The Impact of International Sports Events on the City Brand (Case Study: Bojnourd County)

The value and importance of sporting events such as the Olympic Games, the Asian Games, the Student Universities, the Military Olympics, the Youth Olympics and the FIFA World Cup is undeniable. This value and importance is seen in the intense competition between the host cities or countries as well as the extensive planning for the successful holding of the event. In this regard, the countries of the world with seriousness and redoubled efforts, focus their efforts to host international sporting events to benefit the various sectors such as tourism, attracting sponsors, media, development of the sports industry, quality of life of the host community. And maximize the brand development of the city and the country (Karadakis. Kaplanidou and Karlis.2010). Holding a sporting event at the international level is both a sign of the economic development of the host society and a sign of outstanding social progress in the world and a very effective tool for promoting the culture and products of the host region and city. This issue is very important in today's business world and media advertising (Koosha, Eidi and Yousefi, 2018, 17). Sporting events on an international scale attract a wide range of national and international participants. In this regard, international sporting events such as the Club World Cup wrestling tournament are seen as an opportunity to build leverage for economic growth and urban infrastructure development. Apart from these effects, a handful of studies have examined the positive non-economic effects of hosting sporting events. Therefore, the aim of this study was to influence the impact of international sports events on the urban brand (Case study: Bojnourd city). was conducted in terms of developmental purpose and in terms of how to collect data by quasi-experimental method. In this study, a control group and two experimental groups were considered and there were two groups of pre-test and post-test. The research tool was the standard questionnaire of Merrils et al. (2009). Its content validity was first confirmed by 8 sports management experts and then the internal consistency coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.87 through Cronbach's alpha, which indicates its high reliability. The method was that first, a city brand questionnaire was distributed among a group of people who did not go to the venue (control group), then by going to the World Club Cup wrestling venue in Bojnourd, first a questionnaire was distributed among the spectators. It was broadcast and they were asked to answer the questionnaire, and a week after the competition, they answered the same questionnaire again. A total of 90 people answered the questionnaire in three groups with equal numbers as control group, tourist group and local community group. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, one-way ANOVA and Tizuji test were used to compare the pretest and posttest groups. Findings of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test in urban brand variable (pre-test and post-test) were greater than 0.05 and had a normal distribution. According to the ANOVA test results, there was a significant difference between the experimental groups in terms of urban brand scores during the competitions. Therefore, the difference between the intra-group scores of pre-test and post-test urban brand was done separately for each experimental group so as not to be affected by differences between groups. Also, since there was no significant difference between the scores of the groups in the pre-test, it is clear that any change in the post-test is not due to differences between the control group and the experimental groups and is affected by the effects of the event. It was held because there was no significant difference between the pre-test scores of the research groups. According to the results of correlated t-test in the first group (tourists), there was no significant difference between urban brand scores between tourists before and after the international sports event. In the second group of international sports event, according to the level of significance, a significant difference was observed between pre-test and post-test of this group and the international sports event had a significant and positive effect on the subjects. . Also, the findings of paired t-test showed that there was no significant difference between the pre-test and post-test of urban brand in the view of the natives of the city only in the variable of intentions, and among the variables, the nature variable had the most positive effect among other variables. As a result, it can be said that small events among the group interested in that sporting event will create a sense of more belonging to the city and a sense of inner satisfaction, and it should be noted that sporting events directly and indirectly affect the urban brand. . Since these events have a special role in introducing different places to the public, it is important that smaller cities take advantage of this opportunity and take steps to promote their city's brand by receiving the right to host various sports competitions, and its benefits as well To benefit.