Mega Sporting Events in Developing Nations: Necessity or Bureaucratic Burden?

ABSTRACT This paper presents a pioneering investigation into why street‐level bureaucrats in Egypt perceive the hosting of mega sporting events as necessary or unnecessary. Based on interviews with 36 street‐level bureaucrats, the findings reveal that only a small number of participants view hosting such events as necessary, while the vast majority consider them unnecessary. These perceptions are shaped by both job‐related barriers, which include exclusion from decision‐making, citizen criticism, and reliance on foreign experts, and socio‐cultural barriers, which involve lack of public support, absence of event legacy, and limited impact on tourism.