During preparation, the venue can be approached through milestones: layouts, readiness reviews, procurement, contractor progress, training, rehearsals and opening criteria. Problems can often be scheduled, assigned and revisited.
Once competition starts, time behaves differently. Spectators are moving, athletes have a schedule, transport arrives, media needs access, food must be delivered, incidents develop and every functional area is working simultaneously. A decision that can wait until tomorrow during bump-in may need an answer in minutes during Games time.
That shift also changes leadership. At Torino 2025, I managed Palavela and PalaTazzoli as a cluster through preparation and bump-in. Before Games time I pushed for a dedicated Venue Manager at Palavela because being continuously present in two live venues was not credible. I retained cluster oversight while concentrating most of my Games-time presence at the more competition-dense PalaTazzoli.
Delegation was not a reduction of responsibility. It was the operating decision that made responsibility possible. The point is not to be everywhere. It is to create enough structure, trust and information that the venue keeps making good decisions when you are not standing in every room.