ABSTRACT
The Olympic Games have grown in both size and popularity over the last century. Planning for and delivering the event includes many steps that take place over a ten-year or longer period, including the bidding, planning, and wrap-up modes (IOC, 2009; Parent, 2008). Addressing a complex project that requires multilateral coordination such as the hosting of an Olympic Games entails extensive collective effort and resource sharing between many event stakeholders within the Olympic Movement’s organizational network, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Sports Federations (IFs), the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs), host cities, and nations, to name a few. While researchers have begun to examine the stakeholders – those individuals, groups, and/or organizations that can impact or are affected by the actions of the focal organization (Freeman, 1984) – of an event (e.g., Parent, 2008) and the stakeholder network during the bid (e.g., Turner & Westerbeek, 2004), deeper analyses are needed to understand Olympic Games network governance in order to improve its management processes and practices.
