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The purpose of this paper was to provide a discussion on using sport events for community development through the lenses of community development theories and perceived event impacts.

The nature of the paper was not based on a specific methodology or design, rather on a review of relevant studies that aim to support strategies of how to develop a community through the hosting of sport events utilizing community development theories.

The review revealed that the profile of the community could influence the use of asset or needs-based community theory to achieve community development goals associated with hosting certain size of sport events.

The combination of community development theories with the literature in sport event impacts and legacies provides a novel approach to the discussion of community development through sport events.

Mass participation sport events, such as running events, have the potential to foster social capital among event participants. The purpose of this study is to investigate the interrelationships among sport event participation, social capital and various (behavioral, psychological, informational and negative) outcomes.

Following Putnam's social capital approach, a research model was developed and tested using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling, based on survey data from 301 runners with varied running histories and event experiences.

Results showed a limited impact of sport event participation on participants' social capital, indicating that the temporary interactions within the event timeframe were insufficient to generate sustainable social capital among event participants. Nevertheless, significant relationships were found between social capital and behavioral, psychological and informational outcomes of social capital, suggesting that social capital can be converted to a range of benefits for participants and the event community.

Event marketers and sponsors should take strategic actions to enhance participants' social experience and cultivate social capital, which may help them gain support from the event community irrespective of past experiences with participation.

This study extends Putnam's social capital framework into mass participation sport event context. As an initial effort to quantitatively test the linkage among event participation, social capital and various outcomes, this study offers empirical insights into the role of sport event participation in generating long-term social benefits for event participants.

Situational involvement (SI) and enduring involvement (EI) are important predictors of spectator sports tourist behaviours. For this study, onsite and web surveys were utilised to help understand how SI and EI levels, with both event and destination, may vary according to the primary and secondary trip purpose of a spectator sports tourist. Results revealed differences between the two groups only within certain aspects of SI and EI with the destination.

The purpose of this study is to explore how event volunteers, athletes and onsite spectators perceive the impact of sport event sponsorship on future purchase intentions of the event sponsor brand.

The research problem was based on propositions by Novais and Arcodia (2013) and proposes relationships between sponsor–event fit, brand attitude, perceived brand quality and sponsor brand purchase intentions. Data were collected from 352 Greek sport event consumers from the 2013 Classic Marathon event, in Athens, Greece, using onsite surveys targeting non-sponsor brand consumer spectators, volunteers and athletes.

The results reveal that sponsor–event fit indirectly influenced sponsor brand purchase intentions via brand attitude and brand quality across all three groups. However, the fit did not directly influence perceived brand quality of the sponsor across all three groups and directly influenced purchase intentions of the athlete group.

Because of the duration of the event (one day), the sample sizes were not very large. In addition, the study was delimited on one sponsor from a single sport event. Therefore, the findings need to be tested with larger samples and additional sponsors and events to arrive to more robust conclusion about the purchase intention formation and its antecedents across multiple sport event consumer groups.

This study explores the power of sponsor–event fit among non-consumers of the sponsor brand and how the “interface” of event consumption through the lenses of three groups, namely, volunteer, spectator and athlete, influences brand attitude, perceived brand quality and sponsor brand purchase intentions.

Sports events are tourist attractions and their image components can relate to the destination image concept and structure. This study examined sports event images held by active and passive sports tourists at four marathon races in Germany. Some differences in the perception of event images were found for active and passive sports tourists as well as for different types of destinations. For active sports tourists, emotional, physical and organisational image associations were clustered closer. For passive sports tourists, social and historical image associations were clustered closer. The type of destination elicited different event images among active and passive sports tourists.

This study examines the impact of sport-induced emotions on spectators' purchase intentions towards event sponsors. Spectators who experience positive emotions evoked by a home team victory are found to exhibit stronger purchase intentions towards sponsors regardless of the sponsor's ability to improve spectator emotions. Those who experience negative emotions following home team defeat show heightened purchase intentions towards sponsors perceived capable of improving their negative feelings. Purchase intention decreases when sponsors cannot assist in upwardly managing the negative feelings of spectators. Theoretical and managerial implications for sponsors of spectator sports are provided.