Sport Business Traveler Sprawl Data: A Case Study Analysis of Periphery Event Spending and Contiguous Stakeholder Support

Author : Christopher M. Keshock

Abstract :Hosting community sport and entertainment events necessitates the combined efforts and endorsements of many stakeholders. Along with acquiring the necessary financial resources to subsidize the operational costs of events, attempts to quantify associative utility properties and reciprocal impacts for strategic planning purposes are essential, and especially so if events are to remain viable. In the case of sporting contests, the effect or influence of an athletic event on locations and others is often determined by how far an event reaches its stakeholders (participants, spectators, sponsors, and businesses) in terms of geography; serves as a platform for host sites to generate new revenue from visitor spending; add to the quality of life for residents participating and spectating at event functions; a vehicle to enhance host destination brand equity, and collectively bringing people together for socio-cultural enrichment. Investigations of economic benefit data or calculations of new dollars flowing to a city impact zone (Central Place Theory) created by travelers attending a sporting event have remained a popular theme used by contest administrators to generate event worth in the minds of residents, urban and rural developers, politicians, and other associated stakeholders. A relatively uninvestigated area, and especially so when sporting events are hosted in cities where travel supply does not meet the travel demand of sports tourists attending an event, is whether the new tourism dollars benefit periphery locations or those adjacent communities who may also see changes in visitor travel-related revenue accruals. Therefore, to generate evidence for public funding purposes, a case study analysis of an intercollegiate postseason sporting contest and its ancillary events was conducted to determine the amount of economic impact generated by sports business travelers to a contiguous area. Random sample on-site survey data (N=278) was collected from survey question responses that consisted of demographic, spending, and tourism-related queries. An estimated $494,365 US in total economic impact and $12,621 US in fiscal impact were reported as having materialized due to external visitor spending data collected. Suggestions to estimate business traveler purchases going beyond routine economic impact analysis to an area outside the main event destination zone can be utilized to establish added leverage when soliciting event financial stakeholder support.

Keywords :Sports events, economic impact, tourism revenue, stakeholders, intercollegiate contest

Conference Name :International Conference on Mathematics of Sports and Data Analysis (ICMSDA -25)

Conference Place Gothenburg, Sweden

Conference Date 19th Dec 2025