Sports Marketing & Sponsorship - FIFA/CIES International University ...

Is motorsport “a race out of place”?RESEARCH PAPERof mega-sports events with tremendous fanfare,talking up the projected benefits in terms ofinvestment dollars committed, jobs to be created andmultiplied effects throughout the local economy.Where they provide inducements in the form of directpublic subsidies and other assorted tax-breaks or taxholidays,governments also reassure the communitythat all they are surrendering is money that they wouldnot have collected anyway. Therefore, it is claimed,these deals represent a ‘win’ for all parties: not onlyfor the recipient enterprise, but also for thegovernment, its taxpayers and the wider regionaleconomy.But the facts are that these sorts of deals aredifficult, if not impossible, to justify on economicgrounds (Chalip & McGuirty, 2004). Moreover, theprocesses for clinching them are even harder to justifyagainst basic principles of good government. Inpractice, it is difficult to assess the details of theclaims made about particular assistance packagesbecause governments generally keep the analysis andbudgetary costs of the assistance to themselves. Thisraises its own problems in terms of transparency,accountability and due process. At the extreme, itopens the door to suspicions of nepotism or evencorruption. More generally, when public scrutiny ishindered, there is more risk that an ethos of ‘can do’entrepreneurialism will swamp more cool-headed‘should we do?’ decision-making. Importantly for thispaper, it is possible that rather than providing benefitsfor the marketing of a city in an internationalmarketplace, mega-sports events such as motorsportsspectacles provide marketing advantages for the sportitself, and for all of its associated corporate interestsand sponsors.Given the political economy of event tourismstrategies (Gotham, 2002), it is hardly surprising tofind claims that special events have been oversold inthe past 20 years, since “many groups in theeconomy have their interests linked to the promotionof events” (Dwyer et al, 2003, p.16). These groupsinclude the event promoters, tourism bodies, thegovernments and events corporations that focus largelyon ‘winning’ events for their state, the politicians whocan claim victory over other states in the marketing oftheir cities, and the various corporations (e.g. cigaretteand alcohol companies) who can use the excitementof a large event in a significant location to promotetheir products (Arnold et al, 1989; Chalip & Leyns,2002). Not only are special events used to ‘market’ or‘sell’ a city to potential consumers, but they areincreasingly usedby corporations as “key devices to shape theirbrands’ images” (Gotham, 2002, p.1748). Forexample, brewing companies use sporting spectaclesas a macho vehicle to appeal to young males(Crompton, 1993).While there has been considerable debate about theactual benefits of mega-sports events for the cities inwhich they are hosted, there has been relatively littlediscussion of the ways in which the sport itselfbenefits from being located in a city. More importantly,how does the sport benefit from being located inparticular, prestigious or highly valued parts of thecity? There has been little research investigating theway in which the location of sports events is apotentially significant component of the marketing ofthe sport, and of all its associated products andactivities. Just as cities are in increasing competitionfor investment, so too are different types of sportingactivity. Sports are no longer seen simply as a form ofexercise and entertainment. Many sports, includingmotorsport, have grown into fiercely competitive multimilliondollar industries.It is important that a geographic perspective beadopted to examine the ways in which the marketingof particular types of sport can benefit from decisionsabout their location within urban areas.Objectives and conceptual frameworkThis paper has two aims. The first is to explore theways in which the location of motorsports events inAustralian cities might be an important component ofthe marketing of this sport and its attendant62 International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship ● OCTOBER 2009 ●