ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses more closely on the processes through which events become commodities, and event participants become consumers. It returns to the key theories of Gramsci, Adorno and Habermas relating to rise of capitalism and power of capitalism and other instrumental rationalities in the period of modernity in order to analyse sports mega-events such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. The chapter discusses the shift to post modernity and the supposed decline of the power of nation-states, and explore how this has increased commodification in the events industry as one part of the wider cultural and entertainment industries. It investigates the ways in which commodification might be resisted though events. A successful mega-event brings with it a sense that the host city or country has gained admission to an elite circle: hosting such an event generates parochial pride, nationalism and, among cities, feeling that one has joined the ranks of global cities, in which the post-industrial economy is founded.
