Hosting int’l sporting events: Yay or Nay?

While slaving away at Case 3 research, I’ve found that the Olympics is not the only international sporting event that has heavily debated pros and cons.

The FIFA World Cup, an international football (widely regarded as the most popular sport in the world) competition held every four years, is another prestigious event that generally faces scrutiny by critics. Unlike the Olympics, the World Cup is not a competition that is themed around peace and equality amongst competitors. It is an intensely cutthroat athletic event but generates hype and buzz that equals if not surmounts that of the Olympic Games.

Recently, the host cities for World Cup 2018 and 2022 have been announced. Russia and Qatar have respectively secured their bid to host this fierce competition. I’ve learned that sponsors are not the only ones who want to come out of these events with profits; countries compete to host the World Cup to increase tourism, generate economic growth, and emerge with an image of capability that proves to foreign investors that the country is more than doing well.

So how can Russia maximize its ROI from this new venture? Russia will have to invest in building infrastructure and stadiums suitable for both winter and summer sports now as its Sochi is hosting the XXII Winter Olympic Games and this will likely be a heavy burden on their budget. Luckily for them, apparently it won’t be difficult at all. John Davis, the author of The Olympics Games Effect, states in an interview,

“First, you need to have a clear sense of your Destiny….Second, management must develop a unique Brand Strategy….The third dimension is Culture.”

Similarly to a business, Russia can follow Davis’ guidelines to secure valuable gains from this investment and emerge as an international role model of overall success.



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