Work

Strategic Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Messaging Through Sport Events: A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis of a Mega Cycling Event

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The literature on sport event leveraging suggests that these events can play an important role in addressing social inequities when planned carefully and utilizing the media to promote key messages. However, relatively little is known about how effectively sport event organizers and their partners make use of social media platforms to achieve these ambitions and what dominant discourses are perpetuated in the process. Drawing on a case study of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships held in Scotland, this paper explores how event organizers and their partners used strategic social media messaging to promote equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) discourses before, during and after the event. We draw on leveraging theory and a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA) of social media posts by event stakeholders and find that while EDI messaging was evident, it was inconsistent, overly generalized and failed to recognize the systemic injustices faced by marginalized groups. We conclude that, given the resources available to organizers and their partners, greater attention needs to be paid to how coherent social media messaging can be utilized to more effectively address social inequities.

Source: Communication & Sport

DOI: 10.1177/21674795251398441

Authors: David McGillivray, Naheed Akhtar, Emma Reid

Institution: University of the West of Scotland

Language: English

Topic: Sport and Mega-Event Impacts

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650