Brazil’s Double Host Status

The story of Brazil’s double host status—hosting two first-order SMEs within just two years of each other—is, in general, one of disappointment and unfulfilled promise. After being awarded the right to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup in 2005, successfully hosting the Pan American Games in 2007, winning the right to host the 2016 Olympics and with an economy that overtook the UK to become the sixth largest in the world in 2011, most commentators thought that this was finally Brazil’s time. Long seen as a ‘sleeping giant’ just waiting for favourable conditions to blossom, this naturally endowed, resource-rich country was starting to look like it would move beyond a regional hegemon towards a world power. Widespread corruption against a backdrop of an economic downturn, however, resulted in Brazil spending close to $30 billion on a few weeks of sporting spectacles and desolate, underused, overpriced sports facilities.