The renunciation of cities to bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games (Oslo, Innsbruck, St. Moritz, Sion) or the 2024 Summer Games (Boston, Budapest, Hamburg, Rome, Munich), for financial reasons but also because of protests and/or local referendums, resulted in a limited choice for the International Olympic Committee. The fear of local stakeholders (politicians, inhabitants) of an increase in costs and the doubts about the interest of hosting a mega-event are the main reasons for the withdrawal. Why don’t the Olympic boosters work, and why do general statements about the impact of the Olympics no longer make sense to residents? First of all, we will study the impacts on a host location (employment, sales, tourism, attractiveness...) of mega-events. In order to understand the "city and mega-event" link, and to avoid a simple balancing act, we will reason in terms of the Olympic ecosystem. In a second point, we will analyze eight cities that have withdrawn their candidacy, and we will examine their motivations for doing so by focusing on three cases that seem emblematic to us: Oslo, Hamburg, and Budapest.