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This paper, drawing on social exchange theory, examines the changes in enthusiasm between 1998 and 2000 towards Sydney’s Olympics among a socially diverse sample of host city residents. In particular, it studies variables that differentiate respondents’ altering attitude. Results suggest that for the majority the reaction to Sydney’s Olympics intensified from 1998, reaching euphoria in September 2000. Elation was particularly evident among those living in the city’s western suburbs, those with dependent children, those from non-English backgrounds, or who perceived the event’s wider economic benefits as outweighing personal costs. Implications arising from this project are considered for future researchers and organizers of hallmark events.

At the turn of the century, cities as sites of tourism spectacle have given hallmark events a new economic role and heightened significance. Global sporting events are perhaps the ultimate example of the city as tourist spectacle, given their million dollar budgets, world markets, and the rapid turn-around of capital. However, relatively little is known about the events’ social impacts. Indeed, Fredline and Faulkner (2000) argue that far greater concern has been given to evaluating the political, cultural, economic, and environmental consequences. This argument is confirmed by publications about Sydney’s Olympics. Such an emphasis may be misplaced on ethical and pragmatic grounds. A planning/management regime sensitive to quality of life and equity outcomes is an essential ingredient of sustainable tourism, since hosts who are positively disposed to special events will enhance the tourists’ experience and contribute to the destination’s attractiveness (Madrigal 1995). Social impact assessments have often relied upon secondary data including court records and newspaper reports (Hall, Selwood and McKewon 1989), or often a “snapshot” of resident attitudes at a particular time (for an important exception see Ritchie and Aitken 1985). Carpenter (1992) lamented the absence of a temporal dimension in social impact research. The purpose of this paper is to address such acknowledged limitations in examining the temporal dynamics of the social impacts of Sydney’s 2000 Olympics, drawing upon primary data from two telephone surveys conducted 24 months before and then during the games. The study was designed to permit examination of whether a wave of euphoric mass consciousness increasingly captures resident imaginations and, if not, whether enthusiasm is differentiated along spatial, socioeconomic, demographic, or altruistic lines. The temporal analysis presented here provides some insight into these issues. Equally important is to identify how planners and managers of future global sporting events may effectively target strategies aimed at both maximizing positive and minimizing negative social impacts.

This paper departs from the recent emphasis in the hallmark event literature on the relationship between the tourist-city and economies of signs and symbols (Zukin, 1991, Urry, 1995 and Waitt, 1999). Instead, it contributes to the literature examining the social impact of tourism, particularly host residents’ appraisal of events. As a longitudinal study examining individual and collective enthusiasm towards Sydney’s 2000 Olympic Games, the paper sought to explore the importance of time, place, demographics, and perceived economic impacts in differentiating responses. Resident reactions in Sydney’s most socioeconomically polarized SLAs are examined within social exchange theory. Attitudes towards an event are argued as modifiable across time because the formation of an exchange relationship between the individual and the event is not static but rather constantly negotiated and renegotiated. According to social exchange theory, underpinning these mediated social relations are issues of rationality, satisfaction, reciprocity, and social justice. Increasing feelings of antagonism, expressed in negative reactions, are suggested to occur when the perceived social costs outweigh the benefits of the exchange relationship between the event and the individual. Conducting telephone surveys with the same respondents, of a targeted sample, two years before and then, again, during the 2000 games, provided a unique insight into how residents’ reactions changed. Multi-item attitudinal scaling provided an established methodology for examining the positive or negative attitudes towards Sydney 2000. Faulkner and Tideswell’s (1997) identification of “extrinsic/intrinsic” variables provided a range of a priori constructs regarding the dimensions along which residents responses may be differentiated and tested using inferential statistics. Indirect open questions identified the best, worst, and most memorable aspect attributes of Sydney 2000. Qualitative analysis sought emergent themes, otherwise obscured by closed questions. Qualitative results were employed to provide insights into why enthusiasm levels differed among respondents. Particularly for a longitudinal project, telephone surveys, while cost effective in accessing a large number of respondents in a short time, brought constraints to the data quality. Establishing and maintaining any sense of continued commitment to the project among respondents whose only contact with the researcher was a telephone conversation proved extremely difficult. There was little sense of personal rewards or ownership amongst respondents. One expression of this was often minimalist responses, often one-word answers. Therefore, the telephone survey seems less satisfactory for eliciting qualitative responses than providing responses to attitudinal scales. Qualitative responses also lack social qualities often generated within focus groups through debate and discussion. Future projects examining social impacts of events may wish to consider these design limitations. Paired non-parametric tests indicate that while in 1998, respondents generally felt positive as they anticipated the games, enthusiasm for the event became even more pronounced during 2000. The “buzz” surrounding the games was expressed particularly in feelings of patriotism, community spirit, and the desire to participate as a volunteer. Unquestionably, a significant psychological reward for many respondents was that the imagined bond that underpins national identity became a lived reality over the 16 days. Nevertheless, the feelings aroused by the Olympic Spirit were not shared equally. The results suggest that it is not the most socioeconomically disadvantaged in society who are most enthusiastic about the event, as theorized within the euphoric mass consciousness of the civic boosterism school. No statistical difference in levels of enthusiasm could be found when the sample was differentiated by surrogate measures of class (education, occupation, income). Thus, the validity of the “bread and circus” argument is questionable. Certainly, the results of these surveys suggest it is difficult to sustain arguments that global sporting events are a mechanism that the state can employ either to homogenize public mass consciousness or to legitimize its authority among those most economically disadvantaged in society. Since respondents who were most enthusiastic tended to be either families with dependent children, from non-English speaking backgrounds, or those who perceived the event’s economic benefits as outweighing the costs, these findings have important implications for organizers of future events. First, they confirm that global sporting events can be employed as a mechanism to generate patriotism and a sense of community or belonging, particularly among the young and ethnic minorities. Such psychological outcomes may in part help combat the culture of nihilism that is often said to be undermining both spatial and other identities in global cities everywhere (Lash 1990). Many residents of global cities are argued to be living within a potentially alienating void of self-understanding because of the loss of family, gender, class, ethnic, religious, or other social relations that once acted as a source of self-identification and understanding of the past. As clearly demonstrated by Sydney’s Olympics, global sporting events provide the opportunity for government and city authorities to (re)establish or increase the attachment and identification of people to place. For Sydney, the possibilities presented by these outcomes are particularly relevant in an era marred by increasing levels of youth suicide, homelessness, and drug addiction as well as accusations of racism against those not conforming to an Anglo-Celtic Australian national identity (Chan, 1997 and Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), 1991). However, a hallmark event’s relevance in addressing any of these social issues diminishes if such benefits are not sustained after the “circus” has left town. Furthermore, the community spirit that the Olympics inspired may have only revived a flag-waving form of nationalism rather than claims of a new spirit of Australianness that breaks with a racist legacy. Future research must address these questions. Perceived economic rewards appear crucial in further differentiating appraisals. For some, public expenditure on sports and transport infrastructure may never be justified. In Sydney, this was particularly the case among elderly respondents, who held more negative attitudes. They spoke instead of their preferred state government budget priority on welfare facilities, especially hospitals. For others, these findings also suggest that the level of public expenditure may not generate negative attitudes, particularly among those who display a level of altruism−that is, perceiving potential economic gains flowing to the national economy from international tourism and foreign investment. In contrast, it appears that among Sydneysiders, the Olympics’ most bitter critics were respondents who evaluated the public costs as excessive, and spoke only of the disruptions and inconveniences to their personal lives. Such findings suggest that residents’ perceptions of the personal and national economic impacts arising from hosting a global sporting attraction have the potential to undermine public confidence in the event. In Sydney’s case, and despite controversies over the public budget, the perceived rewards arising from place specific attributes helped sustain enthusiasm. These included the widely held perception that this Olympics would counter outdated Australian stereotypes, stimulate future overseas tourism and investment, as well as provide new urban infrastructure. Place specific attributes, including respondents’ perceived evaluations of the host nation’s role, city, and people in the world economy is critical to how a global sporting event is appraised.