Referenda on Hosting the Olympics: What Drives Voter Turnout?

Tobias Streicher, Sascha L. Schmidt and Dominik Schreyer

Journal of Sports Economics, 2019, vol. 20, issue 5, 627-653

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.

Keywords: bid; campaign; host; mega sport events; Olympic games; public referenda; turnout; voting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jospec:v:20:y:2019:i:5:p:627-653

DOI: 10.1177/1527002518794777

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