PERCEIVED ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF MEGA SPORTS EVENTS: A STUDY OF AFCON 2022 HOST CITIES' RESIDENTS IN CAMEROON

Economic incentives often constitute the thrust of galvanizing Local community support for mega sports events. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of residents of the AFCON 2022 host on the economic impacts of the mega sports event on their lives and the city. The cross-sectional study employed a quantitative research paradigm through the use of a questionnaire in collecting 1683 duly completed responses from residents of the five AFCON 2022 host cities. Participants were randomly selected among residents who expressed willingness to take part in the study and descriptive and exploratory data analysis was performed on the data. The analysis revealed that the respondents place great importance on the security situation in the country and perceive economic benefits to be related to the security situation. It is therefore concluded that to derive maximum economic benefits from AFCON 2022, the government needed to have found a speedy way to resolve the ongoing armed conflict. Practical and policy implications are discussed, particularly the development of inclusive policies that would bring more women into the economic mainstream and the combating of poverty with systematic policy instruments, rather than with a once-off event such as the AFCON mega event