IT is billed as one of the biggest cultural events in the world and it is coming to Glasgow.

Yet not long ago, the city may not have been first choice for hosting an evening which will be screened into 700million homes around the world.

But times have changed and Glasgow has changed.

Today the city's profile has never been higher thanks to successfully hosting a range of international events - not least the Commonwealth Games.

Success breeds success and major organisations are now desperate to book a place in Glasgow's diary for their next big event.

Those already lined up include BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December and the World Gymnastics Champion-ships, European Judo Championships, IPC Swimming World Championships, the Turner Prize and the British Athletics International which will all descend on the city next year.

In 2016, it will be the turn of the World Irish Dancing Championships and the Glasgow Inter-national Festival of Visual Art and in 2018, the European Swimming Championships.

But few events come bigger than the MTV Europe Music Awards which are predicted to bring a £10million boost to Scotland's economy.

Some of the world's top artists will take to the stage in the Hydro on Sunday as music fans around the world look on.

But it has been a long road between Glasgow first considering bidding for the hotly contested event and the stars arriving in the city.

The MTV awards were last hosted in Scotland in 2003 and it has been EventScotland's aim to bring them back since.

David Lynn, top execu-tive with MTV's parent company Viacom, said: "The 2003 show in Edinburgh was described as 'the greatest party to be held in Scotland in 1000 years'. We are looking forward to delivering an even bigger and better experience with the 2014 MTV EMA in what will be a momentous year for Scotland and the city of Glasgow."

City council leader Gordon Matheson believes Glasgow is an ideal location for the awards as it is a city with a sense of self belief which oozes confidence.

He said: "We've been through a rite of passage, overcoming industrial decline and reinventing our economy to become a leading example of city regeneration.

"A real strength has been the resilience of our tourism sector and our strategy of attracting a diverse portfolio of major sporting and cultural events coupled with significant investment in new infrastructure - for example, the SSE Hydro was built with events like the MTV EMA in mind.

"Our capacity and capability to deliver major events has never been stronger, while our Major Events Charter shows our commitment to securing even more world class events for Glasgow.

"From MTV to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year and the Turner Prize our enviable list goes on."

The charter guarantees exceptional support for events and Glasgow is the only European destination to make the promise to global event organisers.

Bob Bakish, boss of MTV's global parent firm Viacom International Media Network, is full of praise for the city team.

He said: "We have found Glasgow's dedicated team to be a fantastic partner to work with - forward thinking, creative and flexible with a good understanding of how they can best contribute to the successful staging of major events."

vivienne.nicoll@eveningtimes.co.uk