The Conceptualisation and Measurement of Mega Sport Event Legacies

TLDR

Legacy of mega sport events is defined, and challenges in measuring and forecasting it are highlighted. The study aims to examine mega sport event legacies, especially tourism, by introducing a bottom‑up method that evaluates soft and hard event‑related changes. The bottom‑up approach assesses event‑structures—soft and hard changes such as infrastructure, knowledge, image, emotions, networks, and culture—in the host city. Macro‑level benchmarking fails to capture legacy; instead, many event‑structures alter long‑term location quality, and the resulting benefits and costs of city transformation constitute the event’s legacy.

Abstract

This paper focuses on the legacy of mega sport events. First, the concept of legacy is defined before the problems of measuring and forecasting legacy are discussed. Benchmarking and the use of macro data do not correctly reveal legacy. Hence a bottom-up approach is introduced which identifies the event legacy by evaluation of 'soft' and 'hard' event-related changes in a host city. These changes are defined as 'event-structures' (infrastructure, knowledge, image, emotions, networks, culture). Many of them change the quality of location factors of the host city in the long-term. The benefits/costs through the transformation of the host city are the legacy of a mega sport event. Here a particular focus is put on tourism legacy.