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Referenda on Hosting the Olympics: What Drives Voter Turnout?

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  • Tobias Streicher
  • Sascha L. Schmidt
  • Dominik Schreyer

Abstract

Public referenda have recently put an end to the ambitions of several cities to host the Olympic Games. The outcome of referenda depends on two major decisions: a content decision whether to support hosting the Olympics and a turnout decision whether or not to cast a vote. Unlike the content decision, the turnout decision has received little attention in sports economics, even though it can distort the outcome of a referendum, lead to a misrepresentation of minorities, and reduce the acceptance of referendum results. We therefore examine the determinants of turnout at Olympic referenda using a population-representative data set from 12 democratic countries. Our findings suggest a nonlinear and robust relationship between individual support and voter turnout.

Suggested Citation

  • Tobias Streicher & Sascha L. Schmidt & Dominik Schreyer, 2019. "Referenda on Hosting the Olympics: What Drives Voter Turnout?," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(5), pages 627-653, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:20:y:2019:i:5:p:627-653
    DOI: 10.1177/1527002518794777
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Dominik Schreyer, 2019. "Football spectator no-show behaviour in the German Bundesliga," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(45), pages 4882-4901, September.
    2. Ine Hugaerts & Holger Schunk & Thomas Könecke, 2023. "Environmental Sustainability as Factor for Mega Sport Event Support—Empirical Evidence Regarding the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup," World, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-13, July.
    3. Josh Matti & Yang Zhou, 2022. "United we feel stronger? On the Olympics and political ideology," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 271-300, December.
    4. Streicher, Tobias & Schmidt, Sascha L. & Schreyer, Dominik & Torgler, Benno, 2020. "Anticipated feelings and support for public mega projects: Hosting the Olympic Games," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).

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