Hosting the 2020 Olympics should not only raise Japan’s international profile, it should also make its people healthier. Despite rating well internationally when it comes to sports participation, Japan wants to do even better.

A new report from Amnesty International slams Qatar for not living up to promises to improve workers’ rights and adds to a growing international criticism of Qatar’s inability to properly implement adopted policies.

Hosting two mega-events in Brazil within two years has resulted in many political promises on improvement for the citizens in Brazil and in particular Rio de Janeiro where the 2016 Olympics will be held. Presentations at Play the Game 2015 shed light on some of the less glamorous consequences.

Choosing permanent Olympic host cities, one on each continent, could help the IOC secure cheaper and more sustainable events while living up to their own Olympic values, argues Igor Kovač in this commentary piece.

Qatar’s success in securing the rights to host the 2022 World Cup will be cheaper than fighting a war and could improve workers’ rights but may not prove successful in garnering soft power. That was the message from a session titled ‘Qatar and the Soft Diplomacy of Sport’.

The International Olympic Committee’s ‘Agenda 2020’ is a series of reforms that include sweeping changes to the host city bidding process. But will the changes be effective and do they go far enough?

Cost overruns and absent tourism benefits are the norm when hosting mega-events, US economist Andrew Zimbalist told Play the Game 2015. And according to Hans Bruyninckx from the European Environmental Agency, hosts should also start thinking about the carbon footprints of their events.

Baku 2015, the first-ever European Games, represented a deliberate attempt to re-invent Azerbaijan’s public image. But did the plan backfire?