A windfall of trade awaits the European zone on account of UEFA’s Euro 2008, the third largest sporting event in the world. Austria and Switzerland are co-hosting the soccer extravaganza which will have 16 nations competing over a period of 23 days. Eight cities of these alpine nations will become the venue for 31 matches to be played between 7 and 29 June 2008. Europe is looking forward to the mega event to boost their economy and thereby beat the global slow down blues.
UEFA’s Euro 2008 chief executive Martin Kallen announced in Vienna, a week before the event, that 1.05 million tickets had been sold for the 31 matches and anyone buying a ticket now would be doing so illegally. The rapid ticket sales predict incredible business in all fields in the offing. The host nations being famous tourist destinations in the world, the business community is expecting a large influx of tourists to their countries with a bi-focal interest.
According to a study done by a team lead by Simon Chadwick, sports economy expert at MasterCard, the tournament is estimated to generate 1.4 billion euros to the European economy. Economists opined, the mega soccer shows are no more just sporting events, but have now transformed into huge business opportunities.
The event is understood to fillip the businesses including food and beverages, tourism, advertising, media and telecommunication, not to mention the sale of television sets. According to Chadwick research, each team is likely to contribute 42 million euros to their respective nation’s economy and team which goes higher up will increase the economic yield further. It has been noticed that 0.5 – 0.7% economic growth has been registered for the champion nations of the tournament in the recent past.
Come Saturday, the co-host Switzerland will be pitted against Czech Republic and the other co-host Austria will cross swords with Croatia to mark the beginning of another entertaining as well as trading season. The fortunate ones who have secured the tickets will flock to the venues to watch the matches directly and others will fixate themselves to ones’ televisions or public screens to savor the delightful event at their convenient places.