Hosting mega sport events in a small country: The (real) impact on the development - cases of Croatia and Serbia

Majority of studies on the impact of the sports events on country's development are produced before the events take place and as such are in favour of the bidding process. When comparing these ex ante analyses to the ex post evidence, it has been in most cases obvious that they have been overly optimistic. This paper analyses the ex ante analysis provided by the Croatian bidding committee for the European Football Championship 2012. In addition to that, the ex ante study for the World Handball Championship 2009 in Croatia and (insufficient) data for the handball championships that took place in Serbia were analysed as well. This paper contributes both to the debate on the realistic approach of several failed and won bids, and the debate on the future bids for the other sport events.