In an article from De Volkskrant, sports economist at Erasmus School of Economics Thomas Peeters discusses the economic impact for cities in which games of the UEFA European Championship are played.
Amsterdam turns out to be the city that yields the least amount of euro’s for organising a few games and an eighth final. The four games in the Johan Cruijff Arena were budgeted to lead to a revenue of 12 million euros; only 3.1 million euros of this revenue will be realised. This is caused by the restrictions due to the pandemic, leading to less tourism and a lower capacity of 30% in the Arena. The Dutch football bond KNVB budgets expenses of 10 million euros, of which 8 million euros will be financed by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).
Overseeable damages
Peeters states that the economic damages for Amsterdam are limited: tourism in Amsterdam is strong under normal circumstances, therewith independent of football. Peeters: ‘Cities that normally don’t have that much tourism are much more worrisome. Without the European Championship of football, there is little reason for people to visit Baku, Azerbaijan. When the corona crisis is behind us, Amsterdam will attract tourists nevertheless’. In addition, Peeters points to the dispersion of matches being a blessing in terms of cutting expenses. ‘Every country has a stadium that complies with the requirements of the European Championships, Amsterdam already has the Johan Cruijff Arena. In this sense, the Olympic Games in Tokyo are much more of a disaster, investments of billions of euros are already made to facilitate the needed stadiums and infrastructure. In Japan, people are wondering how they will ever be able to afford these expenses.’
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You can read the full article from De Volkskrant, 4 June 2021, here.
