Major sporting events such as the Olympics or FIFA World Cup play a crucial role in expanding countries’ budgets. Some people believe that organizing global sporting occasions can be advantageous, while others consider that it is a waste of resources like time and money. Although such massive sports events can bring financial distortion. I believe hosting worldwide sports tournaments is mostly beneficial in terms of economic stimulus.
On the one hand, there is an opposite view is that such multinational sports festivals may have a negative impact on the country’s money distribution. In other words, developed states are mostly known for their sports events, and organizing such huge ones can require excessive amounts of money. When countries spend their budget on such events as opposed to other vital services, these services worsen daily. Take Brazil whose population suffers from a lack of education as an example. This country hosted back-to-back major events: the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. Both tournaments required millions, if not billions, of dollars from a country that has notable issues related to the sectors of education and healthcare. Nevertheless, the country organized both, but it can be argued that these events were of temporary benefit, and the country’s essential issues were largely ignored. Today, Brazil still has many of the problems mentioned earlier and there are no significant investments in dealing with those.
On the other hand, there are many examples of smart investments by other hosts. The latest instance is related to Qatar. This relatively unknown country in the Middle East has become a popular nation as a result of hosting the 2022 World Cup. To be specific, Qatar’s example shows how certain countries spend money for international recognition and tourism boosts. In addition, Qatar spent billions of dollars on a 30-day event, it managed to turn the world’s attention to it, which can potentially lead to economic benefits in the long term. In fact, according to IMF eLibrary’s information, Qatar makes approximately $1.85 billion of dollars from this case. Thus, this is the only example of how host international competition can bolster a whole country’s economy as a whole.
In my view, I support those who believe in the benefits of major sports events. However, I think hosts should be carefully chosen. For example, states that have persistent social issues like Brazil, should probably not be given such rights to host such events, whereas nations that are economically ready like Qatar should be given an opportunity because it did not cost Qatar as much as it did to other nations. Additionally, we should remember that hosting sports events is not only driven by a desire to generate profit but also other priorities such as environmental impact and financial straining should be considered.
In summary, while settling massive sports tournaments can point out economic failures, I still believe organizing them is rather beneficial such as Qatar’s case mentioned above. Therefore, it is important to take its benefits into account.