ABSTRACT

Rationale/Purpose: In June 2018 FIFA awarded the 2026 Men's Football World Cup tournament to a transnational bid comprising the United States, Canada and Mexico. We explore this moment of historical conjuncture to understand the interplay of football, SME processes, geopolitical symbolism, and legacy craft.

Design/Methodology/Approach: Drawing on a critical document analysis of bid material, media reports, economic analysis, and secondary evaluation, we analyse how the United As One bid's core legacy tenets of certainty, opportunity and unity produced a complex narrative of economic, sporting, and political harmony and prosperity.

Findings: We contend that while the bid employs common legacy tropes and axioms, United As One exposes the sustained fallacies implicit within bid constructions and paucity of legacy as a currency in the future of SME enterprise.

Practical Implications: Stakeholder alliances are fundamental to sport mega-event bidding. Yet, collaborations are politically complex as each party balances benefits and risks. Accordingly, this paper forewarns all bid actors to be cogniscent of the roles they may play within the symbolism and rhetoric of bid construction.

Research Contribution: Beyond the context of football, this paper adds new insights to ways sport megaevent bid visions fuse economic, socio-cultural, and public health advancement rhetoric to consolidate and masque persuasive host and legacy agendas.

摘要

理由/目的： 2018 年 6 月，国际足联将 2026 年男子足球世界杯比赛授予由美国、加拿大和墨西哥组成的跨国申办方。我们探索这一历史时刻，以了解足球、中小企业流程、地缘政治象征意义和传统工艺之间的相互作用。

设_体育、政治和谐繁荣。

调查结果：我们认为，虽然投标采用了常见的遗留比喻和公理，但团结一致暴露了投标结构中隐含的持续谬误，以及遗留作为中小企业未来货币的缺乏。

实际意义：利益相关者联盟是体育大型赛事竞标的基础。然而，合作在政治上很复杂，因为每一方都需要平衡利益和风险。因此，本文警告所有投标参与者要认识到他们在投标构建的象征和修辞中可能扮演的角色。

研究贡献：除了足球之外，本文还对体育大型赛事申办愿景如何融合经济、社会文化和公共卫生进步言论以巩固和掩盖有说服力的东道主和遗留议程提出了新的见解。