ABSTRACT
While sport and well-being have long been noted as having a positive relationship, much of the research surrounding this relationship has focussed on the physical and psychological well-being outcomes associated with sport participation. More recent studies are confirming that similar well-being outcomes can be obtained by sport event spectators. This chapter reviews the types of well-being outcomes experienced by sport event spectators. It also proposes that sport-associated well-being outcomes can be further enhanced through effective sport event leveraging, thus contributing to sustainable sport event legacies (i.e. well-being outcomes post-event). A case study of an Auckland (New Zealand) Tuatara professional baseball franchise home-game series is utilised to support this proposition and place discussion within this chapter in context. The case study explores how Baseball New Zealand, the National Sporting Body for the sport of baseball in New Zealand, can best leverage off of the Auckland Tuatara in order to highlight and extend well-being outcomes achieved through home-game attendance. A survey was developed and disseminated amongst event attendees during the Auckland Tuatara final home-game series of the 2019/2020 Australia Baseball League season in order to determine perceptions on the well-being outcomes associated with the events. Findings highlight the important role local sport events play in the generation of community well-being.
