Sporting mega-events like the FIFA World Cup and Summer Olympics regularly achieve billions of viewers worldwide, yet research consistently shows minimal economic benefits for host countries. This raises a critical question: why do nations spend billions of dollars to host them? One prominent explanation is sportswashing, or using sports to improve tarnished international reputations. While widely discussed in political science and media studies, whether sportswashing actually works remains an open empirical question.
This study uses synthetic control methodology to estimate the causal effect of hosting mega-events on global perceptions, measured by the U.S. News & World Report Best Countries Rankings (2016-2024). Three recent events are examined: Qatar's 2022 World Cup, Russia's 2018 World Cup, and Japan's 2020 Summer Olympics. Qatar and Russia represent countries theorized to engage in sportswashing to rehabilitate controversial reputations, while Japan provides a comparison case of a democracy with a positive global image.
Results reveal that sportswashing can be effective but is context-dependent. Qatar experienced sustained perception improvements despite ongoing controversies, Russia gained small short-term benefits that were reversed by its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and Japan showed no measurable change, consistent with a ceiling effect for already highly-ranked countries. These findings demonstrate that hosting sporting mega-events can shift global perceptions for countries with damaged reputations, but effects are fragile and can be reversed by similarly severe negative events.
This study uses synthetic control methodology to estimate the causal effect of hosting mega-events on global perceptions, measured by the U.S. News & World Report Best Countries Rankings (2016-2024). Three recent events are examined: Qatar's 2022 World Cup, Russia's 2018 World Cup, and Japan's 2020 Summer Olympics. Qatar and Russia represent countries theorized to engage in sportswashing to rehabilitate controversial reputations, while Japan provides a comparison case of a democracy with a positive global image.
Results reveal that sportswashing can be effective but is context-dependent. Qatar experienced sustained perception improvements despite ongoing controversies, Russia gained small short-term benefits that were reversed by its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and Japan showed no measurable change, consistent with a ceiling effect for already highly-ranked countries. These findings demonstrate that hosting sporting mega-events can shift global perceptions for countries with damaged reputations, but effects are fragile and can be reversed by similarly severe negative events.