The Quest for the Cup: Assessing the Economic Impact of the World Cup

Victor Matheson and Robert Baade ()
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Robert Baade: Department of Economics and Business, Lake Forest College

No 414, Working Papers from College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics

Abstract: Hosting the World Cup, the world's second largest sporting event, is a potentially expensive affair. The co-hosts of the 2002 games, Japan and South Korea, spent a combined US$4 billion building new facilities or refurbishing old facilities in preparation for the event. An ex post analysis of the 1994 World Cup held in the US suggests that the economic impact of the event cannot justify this magnitude of expenditures and that host cities experienced cumulative losses of $5·5 to $9·3 billion as opposed to ex ante estimates of a $4 billion gain touted by event boosters. Potential hosts should consider with care whether the award of the World Cup is an honour or a burden.

Keywords: Sports; Soccer; Football; World Cup; Stadiums; Deportes; Fútbol; Copa del Mundo; Estadios (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L83 R53 Z23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 12 pages
Date: 2004-12
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (105)

Published in Regional Studies, Volume 38, Number 4, 2004, Pages 343-354.

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Quest for the Cup: Assessing the Economic Impact of the World Cup (2004)
Working Paper: The Quest for the Cup: Assessing the Economic Impact of the World Cup (2004)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hcx:wpaper:0414

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