Commonwealth Games: can Africa afford the games?

  • 1502 Views
  • 391 Downloads

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

The Commonwealth Games Federation recently awarded the hosting of the 2022 Games to Durban, South Africa. This will be the first time the Games are hosted in the African continent. The paper looks into whether tangible benefits for hosting mega-events are less or more important than intangible benefits. In investigating this issue, the paper takes a political geography theoretical stance for its ability to provide normative ideological content for explaining intangible and tangible values for hosting Commonwealth Games. The paper looks at pros and cons for investing in mega-event infrastructure and also looks at the cost of hosting the Games for cities. The 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi budgeted $240 million for the entire Games, but the actual costs after the Games were found to be $1.7 billion. Similarly, in 2014 Glasgow, the cost of the Games was calculated at £575 million ($690 million). The paper looks at whether South Africa as the 2022 Commonwealth Games host can afford the games. It also considers the impact of the Games on national identity, national pride and patriotism here identified as novelty values that preserve social cohesion, a social attribute that has to be in place to build a robust economy. The paper concludes by noting that the success of the Games will depend on deliberate investment in catalytic facilities in areas that will be sustained post event. The amount of novelty value generated out of the Commonwealth Games will depend on how successful the Games are and on how the communities are able to interact with the facilities post event.

view full abstract hide full abstract
    • Table 1. The history of Commonwealth Games
    • Table 2. Categories of sporting events
    • Allmers, S., & Maening, W. (2008). South Africa 2010: Economic scope and limits. Hamburg contemporary economic discussions, 21.
    • Atter, L., & Hirsch, S. (2016). KPMG viewpoint: Time for a new approach, KPMG international cooperative.
    • Barclay, J. (2009). Predicting the costs and benefits of mega-sporting events: misjudgment of Olympic proportion? Journal compilation, Institute of economic affairs.
    • Bohlmann, H. R., and Van Heerden, J. H. (2008) Predicting the Economic Impact of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. International Journal of Sports Management and Marketing, 3, 383-396.
    • Busa, F. (2011). Mega-events as catalysts for urban transformation, Shanghai manual – A guide for sustainable urban development in the 21st century, chapter 10.
    • Knott, B., Swart, K., & Visser, S. (2015). The impact of sport mega-events on the quality of life for host city residents: reflections on the 2010 FIFA World Cup, African journal of hospitality, tourism and leisure, 4 [special edition].
    • Matheson, V. (2006). Mega-Events: The effect of the world’s biggest sporting events on local, regional and national economies, Economics Department Working Papers, Paper 68.
    • Matsuoka De Aragoa, M. (2015). Economic impacts of the FIFA World Cup in developing Countries, Western Michigan University, Scholar Works, Honors theses, Paper 2609.
    • Ortiz, M. (2002). Do professional sports franchises and professional sports stadiums havany effect on employment in a city?. Virginia polytechnic Institute and State University, Master of Arts in economics.
    • PWC. (2011). Changing the game – Outlook for the global sports market to 2015.
    • Solberg, H. A., & Preuse, H. (2007). Major sport events and long-term tourism impacts, Journal of Sports management, 21, 213-234.
    • Varrel, A., & Kennedy, L. (2011). Mega-Events and Megaprojects, European Commision, European research area, Chance 2 Sustain.
    • Economic impact of Durban 2022 Common Wealth Games, 1st edition.
    • 15 June 2014, Mega sporting events and sustainability, moving the goal posts conference, Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.
Related Articles

  • Economic growth and housing spending within social protection: Correlation and causal study

    Svitlana ZhuchenkoORCID , Zuzana KubaščikovaORCID , Anastasiia SamoilikovaORCID Researcher ID, Tetiana VasylievaORCID Researcher ID, Iryna D’yakonovaORCID doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/pmf.12(1).2023.07
    Public and Municipal Finance Volume 12, 2023         Issue #1         pp. 73-85 Views: 457 Downloads: 87 TO CITE АНОТАЦІЯ

    The purpose of this study is to ground the causality, its character, and power between economic growth and housing spending within government social protection to strengthen poverty reduction. The study is conducted on a sample of 27 EU countries for 2012–2021 according to the following indicators: government expenditure on housing within social protection, government expenditure on housing development, and GDP per capita growth. Correlation analysis revealed the relationship between the variables. The paper employed time lags with the most significance based on Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients depending on normal data (Shapiro-Wilk test). The causal analysis determined which of the studied indicators is the cause and consequence of established dependence based on the results of the Granger test. Calculations are made in STATA software. It is confirmed that government expenditure on housing within social protection influences GDP per capita growth in 14 countries (the highest impact is in Greece and Spain) and government expenditure on housing development – in 17 countries (the biggest influence is in Romania, the Slovak Republic, Ireland, and Lithuania). It is also emphasized that government expenditure on housing development influences economic growth more significantly and with higher strength than government expenditure on housing within social protection. The obtained results can be useful in further research and government decision-making in social and economic policy, particularly regarding the expediency of increasing government spending for affordable housing and its development according to social protection programs, poverty reduction, and inclusive economic growth.

    Acknowledgments
    The study is funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (No. 0122U000781) and the Vega Agency (No. 1/0638/23).

Download Preview
Close
Public and Municipal Finance
Public and Municipal Finance