Practitioner perspectives of legacy: insights from the 2015 Pan Am Games

ABSTRACT

Although legacy frameworks exist in academia and legacies are oft discussed in relation to publicly- and privately funded events, there remains a dearth of knowledge on practitioner conceptualisations of the concept. A case study of the Toronto 2014 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games was conducted using semi-structured interviews with event organisers and city officials to understand how practitioners conceptualise legacies, and what their goals are in relation to legacies. The findings show that organisers conceptualise legacies as solely positive, and include Games-time impacts and outcomes as part of the legacy. The positive frame supports the three central legacy goals: justifying public spending on events, boosting public support for event hosting, and advancing city development goals through event hosting. This research contributes to the discourse on event legacy and takes an important step in expanding understandings of practitioner conceptualisations of legacy.

KEYWORDS:

• Legacy
• sport
• event
• practitioner
• perspectives

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Madeleine Orr

Madeleine Orr is a PhD candidate in Kinesiology (Sport Management emphasis) at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on sport events and sport ecology and is inspired by professional experience with several organisations spanning four continents. Professional highlights include leading a team of international staff as the Festival and Sponsorship Manager for Spartan Race UK; teaching an undergraduate course in China; coordinating a travel programin Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympics; and working as an Operations Coordinator in France and Italy, and as an Event Manager in Germany and Spain. Orr earned an M.S. in International Events Management from the University of Brighton, and an M.S. in Natural Resource Science and Management from the University of Minnesota.

Yuhei Inoue

Dr. Yuhei Inoue's primary research agenda is to understand how sport organisations and events create social impacts. To advance this research agenda, his research has sought to (1) identify the role of sport organisations in promoting causes through corporate social responsibility (CSR), (2) assess the determinants and consequences of perceived social impacts of sport events, and (3) determine the capacity of spectator sport events to promote health and well-being. Dr. Inoue’s work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, Tourism Management, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of Business Research. In 2016, he was inducted as a Research Fellow for the North American Society for Sport Management. Dr. Inoue currently serves as an Editorial Board Member for Sport Management Review, Sport & Entertainment Review, and the Journal of Sport Management.