Does a nation's contingent value of hosting a mega event depend on past experience with implied benefits? Applying data from ex-ante and ex-post queries, we use the FIFA World Cup 2006 to address this question. The ex-post increase in valuation is shown to be owing to citizens requiring an involving experience. We also use the first mega-event hosted by reunified Germany to investigate how the integration of the two parts of Germany progressed after 18 years of reunification. We find that civic pride induced by collective experience can considerably accelerate the convergence of East Germans' preferences towards those of West Germans.