Gold, Silver, Bronze or Tin? The Short and Long Term Effects of Mega Sporting Events

This paper examines the short and long term effects of the Summer Olympics, Winter Olympics, and the World Cup on the economy of the host country. We find that selection for hosting the Summer Olympics only produces a significant positive announcement period effect in the host country’s domestic equity market. This effect however resides solely in the construction and building materials industry. We further show that the Summer Olympic game hosting nations generate significant positive economic performance up to 3 years prior to hosting the event, while this positive economic performance disappears 1 year after hosting such an event. Our results suggest that contrary to the conventional claims by mega sports organizers, it appears that there are no significant long-run economic gains from hosting such mega sporting events.

Keywords: Olympics, World Cup, Announcement Effect, Economic Performance

JEL Classification: G10, R11

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Ferris, Stephen P. and Koo, Sulgi and Park, Kwangwoo and Yi, David T., Gold, Silver, Bronze or Tin? The Short and Long Term Effects of Mega Sporting Events (July 1, 2012). KAIST College of Business Working Paper Series No. 2012-005, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2104963 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2104963