World Cup More than Just Entertainment
Matt Gahan
Mr. Reuter
Economics
3 May, 2016
All around the world people enjoy the game of soccer and the world cup is just one example of how much people enjoy it. According to the final figures from FIFA and Kantar media, the 2014 world cup in Brazil reached an estimated 3.2 billions viewers over the span of the entire world cup. It was also said that one billion viewers alone were accounted for watching the final game on either their phones, televisions, computers or at the stadium, Estádio do Maracanã. Considering these numbers it’s no wonder why countries are so captivated to host this major event in order to gain the economic benefits from the consumers that come with it.
The first benefit that comes from this massive venue is that the swarm of people coming into the country to experience this once in a lifetime opportunity forces change on the infrastructure in a good way by increasing airport size, hotel size, improvement of quality of stadiums, more efficient transportation systems, etc due to the rising demand that comes with it. It also accelerates projects because the people in charge of them want to be able to profit from the venue so they prioritize the completion of them. After the world cup is finished the country still gains an increase of tourist attraction and this creates jobs and drives down the unemployment rate. A report predicted 3.2 millions jobs have been created after this in civil construction, fast food, entertainment, business services and so on.
Another benefit from hosting this revenue is the increase of global trade used, in turn increasing that country's GDP not only in the span of the world cup but over years after. As seen in the picture below of every country that’s hosted the world cup from 1954-2006 combined the GDP grows by almost an entire percent the two years after it’s hosted! Since soccer is a multi-internationally watched sport corporations from all around the world want to try to get in and profit from the event. This gives the Brazilian businessmen an opportunity to make international ties, which brings more knowledge and consumption to their economy.
In summary hosting the world cup is a very big deal for many countries and the underlying benefits that most people don’t realize are happening are actually affecting the economy of that country in so many ways which is another reason why the world cup is such a big deal beyond entertainment.
Works Cited
"Word Cup Benefits." FIFA International. N.p., n.d. Web.
"2014 FIFA World Cup™ Reached 3.2 Billion Viewers, One Billion Watched Final." FIFA.com. N.p., 16 Dec. 2015. Web. 03 May 2016.
"World Cup Economy." Wikipedia.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May 2016.
It must be nice for some countries to have a big boom of tourism during certain activities and festivals, but the added cost of this must also be quite significant. Glad to see some smaller countries also getting money from sports expenditures and things like the olympics and world cup.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the World Cup not only affects viewers, but the economy of the country that hosts it. The money put into creating new stadiums, hotels, restaurant is a costly investment of billions of dollars, but the revenue as well as free advising of that country makes the World Cup an unbelievably important event, one that can improve unemployment rate and GDP, as well as boost the economy. Following the Olympics, Brazil is already set on having another boost in their economy, this time hopefully creating more jobs and increasing the funding to stop the ZIKA virus.
ReplyDeleteI really like this topic choice, but I feel like you could have gone deeper. More examples of the drastic increases and decreases, and maybe a few other examples from different countries. Overall, you still did a nice job. I thought it was interesting that most of the increased consumption and employment rates would stay where they were even after the event had been finished. One would assume that the only effects would last until the event was over but since there is now a whole lot of extra people traveling and more money is being transferred, it only makes sense that it would keep increasing.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you when you make these points. This huge event will bring in tourist of all kinds to this country and will spend their money because of the World Cup. This doesn't only affect the consumers as their demand for the game and food increase, but for the demand of workers for this event. The unemployment rate probably shoots done during the time. Brazil probably invested more money that to count of. Not only Brazil, but other countries surrounding it could have gotten possible tourist before the games and after. People are willing to try different things as if they are not from that country, and are willing to spend any amount possible to try it. Good Job!
ReplyDeleteThere’s no doubt that the world cups advances the GDP of the hosting country. But there are opportunity costs that you forgot to talk about. The amount of resources needed can greatly decrease the amount in the country and the amount of money spent on the project can put the country in even more debt.
ReplyDeleteIt must be crazy how much a country's GDP rises in a year just from hosting the world cup. I wonder how much in an advance certain countries need to know that they're hosting because getting ready for the millions of people is really difficult to do. Especially if the country is poor. If they go into debt preparing then how will they even profit? It is an amazing event but pretty scary when it comes to the numbers side of things.
ReplyDeleteThe rise in GDP starts right when the country finds out it is hosting. This allows for countries to increase their standards of living years before the actual competition. The increase of GDP would also increase the international relationships the country has. If they are able to produce a good cheaper than a different country, more governments might look to the rising country to do business with. The increase in trade would also increase the standard of living because trade can allow people access to other resources that are not found in their region. In order to maintain positive relationships with the international economy, a country must regulate their price levels and output to have an advantage against competitors but also make a profit.
ReplyDeleteWow, it is amazing how many jobs are created by this event. What a wonderful source of revenue for the city. When you watch this event on t.v., those are some insanely intense fans. In the U.S., soccer is becoming more popular, but the rest of the world is crazy about this sport. Just think of the amount of jobs that are created!
ReplyDeleteCool and very relevant article. I never realized how much time and money is put to certain projects to host the world cup. That's awesome that Brazil's economy benefited from the last World Cup and maybe it will better Russia's economy in the next upcoming World Cup.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as a country finds out it will be the next host the GDP automatically begins to rise. This allows a huge amount of economic growth before the competition even starts. When the competition does come around the amount of people coming in to see the games, renting hotel rooms, buying merchandising, and many other things the GDP will just rise even more. The event also creates jobs for the people that live there which is only increasing their standard of living.
ReplyDeleteAs I read more and more of these blogs it makes me think about why should I be going to events such this and spending my money because of the demand of everyone else. However I do think it is really cool how many jobs are created within this. Also because where the world cup is located it will cause the city to become a bigger demand for people to go to. It creates the city more popular. I guess more and more people are getting into soccer although it isn't that interesting to me. Also I never thought how how much the GDP rises when a country hosts the world cup.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic to write about. Of course the calling of viewers is huge because soccer/futbol is considered the most popular sport in the world. Since the best countries are competing against each other the draw is even greater. Brazil, knowing that tons of people would come, built these extremely large stadiums to fit everyone. Since the tournament they have absolutely on use. A family with a small income can easily afford to hold a birthday party there. One or two remain in use but the rest, especially the ones in the forest or mountains, sit there rotting. It's sad to see so much go to waste but the country has no use for them.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a really good job of analyzing how the world cup can affect a country's economy at the time of the event and slightly after, but I would like to see more about the long term results after the world cup. I feel like after building so many new attractions for the world cup that many of them would be less used after the event since Brazil probably won't see the amount of tourism that it got during the world cup after it. So although the world cup did stimulate the economy for a short time eventually jobs will start to fall again as demand falls and the economy will likely fall back to where it was before the world cup.
ReplyDeleteThe World Cup is one of the biggest supporting events in the world only behind the Olympics. The GDP of the countries does increase, but does this make up for the amount of money that the country had to use the infrastructure? If the infrastructure was developed by domestic companies, people, and supplies then it would be worth while for the country as the money would be cycled around in the country. It would be interesting to see the influx of GDP in a country that already had the infrastructure vs. a country that has to build it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Country that is hosting the World cup would have more publicity and it would probably be more visited through out during and after because so many people are there for the game. I think at that point in time prices on all sorts of goods, this is because when you have big events like that then more and more people are there and are going to want to by things while they are there. So hotel prices are going to go up the closer you get to where the world cup is being hosted and also food as well.
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