Olympic Legacy and Sports Participation: An Evaluation of the Paris 2024 “Terre de Jeux” Label

Awarded to 4,500 municipalities since 2019, the “Terre de Jeux 2024” label has been the main instrument for promoting the Olympic and Paralympic Games among local governments. Its explicit objective was to foster the long-term development of sports club membership, one of the expected legacies of the Paris 2024 Games. In this study, we provide a quantitative assessment of the effect of the “Terre de Jeux” label on sports club memberships in France, using a municipal-level panel dataset covering the period 2016–2022 that combines sporting, socio-demographic, and geographical data. Using spatial difference-in-differences estimations, the analysis reveals a positive impact of the label, corresponding to an increase of between 71,240 and 156,400 additional sports club memberships. The effect varies across regions and local contexts, and appears stronger in less advantaged and less equipped areas, suggesting that the label contributes to reducing territorial disparities in sports participation.