scale indoor, international age-group winter sports events.

Cricket is a team sport that dates back to the 13th Century. Its many traditions and terminologies are not the easiest to explain to someone who has never seen it before, or indeed to someone watching it live for the very first time. In 2018, over a thousand Test Match Cricket spectators were approached at two 5‑day Test Matches between New Zealand’s Black Caps and England, the first of which was the first ever Day–Night Test Match fixture scheduled between the two teams. A post-trip survey was sent out to 860 valid email addresses collected within the grandstands at Auckland’s Eden Park Stadium and, a week later, on the grass embankments at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval. The aim of the study was to capture spectator satisfaction, expectations and experiences of Test Match Cricket. This study profiles the expectations and experiences of 86 English sport tourists who completed the online questionnaire, all of whom had travelled over 18,000 km specifically to follow their national cricket team. The findings both support and strengthen those published within some existing cricket-related studies, suggesting that the format and frequency of the fixture significantly influences the mindset and movements of the target market. The recommendations focus on the importance placed upon the social interaction encountered during the fixtures and the need to ensure that the local hospitality generates a positive sport tourist experience.

In terms of community-focused sport provision, the Aotearoa/New Zealand market place has traditionally been dominated by the small- to medium-sized, volunteer run, not-for-profit incorporated society. A change in consumer behaviour habits over the past couple of decades, however, has led to the emergence of lifestyle entrepreneurs hoping to turn their past experiences and personal passions into a sustainable full-time profession. This chapter connects the principles of occupational devotion, innovative planning, and lifestyle entrepreneurship. It also offers an innovative insight into their adoption at a local community level. A provocative piece of critical analytical practice (CAP), reveals the inspiration and innovations behind the Auckland Beach Series (ABS), a profitable summertime fixture that has been routinely attracting hundreds of serious leisure enthusiasts for over a decade. The staged monologue identifies the significance of using one's personal strengths and established social networks, especially when proactively seeking and sustaining resources (human and financial). The recommendations illustrate importance of establishing a reputation for offering a professionally delivered community service that meets the ever-changing needs and expectations of local investors, volunteers, and the family-orientated serious leisure consumer.

This chapter examines the emergence of secular pilgrimages by the serious leisure-inspired English football pilgrim. The chapter focuses on the connections of pilgrimage to topophilia and nostalgia-driven heritage sport tourism. An evocative autoethnographic vignette is presented, inspired by the author's private recollections of his first pilgrimages to the old Wembley Stadium (demolished and replaced at the start of the century) and to a small local West Country football stadium called St James Park.

‘Heritage and Sport: An Introduction’ is about the power and potential of packaging and (re)presenting the past, within the socially-constructed parameters of the present day. The opening line of t...

It started on Friday 21st April 2017. That was the opening day of a multi-sport event that involved 24,905 participants, 1,094 non-playing officials and 3,216 volunteers. It was a day that I had been waiting for since March 2012. It was a day I spent largely by myself, surrounded by likeminded active participants and hobbyists from all over 100 different countries. This piece of autoethnographic creative analytical practice (CAP applies Clawson, M. and J. Knetsch 1966. Economics of Outdoor Recreation. Baltimore: John Hopkins) five phases of the leisure experience to the author’s first twelve hours as an athlete at the 2017 World Masters Games. By bringing together my two biggest passions, amateur sport and popular music, I seek to stir up your sociological imagination, and let you see things from my unique perspective. I want you to finish this story, thinking about all the lonely people that you may have unintentionally missed/excluded from your leisure studies research.