Risk is an integral element of sporting events. In the context of major sporting events, risk management can be defined as “a proactive process that involves assessing all possible risks to the events and its stakeholders by strategically anticipating, preventing, minimizing, and planning responses to mitigate those identified risks” (Leopkey and Parent, 2009). Being an annual sporting event attracting thousands of fans and athletes from across the world, Boston Marathon needs a risk management strategy for its smooth execution. Different kinds of risk control techniques can be applied for sporting events.
There are several ways in which organizers of sporting events could manage the risks involved in such big sporting events. Some of the key techniques of risk are avoidance, loss reduction, separation, duplication, and transfer (Nohr, 2014). Avoidance involves eliminating an activity completely to avoid the risk altogether. Loss reduction involves reducing the severity of losses that could not be prevented. Separation involves spreading of activities over wide geographical area so that losses in one area might be compensated with gains in the other area. Duplication means having a backup of critical systems and operations. Transfer involves transferring a part of the risk to other organization. Being a major sporting event, all types of risks associated with Boston Marathon cannot be eliminated. Transfer of risks to another party and separation of activities too are not possible as Boston Marathon is organized in multiple cities. The best available risk control technique for Boston Marathon is duplication. Having a backup of all the critical systems and operations required for a sporting event can help in effectively handling of any unforeseen events. The organization providing risk management would try to handle all the risks involved with organizing Boston Marathon by effective duplication of all the critical systems and operations.
References
Leopkey, B. & Parent, M.M. (2009). Risk management issues in large-scale sporting events: A stakeholder perspective. European Sport Management Quarterly, 9 (2), 187-208.
Nohr, K.M. (2014). Six risk control techniques for sports and recreation. Retrieved from http://www.sportrisk.com/2014/01/15/six-risk-control-techniques-for-sport-and-recreation. June 30, 2014
