Interestingly, it seems that big sporting events that seems to make any money are those where you don't have to be "voted" to host the event. Think Wimbledon, Marathons, FA Cup finals etc.

Sporting events like the F1 Grand Prix, FIFA world cups and Olympics etc seems to be full of loss making money stories for the hosts, but its organisation company seems to do quite well out of it.

This is just a casual observation, and I could be totally wrong.