Transformations  in
Business & Economics

DESTINATION IMAGE OF A CITY HOSTING SPORT EVENT: EFFECT ON SPONSORSHIP
Manuel Alonso Dos Santos, Ferran Calabuig Moreno, Francisco Montoro Rios, Irena Valantine, Arunas Emeljanovas

ABSTRACT.Large revenues for the sponsor brands are consistent with the importance of economic impact of a hosted sport event. The aim of this study is to construct the influences of the image of a city that hosts a sporting event on the efficiency of the image transfer from a sponsor to a sponsored brand. It is also questioned how the destination image influences the sponsor brands. The secondary objective is to investigate the influences of the destination image on the intention of attendance to a sporting event. For hypothesis testing a banner was inserted in an international and professional sport event. Structural equation modelling is used as the method of the analysis. The result of the analysis shows a good reliability of the scale and items as well as predictive relevance of the model. The results indicate that the image of the city that host the sporting event influences the image transmission process in sponsorship but not the intention to assist at the sporting event. The main motive of the travel is the attendance at the sporting event and not enjoying the territory itself. Regarding the influence of the destination image on both event and sponsor, the image transference is certainly produced. Consequently sponsor brands should sponsor an event with a coherent image with their brand..

KEYWORDS: sponsorship, sport, image, image transfer, sport tourism, host city.

JEL classification: L83, M31, M37.