Entering the global arena

On Friday, July 23, 2021, thousands of athletes from across the world will come together to compete in the largest sporting event on the planet.

COVID-19 restrictions permitting, the beginning of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, will mark the culmination of nearly a decade of investment and preparation, with the Japanese authorities setting aside over 400 billion Japanese yen (nearly £3 billion) to build and renovate venues and infrastructure across its capital city.

Investment in infrastructure, athlete accommodation and the recruitment of thousands of volunteers are just some of the major projects that kicked into action when Tokyo was announced as the Olympic host city in 2013.

While the COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement of the Games in 2020, the symbolic importance of holding the event in 2021 has been emphasised by the International Olympic Committee’s executive director Christophe Dubi who recently stated that the Games “will be remembered as a historic moment for humanity.”

“At the heart of every mega sporting event is the concept of soft power”

Similar amounts of emotion and money have been invested before in countries such as South Africa (who hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup), while estimates for the financial outlay being made by the state of Qatar in hosting the 2022 World Cup range from £5 billion to more than £100 billion.

For such a staggering financial investment and large-scale commitment to a four-week sporting event, the questions that are constantly asked are: What is really in it for the country, its people and the cities that open their doors to the world? What are the underlying motivations for nation states hosting these huge events?

Researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Future Economies Research Centre are providing some of the answers.

“At the heart of every mega sporting event is the concept of soft power,” explained Professor Jonathan Grix.

“In recent times, the key institutions and states involved in maintaining a relatively stable world order have all come under strain. It is against this backdrop, and the global spread of populist politics, that emerging states are increasingly seeking ways to acquire soft power to negotiate their positions on the international stage.”

Soft power is certainly not a new phenomenon, with the phrase first coined in the 1990s, and the prevalence of the term rising in recent times with the influx of money from the Middle East and Gulf nations flooding into European football.

However, the controversy surrounding the 2022 Qatar World Cup, world championship-boxing matches finding a new and unlikely home in Saudi Arabia and the introduction of overseas games in the Spanish La Liga (one of the top football leagues in world football), has thrust the motivations and ethics of host nations into the spotlight.

Professor Grix, along with Dr Paul Brannagan and Professor Donna Lee, who leads Manchester Metropolitan’s Future Economies Research Centre, have recently explored this in their book Entering the Global Arena: Emerging States, Soft Power Strategies and Sports Mega-Events.

The book and their research shines a light on emerging economies and puts forward a soft power ‘ideal type’ to aid researchers in understanding the strategies employed by states in advancing their interests.

“There has been a definite shift away from the typical states we see hosting these mega sporting events to the new states we are talking about now,” said Professor Lee.

“Our work is helping to understand why these states are winning bids to host these huge events and why the wider context of a shift in global world power, coupled with the soft power strategies of emerging states, is vital to this.”

Professor Grix, Dr Brannagan and Professor Lee have taken this explanation of soft power and mega-sporting events to propose a “soft power package” consisting of five interlinked dimensions that are central to states’ attempting to use sport to promote their interests.

“We’re looking at the key factors that host nations draw upon to develop their soft power strategies through sports mega-events,” explained Professor Grix.

The team believes that understanding these factors is the first step in exploring the complex political and economic issues lying behind each mega sporting event.

For some countries the events are about attempts to initiate societal change, while for others it is about exerting some global influence.

For example, the Tokyo Olympics are about a country looking to change a deep-seated insular culture.

Dr Yuhei Inoue is leading an International Olympic Committee (IOC) funded project to analyse how the Olympic Games will impact on the hosting communities of Japan.

With the Tokyo Olympic motto “United by Emotion” revealed last year, Dr Inoue believes the aims of the Olympic Games for Japan are very clear. “Japan has issues with societal factors such as female participation in sport and a general ageing population,” he explained. “Diversity and inclusion are at the centre of Japan’s motivations to use the Olympic Games as a trigger for change.

“The event offers a huge opportunity for Japanese society to expand its attitudes to people from different backgrounds, which is intrinsic to the Olympic Values – excellence, respect and friendship.

“Respect is valuing other people’s backgrounds. Friendship is about increasing our relationship with other groups. So, if they are able to promote respect and friendship it can change attitudes and people will be more open to those from different backgrounds.

“It is about internal impact.”

Dr Brannagan added: “While Japan may be seeking societal change by hosting the Olympics, Qatar is looking to use the football World Cup to advance its global ambitions.

“Then if we consider London’s hosting of the Olympics in 2012, the UK was already a powerful global player, so its motive was different. The event was vital in maintaining its leading position in terms of soft power and how other nations view it.”

While the images portrayed by sporting events can be projected positively across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has seen many people beginning to view mega sporting events in a different way.

During the pandemic, Manchester Metropolitan’s researchers have explored how sport as a whole has been cast as a trivial pursuit, categorised under ‘hobbies’ or things to do once more serious issues have been dealt with.

However, they argue that sport and sports events play a crucial social role whether the world is experiencing a crisis or not. In particular, researchers have analysed what sport means for the necessary ‘feelgood’ factor associated with watching and following it.

Professor Grix explained: “Olympians speak of the roar of the crowd when they first enter the Olympic arena; a sound and feeling they recall decades after their sporting days are over.

“Of more importance for our discussion is what the fans take from the co-creation of such events, given that the ‘feelgood’ factor that fans elicit from sport actually serves a crucial purpose in society.

“The cumulative viewing figures for the 2016 Rio Olympics was 3.6 billion, which is getting on for half of the world’s population. Without spectators – or with greatly reduced spectators due to social distancing or fear of travelling – it is unlikely that the collective effervescence we describe will be present.”

The team’s research points out that this is likely to influence the overall impact of a mega sporting event, particularly for Japan, who, like previous Olympic hosts, seek inbound tourists (and the income they bring), a change in their image abroad (to a more ‘outward’ and less ‘inward’ looking society) and an economic upswing due to the event.

"Any moves towards the cancellation of Tokyo 2020...will be devastating and should be avoided"

Dr Inoue has analysed the changing attitudes to the Olympic Games within Japan since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Japanese citizens’ increasing lack of support toward Tokyo 2020 reflects changes in their assessment about the relative benefits and costs of hosting the Games,” he explained.

“To be more specific, prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, most Japanese people welcomed the Olympics, as they believed the benefits of hosting the Games, primarily in the form of economic impacts, would outweigh its costs.

“Since the virus outbreak, however, numerous media outlets have reported that the postponement of the Games would cost the host country billions, most of which will be covered by tax money.

“This has led Japanese people to think that the costs of hosting Tokyo 2020 would outweigh its economic benefits, with the latter being likely reduced by travel and event-related restrictions.”

Even before the global pandemic, the motivations of host nations were coming under the spotlight and bids to host sporting events are now increasingly met with scepticism in many of the traditional and powerful areas of the world.

“Democratic states are starting to say no to hosting these events,” said Professor Grix. “Bavaria in Germany is a prime example where voters rejected a proposal to bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics. And more recently, voters in Switzerland said no to bidding for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

“As we see these large, traditional and, most importantly, democratic nations refusing to bid, we see another reason why mega-events such as the next Winter Olympics will be held in increasingly less democratic states, such as China.”

Dr Inoue added: “Any moves towards the cancellation of Tokyo 2020, driven by the Japanese public, will be devastating and should be avoided. Beyond the detrimental financial impacts of the cancellation, it can signal to the world that sports events are unworthy investments, which will in turn inhibit the development of the sport industry in the post-COVID-19 era.”

What is clear, is that a shift has taken place towards the hosting of smaller sporting events (in terms of investment) aimed at building local identity and pride. The success of staging the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in Yorkshire in 2014 is one example that the Future Economies team identify as the type of event Western, democratic countries are gravitating towards.

This evolution in the perception and nature of sports mega-events is a strand that runs through the centre of the Sports Policy Unit, a core group of researchers within the Future Economies team and part of the Institute of Sport. Their understanding is helping to inform new research into aspects of sporting events that have yet to be explored.

Professor Lee said: “Whatever your country, whatever your culture, there are values in sport which are universal.”