This current study examined the extent to which hosting a prestigious national sporting event will be leveraged into a community value that contributes to community sustainability – specifically, the 2012 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Kansas City, MO. The main impetus of this research is perpetuated by the billions of dollars of public monies spent on facilities, public infrastructure, and organizing activities that accompany professional sport teams or hosting large sporting events.
Method:
Data were collected over the spring and summer of 2012 in the Kansas City metro area. Participants were selected through local social and homes association listservs and were contacted regarding their opinions on Kansas City hosting the game. The study captured 735 responses across 47 zip codes, with gender, race, and class demography representative of the Kansas City metro area. The data were captured through instruments of social capital, community identity and the Scale of Psychic Income (SPI, Kim & Walker, 2011). We were able to collect data from individuals both one month before the ASG weekend and one month after the ASG weekend.
Analysis/Results:
In terms of the differences between before the ASG and after the ASG, male respondents reported significantly higher values in overall psychic income difference, pride in infrastructure difference, KC pride difference, KC attachment difference, event excitement, KC identity difference, and KC team identity difference. A regression analysis was ran for both psychic income before the ASG events and after the ASG events. Before the ASG events, results showed race, class, and years spend in Kansas City significantly detracting from anticipated psychic income totals. Further, for each respondent, their distance from the baseball stadium where most of the events would be held was included, and it was determined that the closer each respondent was to the stadium, the lower their anticipated level of psychic income. Not surprisingly, bridging social capital, KC identity, and KC team identity were significant and positive predictors of anticipated psychic income.
Conclusions:
Ultimately, it appeared that results were mixed as male Kansas Citians and White Kansas Citians were disproportionately beneficiaries of the ASG events for the 2012 summer. However, it appears that the KC metro’s efforts in marketing and implementing the ASG events where effective. While race, class, ZIP code, and years in the area showed significant cynicism regarding the extent to which KC would benefit from the events, these variables showed no relationship after the events.