This book focuses upon the legacies sought by cities that host major sports events. It analyses how governments, the IOC and others define and measure ‘legacy’. It also focuses upon the challenges and opportunities facing future host cities of mega-events and questions what the global shift in geographical location of mega-events means for sports development and the business of sport and what are the attractions for cities seeking to harness the hosting of a mega-event, and whether there may be longer term consequences for the bidding and hosting major sporting events.

This book looks at the UEFA European Championship (Euro 2012) as both a crowning achievement of, and a way to sustain, the urban entrepreneurial strategy of Poznań, Poland. As the host city of the tournament almost 25 years after Poland’s transformation from a centrally planned to a market economy in 1989, the author focuses on how the local myths and traditions of resourcefulness were invoked to embed an entrepreneurial urban strategy. The book also observes how the very same tradition of resourcefulness was used by the opposition to challenge the urban policies. Contrary to the authorities' expectations, Euro 2012 triggered a discussion about the extent to which large business- and leisure-oriented urban strategy corresponds to local regime of value. Urban Politics of a Football Mega Event will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of subjects, including anthropology, ethnography, sociology of sport, geography, history, political science and European studies.

As London sought to use the Olympics to achieve an ambitious programme of urban renewal in the relatively socially deprived East London it attracted global attention and sparked debate. This book provides an in-depth study of the transformation of East London as a result of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Government and event organisers use legacies of urban renewal to justify hosting the world’s leading sports mega-event, this book examines and evaluates those legacies. The London Olympics and Urban Development: the mega-event city is composed of new research, conducted by academics and policy makers. It combines case study analysis with conceptual insight into the role of a sports mega-events in transforming the city. It critically assesses the narrative of legacy as a framework for legitimizing urban changes and examines the use of this framework as a means of evaluating the outcomes achieved. This book is about that process of renewal, with a focus on the period following the 2012 Games and the diverse social, political and cultural implications of London’s use of the narrative of legacy.

While societies shape the way their cities look and are represented, urban images, in turn, nurture and structure social relations in multiple ways. Nowhere is this dialectical relationship between social processes and urban representations more visible than in the hosting of global spectacles such as the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games, which both embody some of society's deepest dreams and desires. The focus of this book is the image of cities. It is not only interested in the mechanisms of urban image construction but also in the politics of such a phenomenon, especially its social impacts in terms of representation and right to the city. The book investigates the complex power relationships that underscore the production of the urban landscape and the construction and diffusion of urban images, especially in the context of urban mega-events. It uses the notion of urban image construction as a lens through which to examine the mega-event spectacle, with chapters exploring the physical, social and political dimensions of the imagineering process as well as emerging resistance to controversial initiatives. Through an analysis of event-related urban construction efforts in Rio de Janeiro and Beijing, this book examines the effects of mega-events upon the construction of an exclusive vision of urbanity. It demonstrates how mega-events are increasingly utilized by local political and economic elites to reconfigure power relations, strengthen their hold upon the urban territory and exclude vulnerable population groups. The book thus offers a critical analysis of the practice of urban image construction, and will be of interest to those working in geography, urban studies, tourism, sport studies, development studies and politics.

Managing Sport Mega-Events explores global developments in the management of sport mega-events. Sport mega-events such as the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup have been examined from a number of academic perspectives including history, sociology, politics, urban planning and economics. What is lacking, however, is a book which identifies and evaluates the current issues and complexities faced by those charged with the responsibility of managing these sport mega-events. This book fills the gap. The book addresses three broad but interconnected themes. First, strategic matters are explored focusing on the rise of sport mega-events, the management of stakeholders and governance issues. Second, how organisers can best ensure the sustainable management of sport mega-events is considered. Third, operational matters and related issues are examined including media management, broadcast management, venue management, risk management, marketing and sponsorship management. The book draws on leading international sport management scholars, each of whom has expertise in the organisation of sport mega-events. It makes a valuable contribution to the existing literature.

From the Olympics to the World Cup, mega sporting events are a source of enjoyment for tens of thousands, but can also be a source of intense debate and controversy. This insightful new Handbook addresses a number of central questions, including: How are host cities selected and under what economic conditions? How are these events organized, and how is local resistance overcome? Based on historical and empirical experience, what are the pitfalls for the organizers of these events? What are the potential economic benefits, including any international image effects? How can the costs be minimized and the benefits maximized for host cities and countries? How do these mega events impact the challenges of globalization and what is their environmental legacy? Compiled and edited by two internationally renowned sports economists, the expert contributions elaborate on the specific mechanisms of the bid processes, analyse the determining factors of winning bids, and illustrate how to construct future bid campaigns. Underpinned by case studies from four continents and by theoretical considerations, the reasons for seemingly systemic cost overruns are explored and analysed, as are the effects on national and regional employment and income, property values, non-traditional economic variables (such as psychological and marketing benefits) and urban branding and transformation. The Handbook also reflects on important elements of design of the games in order to better plan, prepare and allocate resources – including, for example, sustainability issues and the use of campaigns to secure positive perceptions. This book provides an up-to-date analysis of the financing and economic impact of mega sporting events, as well as a full discussion of how host cities can maximize the benefits from their experience. As such, it will prove a fascinating read for academics, students, researchers and policymakers with an interest in economics and public sector economics generally, and more specifically, in the economics of sport.

In recent years, major sporting and cultural events such as the Olympic Games have emerged as significant elements of public policy, particularly in efforts to achieve urban regeneration. As well as opportunities arising from new venues, these events are viewed as a way of stimulating investment, gaining civic engagement and publicizing progress to assist the urban regeneration process more generally. However, the pursuit of regeneration involving events is a practice that is poorly understood, controversial and risky. Events and Urban Regeneration is the first book dedicated to the use of events in regeneration. It explores the relationship between events and regeneration by analyzing a range of cities and a range of sporting and cultural events projects. It considers various theoretical perspectives to provide insight into why major events are important to contemporary cites. It examines the different ways that events can assist regeneration, as well as problems and issues associated with this unconventional form of public policy. It identifies key issues faced by those tasked with using events to assist regeneration and suggests how practices could be improved in the future. The book adopts a multi-disciplinary perspective, drawing together ideas from the geography, urban planning and tourism literatures, as well as from the emerging events and regeneration fields. It illustrates arguments with a range of international case studies placed within and at the end of chapters to show positive outcomes that have been achieved and examples of high profile failures. This timely book is essential reading for students and practitioners who are interested in events, urban planning, urban geography and tourism.

Drawing upon historical, cultural, economic and socio-demographic perspectives, this book examines the role of a sporting mega-event in promoting urban regeneration and social renewal. Comparing cities that have or will be hosting the event, it explores the political economy of the games and the changing role of the state in creating post-industrial metropolitan spaces. It evaluates the changing perceptions of the Olympic Games and the role of sport in the global media age in general and assesses the implication of 'mega-event' regeneration policies for local communities and their cultural, social and economic identities, with specific reference to east London and the Thames Gateway.

The edited volume explains why sport mega events can be discussed from the viewpoint of politics and power, and what this discussion can add to the existing scholarship on political regimes, international norms, national identities, and cultural narratives. The book collects case studies written by insiders from different countries of post-Soviet Eurasia that have recently hosted— or intend to host in the future —sporting events of a global scale. Contributing authors discuss cultural, political, and economic strategies of host governments, examining them from the vantage point of an increasing shift of the global sport industry to non-Western countries. Mega-events often draw domestic lines of cultural and social exclusion within host’s polities. It is these ruptures and gaps this volume explores, contributing to a better understanding of the intricate interconnections between global institutions and national identities.

This volume explores sporting mega-events, their social, political, and cultural characters, the value systems that they inscribe and draw on, the claims they make on us and the claims the organisers make for them, the spatial and ethical relationships they create, and the responses of civil societies to them.