FiT Publishing

This study examines the determinants of voting behavior in the referendum for the 2026 Innsbruck-Tyrol Winter Games. Through the lens of rational choice theory, we investigate the role of proximity, elite endorsements, tourism, environment, and population characteristics using data from all 279 voting communities. The regression results show that supporting the conservative party in the National Council elections, industry emissions, and population instability are positively associated with voter turnout, while supporting the green party and temperature on voting day have a negative...Read more

This study examines awareness, congruence, attitudes, and purchase intentions of three local sponsors of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and their strongest rival brands, and tests the relationships among congruence, attitudes, and purchase intentions of both actual sponsors and their rivals. Data were collected through an online questionnaire (n = 621). Results indicated that awareness was significantly higher for only one of the sponsors. Neither congruence nor attitude toward the brand were higher for local sponsors when compared to their rival brands. Purchase intentions were significantly...Read more

Despite considerable advances in the application of advanced analytics across the sport industry, sponsorship revenue forecasting still largely relies on a decades-old methodology, the renewal rate. This paper performs the first application of event history analysis (EHA) approaches to quantitatively analyze the duration of Olympic and World Cup sponsorships, to determine not only the percentage of sponsors who renew, but when sponsorships are most likely to continue, when the probability of a sponsorship ending is highest, and their median lifetimes. Consistent with prior applications of...Read more

In Munich, a referendum on a bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics was held in November 2013 and failed. This study analyzes the determinants of the percent of favorable votes using secondary data from all 52 communities involved in the referendum. The evidence suggests that potential host communities tended to have larger vote shares in favor of putting in a bid as did communities with higher rates of unemployment. In communities with a high share of votes for the Green and the Leftist party in the federal state elections, the percent of favorable votes for the Olympic bid was significantly...Read more

This paper investigates the regional economic impact of the 1996 Olympic Games in Georgia. It questions the findings of Hotchkiss, Moore, and Zobay (2003), who identify significant positive effects of the Olympics on employment in Georgia/USA by first challenging their approach that used a level shift model with no trend inclusion. Second, the original trend regressions are modified to capture spline trend shifts. Third, a nonparametric identification strategy using complex continuous treatment measures extends the original study. After controlling for the two concerns and extending the...Read more

Sponsorship of mega-sports events continues to be one of the most popular forms of marketing. The international appeal and reach of the Olympic Games, in particular, is amongst the top advertising and sponsorship opportunities in the world for international branding. In turn, the marketing value provided by the Olympic Games has attracted the interest of multiple sponsors in various categories, leading to competitive hosting bids and ambush marketing. This study examined mega-sports event interest as a determinant of sponsorship and ambush marketing attitudes, as well as the purchase...Read more