The evaluation of the impacts of special events has been a source of considerable academic study, particularly from and economic perspective. Recently, however, researchers
have called for a more holistic evaluation of special events, such as a triple bottom line approach. Government agencies also commission event assessments, but many of these are unpublished, and are largely unavailable to researchers. However, 84 of these assessments were
collected for this study, and the aim was to determine whether or not the rhetoric from the academic studies was reflected in the reality of the impact assessments. The assessments were essentially economic, and although a number included social impacts, only two included
economic, social and environmental impacts. There was no attempt to integrate the impacts into a more holistic assessment. The implication for government agencies is that they need to do more to encourage a broader approach to event evaluation.