Notwithstanding the fact that Brazil is about to host two mega-sporting events, the 2014 Football World Cup and the 2016 Olympic games, local economic historians have yet to take sports seriously. As part of a project to correct this oversight, I analyze the social economics of two early sports competitions hosted by Brazil, the South American Football Championship in 1919 and the South American Games in 1922.1 highlight thefinancingof the infrastructure for the two events and the connections with Arnaldo Guinle, a member of one of the most important and richest families in Brazil and president of the Fluminense Futebol Club that steered the two competitions. I argue that in the economic detail of this financing we can learn important lessons relating to the hosting of contemporary mega-sporting events in Brazil.