The paper deals with big sports events economic impact measuring. Impact studies of the big
events are frequently used for evaluation of its economy efficiency or social acceptability.
In the first part of the paper theoretical issues of evaluation of big events are presented.
Different methodological elements in the literature are brought together to establish an analytical
framework. There is provided an overview of the economics of sports mega-events as well as
review of the existing literature in the field. The aim of impact analyses is to quantify additional
incomes of big events on local economy, using traditional impact measuring methods. The result
of these analyses is estimation of number and structure of visitors of event and also of theirs
average and total expenditures. This estimation allows quantifying gross direct, indirect and
induced impacts of the event. The level of economic impact could easily have been overestimated
if a carefully structured working methodology had not been used.
In the second part of the of the paper we use described methodology in the case study of Wold
Ice Hockey Championship, which took place in Ko‰ice 2011. The aim of the research was to
evaluate gross direct economic effects of the Ice Hockey World Championship based on increased
demand in the city caused by the tourists and theirs expenditures in the tourism sector. Inputs to
quantitative analysis were collected by the questionnaire survey. These data were statistically
processed and used for quantification of the economic impact of the event on Ko‰ice city