The Economic Value of Sports on National Development - Research Paper Example

The mega sporting events are said to be good stimulators of economic growth and development. Sydney and Atlanta Olympics were highly associated with the macro economic development plans of Australia and United States of America respectively and left positive impact on the business environment. Again the business groups that associate with such mega sporting event also gets benefitted through their promotional activities in terms of increased future business potential. Considering the Sydney Olympic Games, the Business Club Australia provided networking opportunities as well as attracted around 16,000 visitors by linking to the Common wealth’s Trade Visitors Program.

The sporting events also provide huge economic benefits to the host country through increased tourism. To manage greater number of tourists the infrastructure of a country must be renewed and revitalized. This leads to fresh investment in sectors like transportation, construction etc. This eventually creates higher employment opportunities. In 1999, the Sports Travel Magazine estimated that sports related travel and the tourism market possessed an approximate value of US $ 118.3 billion (Jordan et al, 2011, p. 29). The NBA in the United States of America has also led to the enhancement in the economic forefront with its tremendous popularity and the market has reached out and has spread its influence to Asia as well as in Africa (Abrams, 2010).

The economic value of sports can be understood through the fact that economic performance of areas with stadium is better than those without it. Moreover if a popular team is hailed from an area it often reflects through the areas better economic performance; this might be due to more exposure that the concerned area gets through that team in all most all the spheres. However, among the works of some eminent scholars like that of Baade (1994), no such significant