The Economics of Sport
  • Sports Economics
  • About
  • Workshop
  • Selected Publications
  • Book Reviews
  • A Primer on Gaelic Games
  • Upcoming Events
  • Media
  • Education
  • Resources & Links
  • Data

Ireland's Rugby World Cup Bid - Lessons from Poland

4/9/2015

 
by Declan Jordan
Picture
Wednesday's Irish Times reported that Ireland's tender bid for the Rugby World Cup in 2023 would cost €1.5million. The bid must be submitted by February 2017 with a decision by World Rugby in May 2017. At this stage it looks like Ireland will be competing with bids from France, Italy and South Africa. The Irish government is backing the bid fully. Of course, €1.5 million is not the cost to Ireland from hosting a rugby world cup, this is merely the cost of our ticket to be considered. The costs of hosting the event are unclear at this stage but, even with the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) willing to provide its stadiums, the infrastructural investment is likely to be substantial. This is before the additional costs of media infrastructure, security, and profit to World Rugby itself.

The benefits for a successful bid have been publicised however. It has been reported that Rugby World Cup 2023 would be worth €800m to the Irish economy. It's not known if that is a gross or net figure. Also, the basis on which this figure has been estimated has not been published. A key part of the supposed benefits will be an increase in tourism during the tournament and from the added exposure Ireland will get from the tournament being beamed into homes across the world. There cannot be a bid for any major sporting event that does not claim this. And yet the evidence for such a tourist boon remains elusive. 

There were some salutary lessons for Ireland's bid in an article in Regions - the newsletter of the Regional Studies Association this month (the newsletter is available here but the latest issue has not yet been posted online). Based on a recent book chapter, Prof Marek Kozak of the University of Warsaw, examines the experience of Poland's co-hosting of Euro 2012 - the football European Championships finals. The paper considers the effect on tourism in the host cities and in non-host cities, Krakow and Lodz. Poland is a much larger country than Ireland (population approximately 38.5 million compared to 6.4 million on the island of Ireland), and the capital city is larger than Dublin and each of the other three host cities are larger than other Irish cities.

Prof Kozak finds that non-host cities experienced greater increases in Polish and foreign tourists numbers in 2012 and 2013 than host cities. He notes that for 2012 the largest numbers of tourists in staying in hotels was in August, after the tournament ended and that during the event, June 2012, an increase in the number of tourists was exclusively in non-hotel establishments. He says there was "no evidence of the impact of Euro 2012 on the number of tourists". In the absence of income data, Prof Kozak considers the effect on wages in Polish cities in 2012. He finds evidence that wages declined in host cities in 2012 - with no such decline in non-host cities (Lodz was unchanged and Krakow showed a slight increase). He concludes by saying that there is "no credible proof that Euro 2012 had a positive impact" on tourism and/or wages and incomes. While UEFA and its local partners obviously benefited (UEFA reported revenues of €1.4bn from Euro 2010) the costs of infrastructure, including maintenance fell on the Polish taxpayer and citizens. 

There are important lessons here for the Irish government's support for the rugby world cup bid. Of course, the current government has no reason not to support a bid whose costs will fall on future governments and tax revenues. It is important to consider though the impact of displacement of tourism, where potential tourists that would have visited Ireland in Autumn 2023 will be put off by the tournament (and associated higher costs in hotels etc). The important thing to identify for such a bid is not tourist numbers but additional or net tourist numbers.

Perhaps the Irish will crack the code and generate the hoped-for benefits from the world cup. They would likely be the first to do so. To do so will require difficult questions to be asked. The lack of such challenges by media and opposition politicians does not bode well.


Comments are closed.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    About

    This website was founded in July 2013.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    American Football
    Athletics
    Baseball
    Basketball
    Behavioural Economics
    Boxing
    Broadcasting
    Competitive Balance
    Cricket
    Cycling
    Darts
    David Butler
    Declan Jordan
    Drugs
    Ed Valentine
    Epl
    Esports
    Expenditure
    F1
    Fifa World Cup
    Finances
    Funding
    Gaa
    Gaelic Games
    Gambling
    Game Theory
    Gary Burns
    Geography
    Golf
    Greyhound Racing
    Guest Posts
    Horse Racing
    Impact Studies
    John Considine
    John Eakins
    League Of Ireland
    Location
    Media
    Mls
    Mma
    Olympics
    Participation
    Paul O'Sullivan
    Premier League
    Regulation
    Research
    Robbie Butler
    Rugby
    Simpsonomics
    Snooker
    Soccer
    Spatial Analysis
    Sporting Bodies
    Stephen Brosnan
    Swimming
    Taxation
    Teaching
    Technology
    Tennis
    Transfers
    Uefa
    Ufc
    World Cup
    Wwe

Related

The website is not formally affiliated to any institution and all of the entries represent the personal views and opinions of an individual contributor. The website operates on a not-for-profit basis. For this reason we decline all advertisement opportunities. 

Contact

To contact us email sportseconomics2013@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @SportEcon.