Who Scores from Hosting Sports Events? Local Spending Evidence from the EURO 2024

Florian Dorn, Marie-Theres Gasser, Kevin Kloiber, Simon Krause and Carla Krolage

No 12555, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Hosting mega-sports events generates optimistic projections of economic benefits, yet empirical evidence on actual local returns remains mixed. Focusing on the UEFA EURO 2024 in Germany, we provide causal evidence on short-term local consumption effects using anonymized daily card-spending data. Using a difference-in-differences and local-projection framework, we document a 3% increase in consumer spending in host cities during the tournament, driven almost entirely by international visitors. Effects are concentrated in the group stage, on match days, in city centers, and in tourist-facing sectors. Domestic spending exhibits spatial displacement but no aggregate crowding out.

Keywords: EURO 2024; sports events; consumer spending; impact evaluation; microgeographic analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L83 R11 R12 R22 Z20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul, nep-geo, nep-spo and nep-uep
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12555

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