Globalization and mega-events: thinking through flows

Sports mega-events such as the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup are quintessential expressions of the multiple facets of globalization. This contribution analyses mega-events as the drivers and outcomes of a vortex of global flows of people, capital, images, and knowledge. It examines the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro as an example of how global flows are articulated in local contexts.