Welcome to World Class Sports Hosts; a celebration of the leading role that communities play in staging sports events. When a city, region or country puts out the welcome mat to athletes, officials and sports fans it is often the culmination of many years of investment in time and effort. Organising Committees. together with local public authorities and communities will have provided the infrastructure and the manpower to make a sporting event a success for all concerned.
The pages that follow contain some of the best examples of cities welcoming sport and gaining benefits for themselves. But, as in the early days of sports sponsorship, some investments may be looked back on as misguided and hosts will inevitably acquire greater sophistication and expertise. For the moment, however, their support represents a considerable vote of confidence in the power of sport to deliver against a range of community objectives.