We spent last week in Rotterdam at the 15th Annual European Sport Economics Association Conference. What a great event it has become, since first launching in 2009.
It was the 7th time I had a paper presented at the event which has grown to become a truely globally annual event.
Speaking to some of those at the first conference, they confessed that they were unsure if there was sufficent demand for an annual event. This extended to both papers to be presented and possible hosts.
How wrong they were. The event is now thriving and the number of hosts continues to rise. The map below shows the spread of host since the first conference in 2009.
The future looks bright too with potential hosts emerging in countries such as Poland, Scotland and England in 2027 and beyond. Given the geograhic spread to date, it would be nice to see the conference head to places such as Portugal, Italy, Greece and other hosts in Eastern Europe in the years ahead.