ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates how Stockholm’s Olympic hopes have book-ended a transformative period in the Olympic bidding process. It focuses on Stockholm’s reluctant pursuit of the Olympic Games not just because the city’s quest is understudied, but because Stockholm’s process of preparing their bids has exposed the incongruences of sport mega-event development. Stockholm’s example, while contributing to a broader general narrative of bid decline, is important because it reveals the difficulties of trying to not only adjust to, but shift the logic of mega-event development. The chapter explains the apparent municipal reluctance of Stockholm to commit the resources necessary to pursue the Olympic Games. The last shift exposed the political split that has developed across Stockholm’s series of bids. Inspecting Stockholm’s relationship with the Olympic Games reveals the difficult road that many NOCs encounter when attempting to generate a candidate city for the Olympics.
