Abstract: |
The Olympic Games are considered to be the most prestigious multi-sport event
in the world. However, with growing costs associated with hosting such events
against a backdrop of questionable economic benefits, and yet elation that
follows from sporting success, a number of studies have started to address its
intangible or softer impacts as a justification for the investment. It is well
known that sentiment plays a part in the evolving economic valuation of
companies through the stock market. What is less well known is how ‘news’
affects the sentiment towards major public investments like the Olympics. In
this paper we consider, from the context of the pre-event stage of the 30th
Olympiad, the relationship between attitudes towards the Olympics and
Olympic-related news; specifically the bad news associated with an increase in
the cost of provision, and the good news associated with Team GB’s medal
success in 2008. Using a unique data set and an event-study approach that
involves compositional time-series analysis, it is found that ‘good’ news
affects sentiments much more than ‘bad’ but that the distribution of such
sentiment varies widely. For example, a much more pronounced effect of good
news is identified for females than males, but ‘bad’ news has less of an
impact on the young and older age groups. The paper consequently argues that
extreme caution should be exercised in policy pronouncements that are based on
such sentiments. |