Assessing the impact of a major sporting event: the role of environmental accounting

Government support for major sporting events is usually predicated on their assumed economic benefits. Yet there has been little parallel consideration of their potential environmental costs, at a time when the same governments are citing the importance of sustainable development. Environmental performance of major sporting events has hitherto been judged, if at all, on qualitative, activity and procedural criteria, rather than by attempting to estimate the overall impact of an event on measurable externalities. This paper examines the UK round of the 2004 World Rally Championship, using environmental accounting techniques to estimate its economic and environmental impacts on its host region.