More than just Nostalgia? Exploring the heritage/sport tourism Nexus

Abstract

Sport-related heritage is increasingly being recognized as a potent instigator of tourism, though it is usually incorporated within the context of nostalgia sport tourism. While sites, attractions and experiences about the sporting past often provide a venue for the sport tourist to engage with nostalgia, what has become more evident is that housing all elements related to sports-related history beneath nostalgia's roof is misleading. Heritage, on the other hand, is a broader, more encompassing term that may better represent the issues and topics that remain so fundamental to our understanding of sport-related tourism. This paper situates nostalgia sport tourism within a heritage context and finds that heritage is a more fitting categorization for this form of sport tourism. Four characterizations of sport heritage are identified: tangible immovable sport heritage, tangible movable sport heritage, intangible sport heritage, and goods and services with a sport heritage component. These categorizations do not discount the role of nostalgia in sport travel. However, the vast majority of attractions and experiences related to the sporting past reflect a more holistic purpose, to which nostalgia is but one of several components.

Nostalgia-Related Aspects of Professional Sport Facilities: A Facility Audit of Major League Baseball and National Football League Strategies to Evoke the Past

“…Nostalgia is similarly described as a unique type of positive memory or collective recollections from the past which serves to offer a preferred escape/alternative to the present (Ramshaw & Gammon, 2005 heritage also does)" (p. 237). Holbrook and Schindler (1991) similarly identified nostalgia as "a preference (general liking, positive attitude or favorable affect) towards objects (people, places or things) that were more common (popular, fashionable, or widely circulated) when they were younger (in early adulthood adolescence, in childhood, or even before birth)" (p. 330).…”

“…Sport organizations also frequently promote their venue as home to unique traditions and as the caretaker of the fan nation's collective identity to further establish and support connections to the organization (Green, 2001;Ramshaw & Gammon, 2005;Slowikowski, 1991;Trujillo & Krizek, 1994). A fan nation's collective identity is usually displayed through intangible heritage components like rituals, ceremonies, songs, and chants which are specific to a particular sport and/or location (Ramshaw & Gammon, 2005;Slowikowski, 1991;Tunbridge & Ashworth, 1996).…”

“…A fan nation's collective identity is usually displayed through intangible heritage components like rituals, ceremonies, songs, and chants which are specific to a particular sport and/or location (Ramshaw & Gammon, 2005;Slowikowski, 1991;Tunbridge & Ashworth, 1996). These items are unique because they are culturally significant and not externally consumed or practiced outside the facility by other individuals or people outside their collective fan group.…”

“…Sport museums, halls of fame, and also facility tours offer unique opportunities to evoke nostalgia because they provide insight to customers about a sport, organization, and venue. However, it should be noted that these nostalgic components do not necessarily present real pictures of the past or present because they are organized commercial reproductions (Ramshaw & Gammon, 2005;Richie & Adair, 2004;Snyder, 1991;Vesey & Dimanche, 2003). The design and layout of these structures is solely aimed to venerate and exalt the accomplishments and happenings of the past to juxtapose against the present.…”

“…The concepts of sport nostalgia and heritage are briefly presented below to help drive the connection between them and the professional sport facility. Ramshaw and Gammon (2005) proposed "Heritage often seeks to remember, enliven, teach -and even create -personal and collective legacies for contemporary audiences. Its purpose is often to celebrate the achievements, courage and strength of those who have come before" (p. 230).…”