From London 2012 to UK & Ireland 2028: sustainability’s evolving place within the IOC’s and UEFA’s expansionist event management

In 2028, the UK and Ireland will host UEFA EURO, placing sustainability at the centre of their successful bid. Similarly, Los Angeles, host of the Summer Olympic Games in the same year, has also committed to centralizing sustainability in event planning and delivery. The incorporation of sustainability practices and discourses has become a defining feature of contemporary mega-sporting events, a trend born in the late twentieth century and consolidated during the London 2012 Olympics with the development of ISO 20121. This article critically examines, through a comparative longitudinal analysis, how sustainability discourses and practices have evolved since 2012 and how major organizations such as the IOC and UEFA operationalize them within their governance frameworks. Drawing on document analysis from a dark green perspective, the study identifies converging themes in the 2028 events’ sustainability agendas while revealing tensions between discourse, practice, and the continuous expansionism characterizing global sporting events.