Olympic Legacy

Some statistics on the economic effect of the games (Business Management Students did a project on this recently)

Games (from 27th July to 12th August)......expected to raise £5.1 bn for UK
Consumer spending during that period.......£750 m
53 companies acting as corporate sponsors (of differing degrees)

Too early to judge the economic effect in full yet of course. Plenty of evidence available on Business Source Premier database to demonstrate previous effects on host cities / nations.






MacInnes, D.(2012)Olympics by numbers, Independent [i version] 29th January, p.49

Why so glum Sir Alex ?

Business Management Students working on the Olympics Effect on the UK economy might like to think about last weekend's Manchester United v Barcelona Champions League Final.

According to a Mastercard Survey this was one of the most lucrative games ever.
110,000 Spanish fans descended on London spending money in bars, restaurants, at tourist attractions ( and for the lucky ones at the game itself )

£320 million was generatated
£42 million went into the London Economy
Wembley proved a good host, capable of hosting this kind of game admirably.A good omen for 2012 one would imagine.

I was in A supermarket during the day where several trolleys were being filled for the game on TV.

Ruddick, G (2011) London nets £42m from final, Daily Telegraph, 28th May (accessed via Newsbank through library.beds.ac.uk ) 1st June 2011

Effect of Sporting events on the economy...

Business Management students at Bedford this year did a project on the possible effects of the 2012 Olympics on the economy. There might be some lessons to draw from the effect of this summer's World Cup on the South African economy. *

The home nation hopes for plenty of money, all the stadia to be finished and to look impressive.

They hope for lots of merchandising, and a boost to tourism.

The crises faced by Greece however following the 2004 Olympics look ominous..including more corruption and some dubious accounting practices.

The South African Stadia might look impressive, but the labour used to build them has been short-term. There is little evidence of long term benefit. Most of the grounds will revert to rugby or cricket after the tournament is over...

Once it is over most South Africans may be left to wonder where the money has gone.

Watch this space after 11th July if you are doing this topic next year...

Runciman, D (2010) Football's goldmine, Guardian Review, 22nd May 2010 p.2