Participation in sports: Lithuanian consumption patterns

Abstract

The level of sporting development in a country today plays highly significant role in its economic development. This important interrelation might be explained by the way people are engaged in sports and by the amount of money they invest in it. Therefore, participation in sport studies (due to a greater recognition of sport and its impact on the social, economic development, promotion of healthy life style, etc.) have received a great interest in the last years. Different aspects of the participation in sport (Gratton&Taylor, 2000; Taks&Kesene, 2000; Wicker et all, 2010; Scheerder et all, 2011) have made scholars to be interested in deep analysis of comparative studies at national and international levels. More and more participation in sport studies lead not only to the quantity measures and description of the different population groups engaged in exercising, but also provide with a set of recommendations as a solid background for the policy decision makers. Likewise participation in sport studies with a special attention to the consumer’s spending aspects play an important role in measuring the economic dimension of sport at the national level (Preuss et all, 2012). However, the situation in different European countries at different sporting and economic development levels regarding participation and determination of various consumption patterns differs.