Scrutinizing Global Mega-Events

Abstract

The importance of global mega-events researchOver the past 20 years, mega-events -such as the Olympic Games or the Football World Cup -have become a global urban force. For many cities, hosting a mega-event propels historically large interventions in urban development, remodelling both urban politics and the built environment in the course of a few years. The Olympic Games and the Football World Cup have, in this sense, become urban events more than sporting events.The capital cost of material interventions into the city -upgrading or building new sports venues, roads, railway lines, airports, communication centres, security systems, and hotelsis now several times the operational cost of putting on the event itself. The Russian city of Sochi spent more than USD 50 billion on infrastructure in preparation for the 2014 Winter Games, compared to less than USD 5 billion of operational expenses (Müller 2014). Some scholars see the degree of urban transformation as one of the key distinction between events and mega-events. Hiller (2000, 183), for example, suggests that a mega-event significantly alters the urban fabric and reprioritises the urban agenda.It is no exaggeration to claim that, over the past two decades, the urban impacts of megaevents have become global. Whereas cities in North America, Western Europe, and Japan

Mega‐events and the minor

“…This sociology is oriented in a relevant historiography; a tradition of critical ethnography; and a cautious affinity towards investigative journalism that penetrates guarded areas and uncovers secrets (Sugden & Tomlinson, 2002a). These approaches to the sociology of sport (Giulianotti, 2015) contributed significantly to geographers working on mega‐events (Gaffney et al., 2018).…”