Abstract:

In global competitive environment, cities compete with each other to attract global capital in order to be a preferred and a strong city among their rivals. In this context, they pay more attention to branding activities and try to be visible in various international events to trigger economic development. Olympic Games are one of the * Selçuk Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Halkla İlişkiler ve Tanıtım Bölümü Öğretim Üyesi, [email protected] ** Selçuk Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Halkla İlişkiler ve Tanıtım Bölümü Yüksek Lisans Öğrencisi *** Selçuk Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Halkla İlişkiler ve Tanıtım Bölümü Yüksek Lisans Öğrencisi **** Selçuk Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Halkla İlişkiler ve Tanıtım Bölümü Yüksek Lisans Öğrencisi most important mega events, in which many cities desire to be the host city. By hosting this mega event, every city dreams about taking social, cultural, political and economic advantages, creating positive image and being a powerful city in international arena. Olympics are also events, where the citizens of the host country have feelings of proud, patriotism, voluntariness and community spirit. Studies put forward various disadvantages together with the advantages of these mega events on host cities. Istanbul, which was previously candidate for four Olympic Games, recently became a candidate city for 2020 Games after a great preparation period. Unfortunately city lost in the final elections against Tokyo and lost its chance to be host city. This subject has been under debate before and after election periods. This study aimed at investigating university students‟ views on Istanbul‟s candidacy of 2020 Olympic Games and its elimination in the final voting. Results showed that there was a strong belief that Olympics would have great contributions to the city and no negative expectations were observed in the significant part of the respondents.

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