Toward a Critical Understanding of Gentrification and Mega-Sport Event: An Analysis of the Rental Market in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games

Grounded in a nexus of sport sociology and economics inquiry, the present study examined the rental market at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games, considering increased rent as a critical antecedent to gentrification. Specifically, econometric analyses based on a difference-in-differences design were employed to examine longitudinal data of rent transactions in the hosting districts. The findings suggested that rental prices went through varied phases of fluctuation with a potential consequence of gentrification. As such, the results shed light on housing struggles and gentrification as a form of controversy brought about by the construction of sport facilities and hosting events. Therefore, they provided in-depth and empirical evidence to critique socioeconomic inequalities underneath the neoliberal political agenda in sport as well as the revanchist politics prevalent in today’s neoliberal world.