Assessing the public profile of major sports events : a case study of the European Short Course Swimming Championships.

The paper assesses the public profile of a major sport event through television evaluation. Because bids to host international events are often dependent on public subsidy, which requires that the event is considered high profile, a model for profile evaluation is necessary. The research concentrates on the European Short Course Swimming Championship staged in Sheffield (UK) in December 1998. It analyses the audience size, percentage share and television rating of the event in four countries across Europe. The results show some surprising findings for what is considered to be a minority sport such as viewing figures eclipsed those of some international rugby matches as well as prestigious events in rugby league and cricket. It demonstrates that such events have a stronger than expected value to sponsors and that such a profile assessment is a useful tool for future bidding strategies.