ABSTRACT
To stimulate, regenerate, or reposition a city, region, or country, hosting a major international sports event can be a much sought after and prestigious commodity (Masterman 2009, Jordan 2011). Such has been the dramatic growth in the political salience of sport within the last decade, that a fiercely fought out global competition exists to bid for the rights to host sport events, such as an Olympic Games, a FIFA World Cup, the America’s Cup, and other international sport events (Walters 2011, Grix 2012). While Emery (2001) suggests that with only one winner, the nature of competitive bidding has long been recognised as being costly, time consuming, and risky, the intensity and aggressive nature of competitive bidding has now reached unprecedented levels (Shoval 2002, Atkinson et al. 2008, Walmsley 2008, Walters 2011). Walmsley (2008) argues that this is for two reasons – first, that bidding processes have been introduced to a greater range of sport events, and second, that destinations perceive a broader range of value being derived from hosting such events.
