Ever more cities and countries are bidding to stage major sporting events. One of the main reasons for this is the economic benefit expected by decision makers and citizens. From the perspective of economics, the key welfare issue is whether or not major sporting events really achieve efficient outcomes given the potentially incompatible aims of different stakeholders which invariably lead to some debatable investments of scarce public resources. A key aim of politicians is to attract new investment to their city or regionin order to develop infrastructure such as telecommunication, transportation, housing or even sport and entertainment facilities. Sporting events are also intended to achieve intangible ends such as a better image, more knowhow, stronger networks, emotional commitment and additional cultural benefits and enhanced identity (see Figure 1). All these ‘event structures’ can improve sites in a city/region by strengthening certain location factors. Those may improve general living conditions in the longer term but also boost the income of citizens by attracting new businesses, tourists, conventions or new events. These finally may foster economic growth at the city, regional or national level. This issue intends to contribute to the (rather uncertain) expectations ofpoliticians and citizens. Two contributions analyse input factors (change of physical infrastructure and human resources) which may have improved location factors for the respective hosts. Two others focus on the measurable economic output of events, and one contribution seeks to explain the political circumstances for investment of scarce public resources to attract major sporting events.