A new conceptualization of mega sports event legacy delivery: Wicked problems and critical realist solution

Publication date: Available online 26 April 2019Source: Sport Management ReviewAuthor(s): Terri Byers, Emily Hayday, Athanasios (Sakis) PappousAbstractThe authors present a new conceptualization of mega sports event legacy delivery, which accounts for the problematic nature of legacy by viewing it as a wicked problem. Research on mega sports event legacy has focused on establishing typologies of legacy, investigating outcomes, and consequences, with limited attention to legacy delivery. The conceptualization of legacy delivery has largely relied on a positive, utopian legacy rhetoric. In contrast, the authors advance the understanding of legacy by proposing a conceptual approach of the legacy delivery process, to enable empirical studies in different contexts to be conducted. Specifically, the authors examine the wicked problem of mega sports event legacy delivery from a Critical Realist perspective, which serves to give meaning and order to this complex process. This conceptualization reveals that legacy delivery is inclusive of deep social structures which underpin different stakeholders’ interpretations and interactions, which produce or limit legacy delivery. The role of social, generative structures as causal mechanisms has not been considered as a way to understand legacy delivery previously. Implications for teaching, research, and practice are discussed to demonstrate the value of this new approach. Importantly, this conceptualization focuses on processes rather tha...
Source: Sport Management Review - Category: Sports Medicine Source Type: research