Going for gold: A prospective assessment of the economic impacts of the Commonwealth Games 2014 on the East End of Glasgow

Abstract

Host cities have increasingly sought to combine the staging of a multi-sports event with the regeneration of run-down areas. Like London 2012, Glasgow has sought to use the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2014 as a catalyst for the physical, social and economic renewal of its East End. This paper uses a theory-based evaluation framework to assess the likely economic impacts of the CWG upon Glasgow's East End. After considering the scope for economic change, the feasibility of legacy developments and programmes being delivered as intended, and the plausibility that economic impacts might be achieved based on evidence from past events, it is concluded that economic impacts are likely in the shortterm and possible in the medium-to-long-term. Key weaknesses in Glasgow's approach which may limit these impacts are identified so that future host cities with similar objectives may learn from them.

The SNP, Scottish Labour and Glasgow 2014 – Contrasting Political Narratives of the 2014 Commonwealth Games

“…They argue that these assumptions draw upon neoliberal principles, arguing that they result in market-led economic and social development strategies. This therefore invokes the 'trickle-down' belief regarding the use of sporting events for development purpose, with Paton et al (2012) aligning with the arguments of others regarding the fallacy of such beliefs (Clark and Kearns, 2016;Matheson, 2010;Mooney et al, 2015;Owe, 2012;Stewart and Rayner, 2016). Gray and Mooney (2011) are therefore sceptical about this depiction of the Games, arguing that: …the discourse of regeneration, the engineering of collective hyperbole around the Commonwealth Games and the advancement of the 'Team Glasgow' mantra, operate as both placebo for genuine participation models, and as alibis for property-led regeneration activity and punitive labour market policy.…”

“…Analysis of the SNP's discourse sample identified sporting benefits as the most common category. The party argued for a range of sports-related legacy aspects deriving from the Games, with a primary focus on using the event as a catalyst for boosting sports and physical activity participation rates in Scotland (Clark and Kearns, 2016;McCartney et al, 2012;Rogerson, 2016 and 1986 which has led to ongoing disputes on the use of Meadowbank Stadium (Reid, 2013(Reid, , 2014. Given that analyses of sports participation data in Scotland in the period following the Games showed little improvement (Clark and Kearns, 2016;Rogerson, 2016;Scottish Government, 2015), the continued lack of concrete evidence suggests that politicians may be sensible to continue to act with caution.…”

“…However, Owe's (2012) review of evidence of past event legacies mirrored the findings of others, concluding that legacy evaluations of past events lacked robust evidence or had mixed evidence regarding their positive impact (Horne, 2007;Martin and Barth, 2013;McCartney et al, 2012;Mooney et al, 2015;Stewart and Rayner, 2016). Furthermore, other analyses have cautioned against the commonly-held perceptions about the possibility of a 'trickle-down effect' in terms of using funding for elite level sporting competitions to boost community sports and physical activity participation (Clark and Kearns, 2016), whilst others urge caution on the validity of claims regarding the 'feel-good effect' of hosting events such as the Games (Matheson, 2010;McCartney et al, 2012;Owe, 2012;Stewart and Rayner, 2016). This is problematic for achieving the planned legacy of the Games, given the centrality of using the Games to boost sports and physical activity participation to improve health outcomes in the Glaswegian and Scottish population (McCartney et al, 2012;Rogerson, 2016), or to overcome barriers relating to disability sports participation (McPherson et al, 2016;Misener et al, 2015).…”

“…Black (2014) argues that 'second-order' events such as the 2014 Glasgow Games are of great importance to 'locales for whom second-order games at the only realistic means of pursuing event-centred development strategies' (2014: 16), given that any attempts to 'springboard' to larger sporting events (as was the case of Kuala Lumpur 1998 or Delhi 2010) is infeasible for smaller host nations such as Scotland (Horne, 2017). Indeed, image projection and tourism promotion has been widely contended to form a central tenet of the 2014 Games legacy strategy (Clark and Kearns, 2016;Horne, 2017;Matheson, 2010;Owe, 2012;Rogerson, 2016).…”

“…Gray and Mooney (2011) are therefore sceptical about this depiction of the Games, arguing that: …the discourse of regeneration, the engineering of collective hyperbole around the Commonwealth Games and the advancement of the 'Team Glasgow' mantra, operate as both placebo for genuine participation models, and as alibis for property-led regeneration activity and punitive labour market policy. (2011: 19) These arguments are symptomatic of the central arguments of critics of the official political narratives regarding the legacy of the 2014 Games which often fail to acknowledge the mixed evidence about the legacy of past events, with a consensus emerging in academic studies which questions the extent to which the economic and social benefits of the event will effectively prioritise the local population (Clark and Kearns, 2016;Gray and Mooney, 2011;Gray and Porter, 2015;Martin and Barth;Mooney et al, 2015;Paton et al, 2012).…”