Podcast blurb: After many negative referendums on the Olympic Games and increased skepticism about events on the local population, the topic has also been brought into focus by the scientific community. Why are residents very often against staging major (sports)events? What are the backgrounds? What do policy makers have to do to get the population excited about events again is one of the research topics of Martin Schnitzer, who researches and teaches at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and who has managed and organized many large events by himself.

Martin’s bio: Martin Schnitzer, a German-speaking Italian from (South) Tyrol has switched to academia after an intense 15 years in the event industry (bidding and staging of major sporting events). Martin's experiences in the context of the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics, the UEFA EURO 2008 in Austria / Switzerland or the bidding for the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria helped in bridging theory to practice. As a professor of sports economics, his research focus is on sports development, sports tourism and, in particular, the analysis of the costs and benefits of major sporting events. In this context, the analysis of intangible effects of sport events and event support has become his main research interest.

Further reading and resources:

Schnitzer-et-al-Overtourism-and-mega-events

Feilhauer-er-al-2022-Olympic-Games-Reloaded-can-the-Agenda-2020-push-residents-support-for-the-mega

Schnitzer-et-al-2020-Influence-of-Event-and-Place-Image-Event-Support