Despite the global pandemic that stalled progress across all industrial sectors around the world, Europe’s feature continental football tournament kicked off at the beginning of last month amid much fanfare and excitement. Legendary opera singer Andrea Bocelli tuned in to Rome’s iconic Stadio Olimpico with all his vocal majesty and signaled the start of a thrilling tournament. A month later, the Azzurri would be celebrating in Wembley at the expense of ‘It’s coming home’ chants. It went to Rome instead.
With 12 matches held in England and Scotland – at Wembley Stadium and Hampden Park respectively – the competition was welcomed with great enthusiasm by fans, business owners and the government itself. Owing to the possible financial positivity it would bring along, in these times of global upset. But are the implications of such a major tournament, whether financial or not, positive after all?
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash
Studies say otherwise. While not negative, the positive effects are certainly not as positive as it is made out to be. The benefits are much less than some would suggest. That is not to say there are not specific benefits to certain industries – take retail, media or hospitality businesses for example. The psychological benefits and ‘feel good’ factors are a whole different topic altogether.
UEFA handed 8 games to the Wembley Stadium, one more than St. Petersburg, including the semi-finals and the showdown final. In normal times, such events would have taken the country by storm. It did, this time too, but imagine what would have been in the absence of the pandemic – packed stadiums, no fears of super spreaders, no travel restrictions – essentially party time for football fans. However, the aforementioned ‘what would have been’ was traded for heavy travel restrictions, quarantine rules, super spreader events, lockdown regulations, capacity constraints, movement curbs etc. – all of which have affected various interdependent industries. In an article with the BBC, chief economist Simon French, said that a ‘relatively small’ £150m could be added to the GDP of the UK. The figure is certainly small – compared to the billion plus euros that boosted the French economy during EURO 2016. Despite that, here we are, talking about a handful of matches. A tournament spread out over 11 cities was always going to have a significantly diluted economic impact.
Consumer spending, both online and physical, during the EUROs was predicted to increase – through ticket revenue, broadcast revenue, in-stadium expenditure, alcohol and food sales – and it expectedly did. Wembley experienced a gradual & almost-fourfold increase in stadium attendance from the first group stage match (18,500) to the final (67,173). Britain’s ITV recorded jump in figures by almost 30% for ad revenue in June, going on to register the largest advertisement revenue for the month in the broadcaster’s history. The UEFA European Championship was the most successful tournament ever for ITV – beating the likes of the FIFA World Cup or the Olympics. The official and overall tournament profit and loss figures can only be speculated at the moment.
Roll back to 1966 - when after the nation’s World Cup victory, the English economy witnessed the fall of the sterling pound’s value. And in the final quarter of 2012 - when the Olympic Games were held in London - the economy shrank by 0.3%. Minimal, but a shrink nonetheless. Now, of course, times are different – a whole generation different and in the midst of a global crisis. If anything, EURO 2020 has only minimally helped curb losses by offsetting lost sales during the lockdown.
According to statistics, France were favourites to grab the EURO 2020 title after falling short at home in 2016 to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, but dark horses Switzerland prevented that from happening. Sources via betting website Asiabet.org, which is a one-stop resource for bettors and punters from the Asian continent, stacked the odds behind England as the second favourites. As the competition progressed, the final witnessed England (4/5) become the favourites against Italy (1/1). As odds reflect in real time, punters can access a huge range of bookmakers to learn of the available odds at hand. Many of these bookmakers offer rewards and bonuses to first time and regular users, such as free bets, loyalty schemes, instant cashbacks etc.
The notion that all major sporting events are sources of sound financial positivity and economic wealth is a misconception. Conditions in which these events are held take major precedence. Take Brazil in 2014 and 2016 for example - juggling both the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games – amid no pandemic, but ending up being an economic failure nonetheless. It is safe to say that the economic impact of the grandiose tournament is positive but limited, especially during these times of distress.