This paper investigates the role of socio-demographic characteristics, educational and economic variables on sports participation in a comparative way in two European countries: Spain and England. Adopting a broad concept of sport, as in the common European approach, we analyze the determinants of sports participation in forty different professional and non-professional sports and recreational activities in both countries. The research involves a comparative analysis between the data of England and Spain based on two Logistic regressions. The regression equation of every country tests the effect of 17 binary explanatory variables on a dependent binary variable for participation. Higher education level, professional occupation, younger age and being male are all factors associated with more sports participation. Although there is no difference in the direction of the factor effects on participation between England and Spain, there is considerable variation in their relative strength, which has sport policy implications in the two nations.

Despite the increasing academic interest in the analysis of the Olympic legacy, there is a relative knowledge gap as far as sports participation legacy is concerned. The authors bridge this gap by analysing the short-term sports participation legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on the adult population in England. By using data from the Active People Survey and considering different sports participation variables and the effect of the economic climate, results demonstrate a positive association with participation from hosting the Games. Participation rates were adjusted to take into account seasonality and changes in the gross domestic product (GDP), accounting in this way for the effect of the recent economic recession. The biggest effect was observed in relation to frequent participation (at least three times per week for at least 30 minutes) in the year immediately after the Games. In 2014, the sports participation rates fell relative to 2013 but remained higher than pre-Olympic levels. The sport participation legacy of the Olympic Games appeared to have significant differences between socio-demographic groups.

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The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the factors that determine the extent to which spectators attending one-off sports events feel inspired to increase their own participation in sport. The research considers both the socio-demographic and sport participation profile of the audience as well as the characteristics of an event as predictors of inspiration. The methodological approach involved secondary analysis of data collected from audiences across ten events held in England since 2010. The findings are based on an aggregate sample of 7,458 respondents. The statistical method used to analyse the data was multinomial logistic regression. The results show that the majority of respondents were inspired by the event that they attended, but the strength of inspiration effect varied significantly according to their age; place of residence; ethnic origin; sport participation profile; and, whether or not they had been exposed to information about opportunities to undertake sport. Moreover, events featuring team sports, non-age restricted events, and elite events incorporating a mass participation component were also found to be positively related to inspiration. Several policy implications are identified for event organisers and public funders of both elite and community sport.

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