This study provides a conceptual framework for understanding how leveraging tactics are developed by implementing agents and organisations responsible for a certain outcome for sport events. The framework, built on neo-institutional theory and implementation literature, was applied by examining youth sport policy (YSP) implementation and outcomes by leveraging the 2016 Lillehammer Winter Youth Olympic Games with the formulated objective to increase the engagement of young people in Norwegian organised sport. Planning and perceptions of the leveraging process were explored through 33 semi-structured interviews with policy formulators, implementing agents, and the policy target group. Technical details of implementation proved to be more time-consuming and difficult than the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF) and its partner organisations assumed. While the successful staging of the event itself was given priority, none of the stakeholder organisations involved in the YSP implementation prioritised its leverage. Opportunities for innovation on the street-level by the policy network were missed resulting in the reproduction of existing practices within the Norwegian sports structure.