Mega events, such as the Olympic Games or the FIFA World Cup, are catalysts for change and transformation in cities and countries across the globe that attract a large number of visitors, have a large reach, incur large costs, and have large impacts on the built environment and population. This project has analyzed data on select cities and countries that have hosted mega events in the past as case studies in order to examine both the proposed benefits of hosting these events, as well as the shortcomings that surface once the events finish. The product of this report will eventually be a key findings report that highlights and synthesizes my broader research on the topic – I will be submitting this report to the United States Soccer Federation Professional Council on August 1st and for that reason, I have opted to work on the report over summer while finalizing the broader capstone report for graduation purposes. Potential hosts see mega events as opportunities to catalyze development and improvement across the board, yet the vast majority of cities and countries fall short in establishing a positive post-event legacy for themselves. The project identifies issues within the governing guidelines of these mega events and the discrepancies between the goals of the organizing and bidding committees and the goals of the general public, which leads to the failure of establishing a sustainable event legacy once the event has ended. To complete the report, a comprehensive literature review was compiled that examined the history of mega events, as well as specific literature on the selected case studies, which were combined with onsite research and the data gathering which generated the overall findings.