Executive training exercise in sport event leverage

Purpose – Some sport event stakeholders now look beyond “impact” to achieving longer-term, sustainable outcomes. This move away from an ex post, outcomes orientation towards an ex ante, strategic approach refers to the phenomenon of event leveraging. This paper aims to introduce readers to the concept, and poses practical exercises to challenge current thinking on sport event impacts. Design/methodology/approach – This paper provides an introduction to the literature on the strategic leveraging of sport events and presents three theoretical models depicting various aspects of event leverage. The paper includes training exercises on the subject of sport event leverage along with possible answers. Findings – Building on prior work, this paper proposes a new model for social leverage. The model and the related discussion highlight potential synergies between economic and social leverage. Research limitations/implications – As the proposed model for social leverage is essentially exploratory, it remains empirically untested. This represents an obvious challenge for further research. Practical implications – This paper recognizes that, particularly in the last decade, a paradigm shift has taken place in parts of the international events community, and provides a challenge and potential direction for event practitioners to continue the path towards achieving the triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental benefits for host communities. Originality/value – The social leverage model breaks new ground in the (sport) events field, as does the push towards sustainability and a more triple bottom line approach to event outcomes.