Intercity connections and a world city network based on international sport events: Empirical studies on the Beijing, London, and Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games

doi:10.1007/s11442-021-1923-z

Abstract

Abstract:

With so many sports becoming increasingly popular, sports have come to play an important role in promoting the process of globalization and formatting the world city network (WCN). Previous studies have constructed the WCN based on the distribution of international sport federations (ISFs) and the sites of international sport events (ISEs), but there is still a lack of systematic research on the intercity connections caused by ISEs. Taking three most recent Olympic Games as cases, this paper explores intercity connections and WCN based on ISEs. The results show that (1) the Olympic WCN has city nodes around the world except in Antarctica, and the number and activity values of the cities in host countries may increase intensively during the Olympic Games. (2) A hierarchical city system with four tiers (global central cities, specialized central cities, national central cities and specialized cities) is formed by the intercity connections caused by the Olympic Games. (3) The WCN based on the Olympic Games, is made up of many subnetworks, while many differences occur due to the diverse decisions made by the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG), host cities or even host countries in the events associated with sponsorship activity and publicity activity. This study not only broadens the relevant fields of sports culture-oriented WCN research but also explores the instability of the WCN, which makes it an effective reference for WCN research based on ISEs.

Key words: globalization, world city network, Olympic Games, hierarchy

XUE Desheng, OU Yubin. Intercity connections and a world city network based on international sport events: Empirical studies on the Beijing, London, and Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games[J].Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2021, 31(12): 1791-1815.

Figures/Tables 14

Figure 1

Table 1

Figure 2

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

Table 5

Table 6

Table 7

Betweenness centrality of cities in the world city networks of different Olympic Games

Rank	Sum		Power Struggles		Sponsorship Activities		Publicity Activities
Rank	City	Betweenness centrality	City	Betweenness centrality	City	Betweenness centrality	City	Betweenness centrality
Beijing Olympic Games
1	Lausanne	0.060174	Lausanne	0.046732	Beijing	0.738095	Beijing	0.001244
2	Beijing	0.042567	Toronto	0.010258	Lausanne	0.476190	Dakar	0.000890
3	Toronto	0.008404	Cairo	0.004114			Tunis	0.000717
4	Brussels	0.008139	Istanbul	0.003245			Geneva	0.000575
5	Istanbul	0.006522	Kuala Lumpur	0.002948			Brussels	0.000575
6	Cairo	0.004818	Havana	0.000930			Kuala Lumpur	0.000545
7	Paris	0.004627	Paris	0.000913			Mexico City	0.000307
8	Kuala Lumpur	0.003343	Beijing	0.000616
9	Tunis	0.003116	Bangkok	0.000616
10	Geneva	0.002337	Pasig City	0.000242
Proportion (%)		94.32		99.98		100.00		100.00
London Olympic Games
1	London	0.058776	Lausanne	0.034593	London	0.541667	London	0.001021
2	Lausanne	0.045266	London	0.021630	Lausanne	0.163043	Johannesburg	0.000985
3	Kuwait City	0.012117	Paris	0.000460			Kuala Lumpur	0.000664
4	Seoul	0.011938	Moscow	0.000460			Geneva	0.000615
5	Brussels	0.009280	Madrid	0.000460			Brussels	0.000615
6	Tunis	0.007435	Pasig City	0.000190			Kingstown	0.000429
7	Johannesburg	0.007131	Georgetown	0.000011			Auckland	0.000229
8	Abuja	0.005210					Miami	0.000183
9	Kuala Lumpur	0.003263					Tunis	0.000172
10	Geneva	0.003210					Dubai	0.000172
Proportion (%)		90.26		100.00		100.00		96.73
Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games
1	Rio de Janeiro	0.032248	Lausanne	0.023938	Lausanne	0.359477	Rio de Janeiro	0.001207
2	Lausanne	0.019943	Rio de Janeiro	0.004169	Rio de Janeiro	0.333333	Johannesburg	0.000297
3	Bern	0.007153	Tokyo	0.000919			Paris	0.000272
4	Tunis	0.006279	Doha	0.000919			Tokyo	0.000166
5	Abuja	0.004968	Madrid	0.000605			Bridgetown	0.000143
6	Doha	0.004473	Prague	0.000605			Auckland	0.000138
7	Tokyo	0.003799	Baku	0.000605			Tunis	0.000110
8	Johannesburg	0.003209	Abuja	0.000539			Mexico City	0.000110
9	Kuwait City	0.002827	Pasig City	0.000132			Mumbai	0.000041
10	Paris	0.000707	Georgetown	0.000011			Rome	0.000007
Proportion (%)		97.08		100.00		100.00		99.72

Table 7

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Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

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Competition for the right to host the Olympic Games				TOP programme
Subjects	Activity values	Subjects	Activity values	Subjects	Activity values
IOC	5	IOC	5	IOC	5
Competition committee of host cities	4	OCOG	4	OCOG	4
Competition committee of cities that participate in the second round	2	ISFs	4	MNCs	4
Competition committee of cities that participate in the first round	1	Regional headquarters of the Olympic committee	3
		NOCs	2
		NSFs	1
OCOG sponsorship programme		Torch relay		TV broadcast
Subjects	Activity values	Subjects	Activity values	Subjects	Activity values
OCOG	5	OCOG	5	OCOG	5
OCOG partners	3	IOC	4	IOC	4
OCOG sponsors	2	Government of Athens	3	Rights-holding broadcasters	3
OCOG providers	1	Government of foreign cities	2	Non-rights-holding broadcasters	1
		Government of domestic cities	1

Count of city nodes in certain countries	Count of countries	Countries/Regions
Beijing Olympic Games
Over 100	1	China (108)
10-100	4	America (14), Britain (12), Germany (12), Switzerland (11)
5-9	4	Canada (8), Australia (6), Austria (6), Netherlands (5)
3-4	8	Belgium (4), Guam (4), Bolivia (3), Columbia (3), Pakistan (3), South Africa (3), Bosnia and Herzegovina (3), New Zealand (3)
2	48	Myanmar, Morocco, etc.
1	160	Algeria, Albania, etc.
London Olympic Games
Over 100	1	Britain (65)
10-100	4	Greece (34), America (13), Germany (13), Switzerland (11)
5-9	4	Canada (6), Australia (5), Austria (6), Netherlands (5)
3-4	9	Belgium (4); Guam (4); France (3), Bolivia (3), Columbia (3), Pakistan (3), Bosnia and Herzegovina (3), New Zealand (3), South Africa (3)
2	49	Myanmar, Morocco, etc.
1	158	Algeria, Albania, etc.
Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games
Over 100	1	Brazil (324)
10-100	5	Greece (28), America (13), Britain (12), Germany (12), Switzerland (10)
5-9	4	Canada (6), Australia (5), Austria (6), Netherlands (5)
3-4	8	Belgium (4), Guam (4), Pakistan (3), Bolivia (3), Columbia (3), South Africa (3), Bosnia and Herzegovina (3), New Zealand (3)
2	43	Myanmar, Morocco, etc.
1	164	Algeria, Albania, etc.

Levels (Connectivity)		Count of cities	Cities
Beijing Olympic Games
Global central cities (Over 1000)		2	Lausanne, Beijing
Specialized central cities (41-1000)	Specialized regional central cities (96-1000)	12	Abuja, Rome, Kuwait City, etc.
Specialized central cities (41-1000)	Specialized transnational central cities (41-95)	27	Istanbul, Toronto, Osaka, etc.
National central cities (16-40)		194	Ankara, Lisbon, Melbourne, etc.
Specialized cities (2-15)		209	Guangzhou, Canberra, Birmingham, etc.
London Olympic Games
Global central cities(Over 1000)		2	Lausanne, London
Specialized central cities (41-1000)	Specialized regional central cities (80-1000)	15	Mexico City, Abuja, Rome, etc.
Specialized central cities (41-1000)	Specialized transnational central cities (41-79)	24	Toronto, Beijing, Miami, etc.
National central cities (16-40)		192	Ankara, Sydney, Athens, etc.
Specialized cities (2-15)		191	Bridgetown, Sucre, Almaty, etc.
Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games
Global central cities(Over 1000)		2	Lausanne, Rio de Janeiro
Specialized central cities (41-1000)	Specialized regional central cities (86-1000)	12	Mexico City, Abuja, Rome, etc.
Specialized central cities (41-1000)	Specialized transnational central cities (41-85)	24	Madrid, Toronto, Dublin, etc.
National central cities (16-40)		196	Ankara, Sydney, Bridgetown, etc.
Specialized cities (2-15)		442	Geneva, Cape Town, Amsterdam, etc.