Since Berlin's unsuccessful application (1993) for the Olympic Games 2000, Holger Preuss has been engaged intensively in the different facets of the Olympic movement. His main focus is placed on economic and socio-economic questions, often accompanied by empirical on-site studies.
His book "The Economics of Staging the Olympics - A Comparison of the Games 1972-2008" offers the most comprehensive and wide range information about the Olympic Games. Apart of that, Holger has contributed a great number of peer-reviewed journal publications about different topics related to the Olympics.
The research projects have often been conducted in collaboration with colleagues or students from the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, as well as together with foreign universities and researchers. Among the institutional partners from outside academia are, for example, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Olympic Academy (IOA), the former German Olympic Institute (DOI), the German Olympic Academy Willi Daume (DOA), the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) and the Deutsche Sport Marketing GmbH (DSM).
Holger has also been active in consulting bid cities regarding the potential economic and social impacts of the Games. Being an expert for impact and feasibility studies, he has consulted applicant cities such as Berne 2010, Frankfurt 2012, Budapest 2012, Leipzig 2012, Innsbruck 2014, Prague 2016/2020 as well as Munich 2018 and Hamburg 2024. Currently his expertise is shared with Paris 2024 for their socio-economic impact study.
Besides, he is member of the IOC “Commission for sustainability and legacy” and he is also the lead expert in the European Union XG ECO on deliverable 2 about the “legacy of major sport events in Europe”.