Beyond the competition results, large sporting events have social and economic impacts on their host communities. These impacts will be the showcased Friday at the next Goodman Luncheon Speaker Series event.

Recent research by Marijke Taks, Vice-Dean Research at the Faculty Health Sciences and Full Professor in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa, will be presented with a specific focus on comparing large versus small sporting events.

She will present her findings Friday, Oct. 7 during her talk titled, “Reflections on Socio-Economic Impacts of Major Sports Events.” The presentation will discuss what can be learned from non-mega-sport events, as the historical outcome of mega-sport events is not always positive.

Taks is also an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Movement Sciences at the KU Leuven in Belgium. Her area of expertise is socio-economic aspects of sport and leisure with a particular emphasis on sport events. She also studies sport consumer behaviour of various groups in society.

The Goodman speaker series provides Goodman faculty, staff and students with an informal opportunity to listen and discuss recent advances in research, teaching and practices with business colleagues.

The talk will take place from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Sankey Chambers. Goodman faculty, staff and students are invited to attend. Members of the Brock community interested in attending are encouraged to email Crystal Li at sli3@brocku.ca to reserve a seat.