Blinded by Gold: Toronto Sports Community Ignores Negative Legacies of 2015 Pan Am Games

• Autores: Madeleine Orr, Nigel Jarvis
• Localización: Event management, ISSN 1525-9951, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2018, págs. 367-378
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Event organizers and city officials often justify the high costs of hosting an event by highlighting its legacies. Legacies are a topic of contentious discourse among event researchers, over definition, measurement, and significance. The bid for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games highlighted sport legacies as a priority. Thirteen semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with organizers, city officials, and members of the Toronto sports community. These interviews were analyzed using a thematic coding method. The degree of familiarity with "event legacies" among respondents varied, as did the definitions they offered. Multiple positive legacies were highlighted, most frequently: new or improved sports facilities and equipment (11/13 respondents), increased awareness of sport and sport opportunities (9/13), and inspiration factor (7/13). No respondent named negative legacies. Two major themes emerged: 1) there is no universal understanding of legacies as a term or concept; and 2) organizers are biased when asked about legacies, favoring the positive, and ignoring the negative.