ABSTRACT
Sport mega-events, led by the Summer and Winter Olympics and football World Cup, now account for many of the world's largest regular events. However, most of these events had quite humble beginnings and have had to embrace radical changes to their governance as they have grown. Because each event has its own specificities, analyses of changes in their governance and of their impact on host communities must examine different events separately. This chapter focuses on the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, which are awarded to a city (unlike the World Cup), and which share many characteristics in terms of their governance. It shows that involvement from local, regional, and national governments has increased greatly over the years and that local residents and citizens are now demanding a larger say in the organization of Olympic Games so they can help steer the event's physical and social impacts on their urban communities.
