Mass participation effects of major sporting events: establishing a research frontier

Usually, claims about mass participation effects from event hosting are raised by politicians and stakeholders. The argument goes that the population is inspired to do (more) sport when a nation hosts a major elite sporting event like the Olympics or the soccer World Cup. In this chapter, we conduct a literature review to understand whether this claim is correct. We identify 52 studies – including existing reviews – with the majority returning non-findings or negative (discouragement) effects. Based on our review of the included materials, we conclude that it cannot be denied that participation effects can be part of a major event hostship. However, the effects – when identified – are small and restricted to specific groups. Further, trickle down-effects seldom come automatically and require leverage to materialise. Therefore, stakeholders should stop claiming that participation effects are inherent to the major event hostship.