Relevance of Major Sporting Events

This chapter examines the economic relevance of major sporting events and the debate surrounding their public value. While supporters highlight potential benefits such as tourism demand, regional visibility, infrastructure development, employment effects, and additional tax revenues, critics emphasize systematic budget overruns, high public financial responsibility, uncertain long-term use of sports facilities, and limited macroeconomic effects. Empirical evidence shows that many mega-events fail to deliver the promised economic growth; when positive impacts occur, they are usually short-term and concentrated in specific regions. Meanwhile, intangible effects such as pride, social cohesion, image gains, and temporary increases in well-being are becoming increasingly relevant, especially when tangible economic benefits are modest. The chapter reviews key analytical approaches, contrasts ex-ante expectations with ex-post findings, and highlights methodological challenges, including inflated multipliers, substitution and crowding-out effects, a lack of consideration of opportunity costs, and inconsistent cost definitions.