The societal impact of elite sport: positives and negatives: introduction to ESMQ special issue

Abstract

As nations are increasingly investing large amounts of public money in elite sport development, policy makers often claim that elite sport will not only lead to more medals, but it will also trigger a range of wider societal outcomes. This point is clearly illustrated by the high-performance directors who were interviewed for this introduction. Notwithstanding the many claims, empirical studies that explore the outcomes of elite sport to society are largely fragmented and anecdotal. The six papers within this Special Issue add to our academic understanding of the complexity and multidimensional nature of both investigating and managing the societal impact of elite sport. By testing the papers against a hierarchy of evidence, they resonate with calls for sport management researchers to contribute to the field by utilising robust and appropriate research designs. However, as confirmed by the various studies, causality on this topic is still difficult to establish. We, therefore, call for a future research agenda that shifts away from wondering 'if' particular societal impacts attributable to elite sport exist, to answering the question 'under what circumstances are they most likely to occur'.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Elite Swimmers and Water Polo Players: Lessons for the Future

“…All things considered, the COVID-19 vaccine was a great chance for those athletes to come back into daily training and competing. In many countries around the world, elite athletes who are famous have a very important role in preventive health [ 31 , 32 ]. In Poland, the government called elite athletes to encourage people to get vaccinated, hoping that the power that elite athletes had could increase the vaccination rates.…”

The societal impact of electronic sport: a scoping review

“…This section defines the terms esport and societal impact and concludes with the theoretical framework for this study, the Mapping Elite Sport Societal Impact (MESSI) model (De Rycke & De Bosscher, 2019), which is used to investigate societal impact of sport and is considered an adequate approach for studies on the topic (De Bosscher et al, 2021;De Rycke & De Bosscher, 2020;De Rycke, De Bosscher, Funahashi, & Sotiriadou, 2019). What is esport?…”

“…This rooting ranges far beyond participation as leisure or health care activities, but has differentiated into a vital economic sector, a philosophy of life and affects everyday interaction such as behavior or speech (Stichweh, 2013). It is usually positively connoted and is regarded as an engine for development, thus underlining that sport has an impact on society on many levels (De Bosscher, Shibli, & De Rycke, 2021;Pawlowski, Schüttoff, Downward, & Lechner, 2018;Spaaij, 2009). The depiction of sport has evolved throughout history and differs from culture to culture.…”

Sports Elite Means Vaccine Elite? Concerns and Beliefs Related to COVID-19 Vaccines among Olympians and Elite Athletes

“…Therefore, the COVID-19 vaccine represented a chance for such athletes to return to training, competing, winning, or simply working. In addition, elite athletes in most countries enjoy a very high level of public recognition, serving as authorities in terms of sports, as well as in terms of health and preventive health [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. For this reason, the conduct of elite athletes may have had a direct or indirect impact on the pro- or anti-vaccination behavior of individuals and fans of athletes.…”