THE DISRUPTION COSTS OF POST–9–11 SECURITY MEASURES AND CITIES’ BIDS FOR PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATING CONVENTIONS

Over the past several decades, cities have increasingly built facilities and amenities to attract tourism, conventions, and mega-events. Mega-events bring cities tourism revenues and free media attention to brand themselves. We theorize regarding why cities seek to host presidential nominating conventions and why the increased disruption costs of the post–9–11 security environment have changed the way cities evaluate the branding opportunities of mega-events. Consistent with our predictions, larger and more tourism-dependent cities are less likely to need the branding opportunities of political conventions than their competitors and therefore are less willing to incur the disruption costs of political conventions after 9–11.