Legacy relative to opportunity: A novel framework for realising and assessing event hosting legacies of mega sporting events

Event hosting legacies, the ability of host cities to capitalise upon mega-event hosting and utilise the acquired skills, knowledge and networks to secure an ongoing track record of event hosting, is a form of social legacy that has received limited dedicated study to date. The literature hints at the realisation of such legacies but this evidence base is patchy and the factors influencing legacy generation are largely unknown. This study seeks to address this gap by retrospectively applying a set of event hosting legacy indicators recently developed by Lockstone-Binney et al. (2023) to investigate the event hosting legacies of Olympic Summer Games and Olympic Winter Games Host Cities over the period 1988-2000. The cross-case analysis revealed that event hosting legacies were not homogenous across host cities with some having strong (Calgary, Seoul, Barcelona, Sydney), moderate (Albertville, Lillehammer, Atlanta) and limited (Nagano) evidence to support an event hosting legacy. The cross-case analysis revealed that a hosting legacy was influenced by structural and enabling contextual factors, which determine the extent to which legacy can be realised relative to opportunity.