Logistics in Sport

Abstract
Formula 1, Olympic games, FIFA World Cup. Almost everybody, at least in the developed world, knows what these words mean. This paper explains how such events are organized concerning the transport of the necessary materials and the people. “How are logistic transports implement in sport events?” was our main question. There are 4 main ways of transport for materials and people, which are road-, air-, water- and railway-transport. We basically talk about material transport in this paper. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of this transport modes, and when should one choose for example trucks rather than a plane to transport goods. There are so many factors to consider, such as distance, what kind of goods are transported, and how much should it cost, that there is no general answer when choose one mode or another. Transport needs to be planned: What is important when creating a distribution plan for goods or for people in big sports events, and how should new technologies and just-in-time management be implemented in the transportation. The paper discusses three cases of big sports events, Formula 1, Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup, and how the organization of transport is exercised in practice. Which transport modes do they use, or do they use “intermodalism” which means a mix of different transport modes to reach the target? It is obvious, that a sport event like the Formula 1 is treated otherwise than an event like the Olympic Games, which takes place every four years.

1. Introduction
Term “sport” is defined variously. Usually this term underlines aspects such as health, well-being, competition and fun. But present-day sport is not only classical value and innocent fun. It is social phenomenon which is constantly changing due to civilization progress. It has become largely connected with business. Competition is popular among many people what makes media, sponsors involved in this. There is still growing demand in sport market. Tickets distribution, construction of stadiums or facilities, promotion is very challenging. It is said that there is no sport event without logistics.
It takes months or sometimes years of preparations. Many projects must be done so that fans could enjoy watching sport event. Most of the activities are performed with logistics operators, which have specialized experts who are responsible for operations.
Usually, logistics operators cooperate with organizations such as FIFA, International Olympic Committee or national federations. Global logistics operators are specialized in wide range of services: transport, warehousing, customer service and promotional service.
Logistics in sports is a wide term. It is not only managing and coordinating sport activities and sportsman but also ability to coordinate spectators.
We divided our paper into two main parts. First one is theoretical and second, three case studies: The Olympic Games, Formula 1 and FIFA World Cup 2010.
The theoretical part handles about four transport modes : water, air , road and rail transportation. Furthermore we focus on importance of information technology and planning process in logistics operations.

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