In the rapidly growing body of scholarship on sport mega-events it has become commonplace to contend that the intangible (or immeasurable) elements of these events, such as the positive emotions they can evoke among spectators, are often among their most important consequences. This paper reflects on one particular aspect of sport mega-events’ intangibles–the feel-good effect, or sense of communal wellbeing that can be elicited under certain circumstances-and the political and socio-cultural processes that are contingent with this. The paper focuses on the 2006 FIFA World Cup which was hosted in Germany, and the 2010 FIFA finals, staged in South Africa. For Germany, since the hopes for significant positive effects on tourism, income, and employment that were prominent before the World Cup were (as in the case of most other such events) not realised, the feel-good effect seemed to be the largest and most obvious effect of the 2006 World Cup. Similarly, in the case of South Africa, which faced some severe organisational challenges, a sense of pride or national cohesion may be the most important and durable outcome of its hosting of the FIFA finals. The paper reviews the dimensions and significance of the feel-good effect and some of its longer-term political implications for host locations.