International sporting mega-events and conditionality

This article examines host contracts for international sporting mega-events as a forum for conditionality in developing world infrastructure projects, with a focus on the Rio 2016 Olympics host agreement. With emerging economies hosting an ever-increasing range of sporting mega-events, the financial investments in these projects are becoming akin to those seen in more traditional mega-infrastructure initiatives. At the same time there is significant literature showing lacklustre economic returns on mega sporting event infrastructure that can lead to severe fiscal distress for host jurisdictions that may have less capacity to weather financial problems. Much of this stress can be attributed to the many conditions that come through host contracts. In addition to taking inventory of the host contract and how these conditions exacerbate the risks involved in hosting a sporting mega-event for a city and country, this work connects this discussion to a law and development literature existing outside of the sporting conversation.