Five years after Universiade 2005 Izmir Games: Tangible and Intangible Benefits of the Games for the City of Izmir and Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to discuss whether the Universiade 2005 Izmir Games had any tangible or intangible benefits to the city of Izmir and to the overall improvement of the competitive sporting ability of the nation of Turkey internationally. The Universiade 2005 Izmir was also one of the most expensive to be organized. Together with the city of Izmir, the Turkish government spent nearly $100 million USD in order to be able to successfully complete the Games. Local and national governments and the NGO resources were the major resources to fund the games. Sources such as ticket sales and advertisement sponsorships were minor in scale, but respectively used to fund the Games. The city of Izmir consisted of 93 sport facility locations in 2004, jumping to 141 by 2007. Not all established facility locations were able to be used due to type of facility not needed, location or beyond reasonable repair cost. Under the patronage of this authority, a total of 59 facilities were used for training and the competition sites. Ten (10) facilities were built new just for the purpose of the Universiade Games, and 49 sites were either renewed or fixed for the Games. A grand total of 18,753 volunteers were recruited for the Games and 84% of the volunteers were citizens of the city of Izmir. The volunteers were recruited from 77 universities and 75 cities around Turkey. Of the 18,753 volunteers 56% of them were females and 44% were males, collectively 72% of the volunteers were university students. Key Words; Universiade, Sports Event, Sport Games, Izmir, Turkey