The spiralling costs of hosting sports mega-events (SMEs) are usually justified by the `legacies` that they produce. Therefore, this article begins by problematising the notion of SME `legacies` and the benefits they are intended to bring to hosts. The article serves as a general introduction to the papers that follow in this Special Issue. Common to all papers is a concern with the multifaceted nature of `legacy`, its meaning to a variety of stakeholders involved in such events and how this impacts policy. The belief in the causal relationship between hosting major events and the realisation of specific legacies - increased sport participation in London`s case, highlighted in this paper - underpinned the United Kingdom`s bidding for, and subsequent hosting of, the Olympics. Thus, this paper serves as a discussion of some of the key concepts in, and assumptions about, the use of SMEs to produce a legacy for the hosting state.
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