Managing impact: Leveraging sacred spaces and community celebration to maximize social capital at a sport-for-development event

• It was found that both liminality and communitas emerged at this SFD event.
• Five mechanisms and processes helped to achieve liminality and communitas.
• Inclusive play was also important for achieving liminality and communitas.
• Four tactics helped to leverage liminality for social capital development.

The purpose of this investigation was to understand how a sport-for-development event can be leveraged socially, and if event organizers created the best possible experiences for homeless participants through the creation of communitas and thus, social capital. We also examined the mechanisms through which liminality is cultivated and communitas can emerge, along with the means for leveraging liminality. It was found that liminality was cultivated and communitas materialized at this SFD event, as event organizers employed various processes to foster a liminoid space and develop community. Additional tactics were employed to leverage liminality and associated communitas for social capital development. We contribute to the research literature on event leveraging and also make important contributions to theory development. Implications are drawn forth for theory, practice, and future research.