Major Sporting Events and their value ?

Delancey

The Government of Northern Ireland sponsored to the tune of £ STG 2 million the recent Irish Open Golf tournament promising a huge boost to the local economy would flow from this - the reality has been very different with the nearby town of Portrush reporting the town suffered a major downturn in business and was like a morgue.

The UK tourist industry is reporting a huge drop in bookings and enquiries for the period of the Olympic games with some operators calling the games a curse .

We are constantly told that xyz event is worth x millions to the economy , I have always been suspicious of these assertions in much the same way I have long suspected the employment figures touted by the Film Industry , Horse Racing industry , etc are complete balls.

As I recall , the much-hyped Ryder Cup event at the K Club failed utterly to feed through into increased golf holiday bookings in Ireland. The ' shot in the arm ' effect just didn't happen.

Are there any studies done that prove / disprove that big sporting events are invariably of economic benefit ?

the groutch

it's about media exposure giving medium to long term gains, not specifically that week/weekend.

NIMAN

Well someone somewhere is making money out of these things, you can bet on that.

Sleepy

A mate of mine was playing in Portrush and a gang of our friends travelled up for the weekend. 10 or 15 lads needing tickets, accommodation, food and drink for 2-3 days a piece would add up to a nice few quid for local businesses I'd have thought! Tickets were sold out for the weekend too with huge numbers there throughout the 4 days. Portrush may have over-estimated how much they'd make on it or perhaps large parts of the money spent was in the black economy (e.g. undeclared rentals of houses etc.).

I really fail to see how that many people being in a location couldn't bring some business to an area tbh.

antoobrien

It can depend on the scale of the event. Estimates of the boost provided by the visit of the Volvo Ocean Race to Galway are between €80m-€100m, with over 800,000 people visiting the race village over the week. Over the three years since the last visit, a different type of visitor has started to come to Galway, helping the effect of the recession to be blunted. The crowds around the docks and in town at the weekend had to be seen to be believed.

It's also helped the harbour with its development plans to extend the port.

The Galway Races is supposedly worth more than €50m to Galway. Again this draws crows, many that don't go anywhere near Ballybrit for the week and just soak up the atmosphere in town. Even in a recession there were over 200,000 visitors to the course last year.

Both of these events differ in scale and scope to the Olympics and Irish open, as well as not making it (much) harder to get into Galway. The Olympics on the other hand will apparently make it very hard and expensive to be around London - so they're probably displacing other tourists that would be coming. So no short term boost to London will be seen.

However the olympic stadia usually end up being a tourist attraction a few years after the event, so the short term boost is more than outwighed by the longer term benefits.

Delancey

I know that someone somewhere prepared an academic paper that challenged the assertion that all major sporting events are of economic benefit - the paper focussed on those events with a large Government input whether in the form of facilities or sponsorship.

Can't for the life of me remember much more about it - I read a synopsis in the Sunday Business Post.

Regarding long-term gain that certainly did not seem to materialise after the Ryder Cup - the surge in bookings from foreign golfers simply did not happen if reports from the Golf industry were accurate.

Nody

Delancey wrote: »

I know that someone somewhere prepared an academic paper that challenged the assertion that all major sporting events are of economic benefit - the paper focussed on those events with a large Government input whether in the form of facilities or sponsorship.

Was a similar piece recently on the olympics; basically the organization winning it always overstates the value (be it value in local economy, tourists coming, the infrastructure projects afterwards etc.) of the event because it's in their own interest to do so.

From a government point of view it is a question of prestige to run such a big event (and by extension you need to convince the masses of it by promising them the sky and the moon, exactly as in a normal election).

Delancey

Nody wrote: »

Was a similar piece recently on the olympics; basically the organization winning it always overstates the value (be it value in local economy, tourists coming, the infrastructure projects afterwards etc.) of the event because it's in their own interest to do so.

From a government point of view it is a question of prestige to run such a big event (and by extension you need to convince the masses of it by promising them the sky and the moon, exactly as in a normal election).

Very like the Film Industry and its promises in return for cash and tax breaks.
Walk past a movie set and you will be hard pressed to hear an Irish accent or see an Irish-registered truck - seems the benefit largely goes to service providers based in Scotland.

NIMAN

I think I read in recent years that the major things like Olympics, World Cups or Euros don't make profits any more. They cost the nations money.

Laminations

Well from news reports Ireland is benefitting from the proximity of the Olympics.

Coach drivers to travel to UK for Olympics contract

“It is another example of Irish enterprise at its best and is part of over €250 million worth of contracts won by top Irish companies in relation to the London 2012 games,” the spokesman said.

cavedave

One argument that is regularly used is that these sporting events encourage participation in sports. That seeing the olympics gets kids out running around the fields. If this is true it could be a really important benefit of major sporting events. I cant find much evidence of this being true though. If it is it should be fairly clear. Athens velodromes still being busy and such.

NIMAN

Doubt that.

Sure football, athletics, GAA, tennis, rugby etc are hardly ever off the TV yet the young 'uns are getting fatter exponentially.

Predalien

The figures for these things are always blown up dramatically, the reality is it's money people are happy to spend on socialising so the likelihood is a good chunk of it would be spent elsewhere anyway, the biggest boost comes from foreign tourism as this is money that is entering the country from somewhere else and is money that is new to the economy.

The Let's Do It Galway crowd who ran the Ocean Race are notorious for exaggeration, so their figures are to be taken with a pinch of salt, the event did attract significant numbers but it was nowhere near 900,000 they suggested and a potential boost of €100m is fanciful (nor did it reach a tv audience of 2 billion!). Hotel rooms were available midweek during the event so it's not as if the city was at full capacity during the week.

Chris_5339762

Big events for example put me off because its a pain to travel in such crowds and the airline fares and hotel fares get hiked up.

Had a gig that I wanted to go to been on in the UK during the Olympics I would not have dreamt of going. Fortunately, its a month or two after the Olympics so I'm going.

One small example, but a lot of 'regular' tourists avoid the big events.

antoobrien

Predalien wrote: »

The Let's Do It Galway crowd who ran the Ocean Race are notorious for exaggeration, so their figures are to be taken with a pinch of salt, the event did attract significant numbers but it was nowhere near 900,000 they suggested

Given the crowds running away from Sharon Shannon on saturday night, I'd say it's likely they were closer to 900,000 than you'd think.

Predalien

antoobrien wrote: »

Given the crowds running away from Sharon Shannon on saturday night, I'd say it's likely they were closer to 900,000 than you'd think.

I heard she wasn't great alright.

jmayo

Delancey wrote: »

The Government of Northern Ireland sponsored to the tune of £ STG 2 million the recent Irish Open Golf tournament promising a huge boost to the local economy would flow from this - the reality has been very different with the nearby town of Portrush reporting the town suffered a major downturn in business and was like a morgue.

The UK tourist industry is reporting a huge drop in bookings and enquiries for the period of the Olympic games with some operators calling the games a curse .

I think the likes of the Olympics causes it's own problems.

As with a lot of major sporting events.
Everyone puts up their prices, travel times and costs can be affected and security may be really stepped up adding to inconvenience.
All of these can be offputting for tourists/visitors who actually don't want to visit the actual event.

But I would have thought an influx of people such as to the Irish Open in Portrush would surely have brought some extra business to the area.

Delancey wrote: »

We are constantly told that xyz event is worth x millions to the economy , I have always been suspicious of these assertions in much the same way I have long suspected the employment figures touted by the Film Industry , Horse Racing industry , etc are complete balls.

Actually the horse breeding, horse racing industry does provide continous employment to a fair few people.
The film industry is not really a source of continous sustained employment as it depends on what productions are going on.
BTW never trust the statistics and the numbers are probably always over estimates.

Delancey wrote: »

Very like the Film Industry and its promises in return for cash and tax breaks.
Walk past a movie set and you will be hard pressed to hear an Irish accent or see an Irish-registered truck - seems the benefit largely goes to service providers based in Scotland.

Is that a film set in Northern Ireland ?

creedp

cavedave wrote: »

One argument that is regularly used is that these sporting events encourage participation in sports. That seeing the olympics gets kids out running around the fields. If this is true it could be a really important benefit of major sporting events. I cant find much evidence of this being true though. If it is it should be fairly clear. Athens velodromes still being busy and such.

I wonder has the future benefits of the 2004 Olympics exceeding the vast cost of staging the competition. Looking back in hindsight would the Greeks think it was a good idea?

Delancey

jmayo wrote: »

.

But I would have thought an influx of people such as to the Irish Open in Portrush would surely have brought some extra business to the area.



Actually the horse breeding, horse racing industry does provide continous employment to a fair few people.
The film industry is not really a source of continous sustained employment as it depends on what productions are going on.
BTW never trust the statistics and the numbers are probably always over estimates.



Is that a film set in Northern Ireland ?

BBC did a news report on Portrush - the town suffered a major downturn in business - that fact that tickets for the Golf were single-entry only probably had a bearing on this.

The bloodstock industry regularly trots out ( excuse the pun ) the line that 16000 are employed - these figures come from research commissioned by the industry itself and is always used in defence of favourable tax treatment - doubtless there are jobs sustained by it but 16,000 ? I don't believe it for a second.

When I speak of film sets that seem to be full of Scottish contractors I refer to sets south of the border - another industry that exaggerates its employment and economic importance.

jmayo

Delancey wrote: »

BBC did a news report on Portrush - the town suffered a major downturn in business - that fact that tickets for the Golf were single-entry only probably had a bearing on this.

I guess if you think of it one way, a lot of people would have stayed elesewhere and just driven right to the event and never left it all day except to go straight home.
And at the same time a lot of people not going to the event would have avoided the area for fear of getting caught in traffic snarl ups.

Delancey wrote: »

The bloodstock industry regularly trots out ( excuse the pun ) the line that 16000 are employed - these figures come from research commissioned by the industry itself and is always used in defence of favourable tax treatment - doubtless there are jobs sustained by it but 16,000 ? I don't believe it for a second.

Likewise I don't know about 16000, but I would still put it in the 1000s.
Every yard, every stud has a fair few working in it, then there are racecourses, the indoor arenas.
It is all the knock on affects that people don't think about.
For instance Goffs have sales every year that attract a lot of big spenders who must surely leave some money in the country.

Then there is all the added on employment with regards feed providers, vets, farriers, etc.
The numbers do add up.

Delancey wrote: »

When I speak of film sets that seem to be full of Scottish contractors I refer to sets south of the border - another industry that exaggerates its employment and economic importance.

Maybe it is revenge for Braveheart and fact half the cast and all the extras were Irish.

Rodgeb

There is a very interesting chapter on this subject in the excellent book Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski called 'Happiness: Why Hosting World Cups is Good for You'.

In a nutshell they conclude that major sprorting events never really make a profit economically and usually make huge losses however the hosts residents are happier during and after the event.

liammur

Delancey wrote: »

The Government of Northern Ireland sponsored to the tune of £ STG 2 million the recent Irish Open Golf tournament promising a huge boost to the local economy would flow from this - the reality has been very different with the nearby town of Portrush reporting the town suffered a major downturn in business and was like a morgue.

The UK tourist industry is reporting a huge drop in bookings and enquiries for the period of the Olympic games with some operators calling the games a curse .

We are constantly told that xyz event is worth x millions to the economy , I have always been suspicious of these assertions in much the same way I have long suspected the employment figures touted by the Film Industry , Horse Racing industry , etc are complete balls.

As I recall , the much-hyped Ryder Cup event at the K Club failed utterly to feed through into increased golf holiday bookings in Ireland. The ' shot in the arm ' effect just didn't happen.

Are there any studies done that prove / disprove that big sporting events are invariably of economic benefit ?

I've said for years that Munster Rugby have done more for Limerick than the government. Local businesses such as hotels are indebted to them.

liammur

Manchester City’s first team are on their way to Limerick after the Shannonsiders confirmed a meeting with the Premier League champions on August 5 with a 7pm kick-off at Thomond Park.

Tickets will go on sale this afternoon with a spot on the terrace priced at €15 and stand tickets available at €20 and €30. Juniors will be able to see the game for just €10.

The friendly is expected to give the city of Limerick a boost of between €8-10m, with all of City’s stars expected to make the trip.

Limerick chairman Pat O'Sullivan said: "I am very happy that such a big club as Man City has agreed to come to Limerick and I wish to thank Damien O'Brien, the FAI and Thomond Park and all at Man City for their wonderful co-operation in ensuring that this event happens."

Delancey

That figure of 8 - 10 million looks like it was pulled out of thin air.

liammur

Delancey wrote: »

That figure of 8 - 10 million looks like it was pulled out of thin air.

I agree it looks rather high, will certainly be a boost, but how much is anyone's guess.

Cardinal Richelieu

When was the last Olympics that turned a profit? We all know what happened in Athens. Sydney never experienced the tourism inflow that it expected and today some of the stadium remain empty for the best part of the year.

London was partly selected because they proposed the use of existing sports venues such as Wimbledon and Lords Cricket Ground but the escalating security budget must be causing some worry. David Cameron claimed last week that the economic boost to London and the UK from staging the Games would be £13 billion while the spend would come under budget at £9 billion.

Expected Economic Boost of London 2012 Games

*£1bn from UK business conferences to be held during the Games
*£6bn of foreign direct investment after 2012
*£4bn of opportunities for British businesses from Embassy summits after the Games
*£2.3bn from tourism generated by tourists coming to the UK between 2011 and 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/davidbond/2012/07/how_much_will_the_olympics_be.html

nice_guy80

the biggest generators of money in the Irish economy have to be the All Ireland football and hurling finals

AlmightyCushion

Delancey wrote: »

That figure of 8 - 10 million looks like it was pulled out of thin air.

I wouldn't be surprised if Balotelli handed some homeless guy a few million.

poeticseraphim

I would honestly think it would depend on how facilities are managed after and what the population and country is like and what facilities it already has.

If you take the Olympics and London the facilities it has to provide for the Games will far exceede the needs relative to it's population once it is over. They are not exactly a sporting mad fitness freak nation.

And i don't get the impression that they had many facilities already that they were going to use...i get the impression it is newly built facilities and they may be surplus to that nations uses after.

But other countries may already have suitable stadiums etc ( i am thinking bigger countries) or if they have large populations and really grand sporting ambitions they may use a good portion of what is built for the games.
Sometimes temporary structures are built too i think (or structures that will b torn down after).

Whether or not it makes money depends on country and what they do for during and after i suppose.