Sustainable Financing of Elite Athlete Development: An Empirical Analysis of Winter Sports in Austria

Abstract

This study examines the value of professional winter sports to the Austrian resident population in the context of three major sporting events (the 2017 World Championships in Alpine Skiing, the 2018 Winter Olympics, and the 2019 World Championships in Nordic Skiing). In nationwide population surveys (n = 2289), the contingent valuation method was employed, and the respondents were presented with two scenarios asking for their willingness-to-pay for live broadcasts and long-term athlete development. The aggregate willingness-to-pay amounted to €42 million (for live broadcasts) and about €800 million (for athlete development). However, only about 20% of the residents expressed a positive willingness-to-pay. The respondents’ willingness-to-pay is not only determined by well-studied factors like consumption capital, intangible factors, and socio-demographics, but also by life satisfaction. The willingness-to-pay for live broadcasts is comparably higher for alpine skiing, while the willingness-to-pay for athlete development is higher for Olympic winter sports athletes. The findings have implications for sport policy and sport finance, highlighting the challenge of turning public sport consumption into a willingness to contribute financially to sustainable athlete development.

Willingness-to-Pay for Environmental Measures in Non-Profit Sport Clubs

“…Put differently, happier people behave more generously which is reflected in their WTP. The positive association is in line with some existing studies [58], but not all [62]. The insignificant effect in the second model supports the notion that happier people are less generous (e.g., [78]).…”

“…Several studies confirmed a positive relationship between well-being and pro-environmental behavior (e.g., [60,61]). Within sport, well-being was positively associated with individuals' WTP [58], but not in all studies (e.g., [62]). The fourth hypothesis reflects these aspects: Hypothesis 4 (H4).…”

“…With subjective well-being becoming more important in recent public policy debates [56], the role of well-being in explaining individuals' economic behavior caught the attention of researchers (for a review see [57]), including sport scholars [58]. Expressing WTP for specific goods or services can be considered one form of economic behavior and economic behavioral intentions, respectively.…”

Residents Perceptions of the Economic Impacts of Hosting Mega Sports Events: A Cross-Sectional Study of Host Cities of AFCON 2022 in Cameroon

“…While most studies on residents' perceptions of the economic impacts of mega sports events have focused on individual cities (Coates and Wicker, 2015;Yao and Schwarz, 2018;Wicker and Frick, 2020), this study analyzed the perceptions of residents from all five host cities of AFCON 2022, to delve into the issues that residents are most concerned about. This comprehensive approach implies that the findings and conclusions reveal a nationwide perspective about the respondents' perceptions of the mega event.…”

“…This is considered a major omission because the impacts of mega sports events are predominantly at the community level (Li and McCabe, 2013). Wicker and Frick (2020) therefore advise that a community approach be adopted in studies analyzing the impacts of mega sports events. Colomb and Novy (2016) further recommend an inclusive approach that examines multiple perspectives, rather than isolated cases, in the study of community impacts.…”