What makes an event a mega-event? Definitions and sizes

Abstract

There is considerable ambiguity about what makes an event a mega-event. Intervening in this debate, this paper develops a definition and classification scheme for mega-events. On the basis of a review of existing definitions, it proposes four constitutive dimensions of mega-events: visitor attractiveness, mediated reach, costs and transformative impact. The paper develops indicators for each dimension and maps onto these four dimensions a sample of the latest editions of nine large events (Expo, Summer and Winter Olympics, Football World Cup, European Football Championship, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games, Universiade). From this, it develops a multi-dimensional, point-based classification scheme of large events according to size, distinguishing between major events, mega-events and the recently emerging class of gigaevents. Concluding, it identifies the need for more systematic data on the size, costs and impacts of a broad range of large-scale events over time.

Urban Regimes and the Right to the City: An Analysis of the No Expo Network and its Protest Frames

“…The decision to reflect on this mobilization was then due to the necessity, on the one hand, to address a neglected aspect of recent national opposition to neo -liberal gospel, and on the other hand to highlight some weak points of the protest and its partial failure, also in light of the current situation in the city of Milan, as discussed in the conclusions. More generally, this paper offers an example of a descriptive analysis of a recent Italian mobilization event against mega -events, in line with other important works regarding, for example, Genoa's Expo Colombiane in 1992 (Casaglia, 2016) and Turin's Winter Olympic Games in 2006 (Bobbio andGuala, 2002;Casaglia, 2016 (Roche, 2000;Muller, 2015;Gruneau and Horne, 2015) which, according to latest provisions of the BIE, takes place every five years and lasts a maximum of six months, with the first such event of the modern era held in London in 1851. Milan has hosted the event twice in the city's history, the 2015 Milan Expo held more than a century after its predecessor in 1906.…”

“…In this regard, the strict connection between mega -events (Roche, 2000;Muller, 2015;Gruneau and Horne, 2015) as one of the main 'dispositifs' (Foucault, 1976) to give shape to post -industrial urban symbolic economy and a broader strategy of urban regeneration, has been highlighted for a long time (Lash and Urry, 1994;Zukin, 1995Zukin, , 2010Bobbio and Guala, 2002). In fact, mega -events are rhetorically presented as an opportunity for greater worldwide visibility that can add value to what local territories can offer to tourists (Kang and Perdue, 1994;Zukin, 2004), in a medium -term process characterized by a paradigmatic change from urban managerialism to urban entrepreneurialism (Harvey, 1989).…”

2018 FIFA World Cup: isolating Russia could harm global health

“…5,6 Unlike annual mass gatherings, the World Cup is a one-time ambulatory mega-event held at different locations. 7 New hosts can learn much from previous organising committees.…”

Sports mega-events – three sites of contemporary political contestation

“…Additionally we need to consider the existence of first, second, third and even lower orders or tiers of (sports) mega-events according to their reach and range, cost and size (Black 2014; but also see Müller (2015) who suggests an alternative scheme that attempts to avoid a "'once and for all'" classification of specific events). For my purposes in this chapter I will refer to the following as amongst the most significant sports mega-events: Tier 1 -Summer Olympic Flyvbjerg (2014) suggests strictly speaking we should distinguish between 'mega' (million), 'giga' (billion), and 'tera' (trillion) dollar (USD) -projects depending on their scale.…”