Event leverage and portfolio planning : the missing link between Lima and the 2019 Pan-American Games

Sport events have played a pivotal role in the regeneration of economies and communities. Furthermore, major events have been used as a tool for economic, social, political, and cultural development for cities. The potential claims gained from hosting lead countries to bid for major sport events, sometimes disregarding the costs and overestimating the benefits. In this regard, the potential outcomes are taken for granted, as if they were an intrinsic attribute of the sport product. Due to the ephemeral lifespan of sport events and the escalating costs related to hosting, Chalip (2004) called for a shift of paradigm, from impact to leverage, in the study of event and tourism management. By strategically planning for desired outcomes, using the events as a means to focus on the community, host destinations could achieve tangible and intangible benefits well beyond the event's completion date. The underlying discourse also acknowledges that in order to sustain outcomes and counteract the temporal boundaries of sport events, a series of interrelated events, encompassed within an event portfolio, are key to capitalize on economic and social issues to in order prolong the benefits for host destinations. This report puts into perspective the different challenges faced by Lima, Peru and its organizing committee in the preparation of the 2019 Pan-American Games. Based on secondary sources of evidence, if the continental competition is not put to the service of the city of Lima, with a mindset shift to event leverage, the event outcomes will be nominal and the benefits will not exceed the cost of hosting. To maximize the desired goals proposed by the Peruvian organizing committee, two event leverage frameworks are presented as a means to implement Lima's Pan-American Plan: Chalip's (2004) economic leverage framework, and O'Brien and Chalip's (2008) social leverage framework. The purpose of the analysis is to highlight potential avenues to increase the benefits derived from the event to Lima's local community.