Evaluating economic impacts of major sports events – a meta analysis of the key trends

For many years there has been wide recognition of the economic impact that major sports events can generate in attracting visitors and event-related construction investment. This article seeks to provide a brief overview of the key approaches that have been used to assess the economic impact of major events over the past two decades including multiplier analysis, input–output modelling, and computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling. The article also discusses some of the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches. In order to provide a platform for future research that draws upon existing research, the article then presents the findings of a meta analysis undertaken to examine the key patterns in economic assessments of major events based on previous studies reported in the literature. These reviews have been classified into three stages that are ordered chronologically and it can be seen that the range of issues covered, the depth of analysis, and the comprehensiveness of the evaluations increased across these three stages. This article finally summarises the key advances in approach that were made across these stages and proposes a future research agenda.