Balkaran, R., Durban University of Technology, South Africa; Tifflin, W., Durban University of Technology, South Africa
Major international sporting events occur on a daily basis globally and little thought goes into the actual hosts that manage a large part of these events. Many countries view hosting these events as the spin-offs to a city or country providing benefits to them in respect of tourism and its multiplier effects. To many third world countries and cities this is seen as a source of income and a means to create employment and the opportunity to earn foreign capital. Some argue that the costs incurred by the host country/ city for providing specialised infrastructure for these events, do so with the intention of having these costs off-set with the expected benefits from the sports event. It becomes essential therefore to ensure these events are well researched in respect of their benefits and overall impact to a host before committing valuable resources that could otherwise be more appropriately used. Within South African context the major national imperatives would be boosting the economy, employment creation and poverty alleviation. The paper provides various models for measuring economic impacts in the literature and critiques them with the intention of offering a suitable model/ methodology that provides necessary feedback for suitable measurements. A case study of two major Super 14 rugby matches was used in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. © Rishidaw Balkaran, Wayne Tifflin, 2013.