The Four ‘Cs’ of Sports Mega-Events: Capitalism, Connections, Citizenship and Contradictions

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to outline some theoretical frameworks and conceptual tensions around the study of sports mega-events, and thus provide a non-prescriptive structure for the discussions and debates that appear elsewhere in this volume. Borrowing the language of Perry Anderson (2007) writing in the New Left Review, these should be regarded as ‘Jottings more than theses’ and as a result ‘they stand to be altered or crossed out’ as time progresses. I will attempt to identify, in journalistic fashion, what’s the story? What is worth telling about sports mega-events? What things catch the interest of researchers and students and what does not? In this respect I will connect an earlier paper of mine on the ‘four “knowns” of sports mega-events’ to this one (Horne 2007).