Are Mega-Events Only for Global Cities? Analyzing Host Cities through the Global and World Cities Framework, 1990–2020

Abstract Mega-events have long been promoted as opportunities for cities to become more globalized, thereby enhancing tourism- and consumption-based economic development. But does this mega-event strategy actually work for smaller cities? This article compares the recent history of mega-event planning to cities’ ratings on the Global and World City (GaWC) ranking system, a typology for evaluating cities’ connectivity within the global economy. We surveyed 138 cities that bid on or hosted a variety of multi-sport mega-events. Competition for the most prominent mega-events is dominated by the most globalized “alpha” ranked cities, though less-globalized cities regularly bid for and host smaller mega-events. On average, hosting a mega-event has no significant effect on a city's GaWC ranking. Using a subsample of bids for the Summer Olympics, we further find that there is no specific model of mega-event planning in alpha cities: simply being a large and highly globalized city appears to be central to their success. This suggests mega-events are not a realistic mechanism for smaller and less-globalized cities to advance their global ambitions.