The most comprehensive source (and most recent, and only source about the economics I can still find) to this page suggests that it was an economic catastrophe

The most comprehensive source (and most recent, and only source about the economics I can still find) to this page suggests that it was an economic catastrophe that "showed a cumulative loss of $5.6 billion to $9 billion."[1] It's the same argument politicians use to swindle taxpayers into publicly financing stadiums for billionaire sports owners. [1] http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/07/opinion/la-oe-coates-worldcup-20100907 http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/07/opinion/la-oe-coates...