ABSTRACT
The relatively few economic impact studies carried out at major sporting events in the UK are characterised by not being in the public domain and having objectives that were unique to the event under investigation. Consequently, there is little publicly available data for promoters of events to use to evaluate, and even less data that are directly comparable between two or more events. The shortage of research into the impacts of major sporting events was noted by Elvin and Emery (1997) who state:
With so many major sports competitions taking place world-wide and on a regular basis, and with rivalry to host these events keener than ever, it is perhaps surprising that there has been only limited applied research which has examined the impact of the wide variety of sports events on local, regional or national economies.
