Using methods such as questionnaires and comparative analysis, we study the residents' attitude toward sports mega-events in Nanjing(China) and St.Petersburg(Russia). The study find that, the citizens of St.Petersburg ranked the factors from politics, economy, fans to media, according to the strength of inf luence on international sporting events in a strong to weak way, while the citizens of Nanjing rank that from politics, fans, economy to media; public opinion can provide a basis for the government to bid for sports mega-events and coordinate resources in all aspects; attention to the inf luence of sports mega-events is useful for exploring the path for promoting the governance system and modernizing the governance capacity of sports business.