Risk management issues and strategies in large-scale sporting events: A stakeholder perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this Masters thesis was to explore risk management issues and strategies from the perspectives of key stakeholders of large-scale sporting events using a comparative case study of two Canadian sporting events---the ISU (International Skating Union) 2006 World Figure Skating Championships and the U-20 FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association ) World Cup Canada 2007. A new definition of risk management was proposed as the proactive process that involves assessing all possible risks to the events and its stakeholders by strategically avoiding, preventing, reducing, diffusing, re-allocating, legalizing, and building/managing relationships to mitigate those identified risks. The following categories of risk issues were identified: environment, financial, human resources, infrastructure, interdependence, legacy, media, operations, organizing, participation, political, relationships, sport, threats and visibility. Stakeholders used a variety of strategies to deal with risk in large-scale sporting events. Strategies that emerged during this research fell within the following categories: avoidance, diffusion, legal, re-allocation, prevention, reduction and relationships.