Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna, Campus AAKH, Spitalgasse 2–4, 1090 Wien, Austria. E-mail: wolfram.manzenreiter@univie.ac.at

Received 15 January 2007; Revised 24 August 2007; Accepted 28 October 2007.

Abstract

Sports mega-events have considerable significance in re-imaging strategies of urban growth in highly developed economies. This inquiry into the relationship of the 2002 Football World Cup, public policy and regional development in Japan has been prompted by theoretical considerations on the changing background of regional politics in the 1990s and empirical observations of current trends in sports politics and professional sports. The introductory discussion of losers and winners in the World Cup reflects on the basic question of why regional authorities invest in sports promotion. A theoretical section sums up academic discussions on hosting politics, while an empirical section provides data on the anticipated and actual effects in Japan. The findings imply that local governments placed different hopes and expectations on the tournament, depending on the environment and conditions surrounding the host authorities. Regions with more soft assets tended to attach less value to the event, since they envisioned less need to enhance regional image. The comparison of survey data with macro-economic figures does not establish a direct relation between the degree of involvement of regional authorities and economic performance, but demonstrates that in mature economies the business of mega-events has no or, at best, a negligible effect.