“Go and interview a restaurateur in central London near Piccadilly or go and interview a theatre manager in central London about how their business was in central London in August of 2012 [during the Summer Olympics] and they’ll say ‘It was awful. It was like the great depression,’” says economist  in this podcast. Zimbalist, a professor of economics at Smith College and the author of (Brookings Institution Press, 2015), reveals the real economic costs and benefits of hosting mega-sporting events and discusses the prospects of FIFA following the corruption scandal. “This is what the modern Olympics and the modern World Cup are really about,” he says. “It’s the Circus Maximus in the old days of referring to these gigantic stadiums and elaborate facilities, but it’s also a Circus Maximus in the sense that it’s a circus.” Also in this episode, Senior Fellow , managing editor of , offers his "What's Happening in Congress" update. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Show Notes:   , Andrew Zimbalist and Roger Noll     (Zimbalist op-ed in Boston Globe) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .