Issue 6 | 2024

1. Impacts of major sport events: a literature review

Paris 2024 aims to establish a new model for sustainable mega-events based on the 2020+5agenda. By placing the Games in the context of an ambitious social project, the organizers areraising hopes in many areas (ecological, economic, social), whereas previous Olympiads andthe large number of unknown factors linked to the bid and then the organization justify caution.The academic literature is characterized by a nuanced approach. Indeed, the currentprominence of the notion of legacy should not obscure decades of scientific research into thecomplexity of each of the dimensions that are supposed to constitute it. This paper offers anarrative literature review on the measurement, analysis, and evaluation of economic, social,tourism and environmental impacts. They are characterized by a degree of complexity and arefraught with counter-intuitive effects that need to be understood in order to grasp the potentialstructuring role of the event on its territory. The aim of this paper is to provide researchers andstudents interested in the impact of sporting events with keys to understanding the issuebecause, despite the methodological difficulties involved, mega-events are valuable indicatorsof the democratic, societal and political dynamics at work in our societies.