The legacy-factor: Towards conceptual clarification in the sport event context

Public policy planners and event organisers are increasingly promoting potential economic, tourism, social, and/or environmental legacies to justify significant investments required to host special events. Within the context of special events, legacy is recognised as the long-term outcomes for a host city from staging an event (Hiller, 2003; Preuss, 2007). The notion of legacy has emerged in the events field surrounding the strategic use of events in achieving outcomes for host cities. However, this is complicated by inconsistent conceptualisations of legacy across academic and industry practice. This paper puts forth a comprehensive review of current legacy definitions, from 1991-2008, drawing on event management, sport management, and urban planning contexts. An inductive iterative analysis of definitions was undertaken, in which key themes were identified and definitions assessed against these. While numerous definitions were reviewed, it was concluded that none adequately clarify what legacy entails for strategic management application. The major contribution that the paper makes through definitional review, is to identify the key elements of legacy for application to strategic sport event management. In doing so, this paper contributes to both theoretical debate and strategic practice surrounding the emergence of ‘legacy’ as justification for staging sport events. The authors argue that for legacy to continue as a major policy justification, clarity of legacy conceptualisation must be developed. The paper concludes by suggesting further research surrounding the notion of legacy in the sport event context.