1
INTRODUCTION
1.1
This report presents the results of a study of six major sports events
held in the United Kingdom between May and August 1997. The
research was carried out on behalf of the UK, English and Scottish
Sports Councils. The study aimed to evaluate the economic impact of
these sports events on the local economies of host cities and towns
together with the wider effect on the region and the country as a whole.
1.2
The six events studied were:
1 19 May - 1 June
World Badminton Championships and
Sudirman Cup
Glasgow
2 31 May - 8 June
European Junior Boxing Championships
Birmingham
3 5 - 9 June
1st Cornhill Test Match England / Australia
Edgbaston
4 29 June
International Amateur Athletics Federation
Grand Prix, Sheffield
5 31 July - 3 August
European Junior Swimming Championships
Glasgow
6 14 - 17 August
Weetabix Women’s British Open Golf
Sunningdale
1.3
The 1980s saw increasing attention paid to the economic importance
of major sports events. Up until then, major sporting events such as
the Olympics were thought of as a financial burden to the organising
city and country and this was confirmed with the loss made by
Montreal (£692 million) in the staging of the 1976 summer Olympics.
The previous summer Olympics in Munich in 1972 made a loss of £178
million.
1
1.4
Following these losses, it seemed as if any host city would have to
accept such a financial burden if it were to stage the Olympic games.
Until, that is, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics changed the economics
of major sports events. These games made a surplus of £215 million.
The financial success of the Los Angeles Olympics changed the way
cities and governments regarded the hosting of major sports events.
Partly as a result of this, but also because there developed a greater
understanding of the broader economic benefits to a city and region
that could result from the staging of a major sports event, cities started
to compete fiercely to host major World and European championships
across a wide range of sports and other one-off special events such as
Grand Prix athletics.
1.5
The study of hallmark events or mega-events also became an
important area of the tourism and leisure literature in the 1980s. The
economic benefits of such events has been the main focus of such
literature, although broader based multidisciplinary approaches have
been suggested. Within the area of mega-events, sports events have
attracted a significant amount of attention.
1.6
Mules and Faulkner (1996) 1 point out that even with such megaevents as Grand Prix athletics and the Olympics, it is not always an
unequivocal economic benefit to the cities that host the event. They
emphasise that, in general, staging major sports events often results in
the city authorities losing money even though the city itself benefits
greatly in terms of additional spending in the city. Table 1.1 shows the
losses made by Australian cities
Table 1.1 Financial costs and economic impact of various events
Financial
Impact on
1
Mules T and Faulner B (1996), An Economic Perspective on Major Events, Tourism
Economics, Vol2, No 2.
2
Event
loss
(A$ million )
GSP
(A$ million )
1985 Adelaide Grand Prix
1992 Adelaide Grand Prix
1991 Eastern Creek Motor Cycle Grand
Prix
1994 Brisbane World Masters Games
2.6
4.0
4.8
23.6
37.4
13.6
2.8
50.6
hosting major sporting events, at the same time as indicating the
increase in Gross State Product (GSP) as a direct result of the event.
Thus the 1994 Brisbane World Masters Games cost A$2.8 million to
put on but generated a massive A$50.6 million of additional economic
activity in the State economy. Mules and Faulkner’s basic point is that
it normally requires the public sector (at local, regional, and/or national
level) to be involved in the financial underwriting of the staging costs of
the event in order to generate the benefits to the local economy, since
it is unlikely that private operators would be willing to take on the
running of such events because of their low chance of breaking even
or making a profit.
1.7
It is not a straightforward job, however, to establish a profit and loss
account for a specific event. Major sports events require investment in
new sports facilities and often this is paid for, in part, by central
government or even international sports bodies. Thus some of this
investment expenditure represents a net addition to the local economy
since the money comes in from outside. Also such facilities remain
after the event has finished, acting as a platform for future activities
that can generate additional tourist expenditure.
1.8
Increasingly sports events are part of a broader strategy aimed at
raising the profile of a city and therefore success cannot be judged on
simply profit and loss basics. Often the attraction of events is linked to
a re-imaging process, and in the case of many UK cities, is invariably
linked to strategies of urban regeneration and tourism development.
Major events, if successful, have the ability to project a new image and
3
identity for a city. The hosting of major sports events is often justified
by the host city in terms of long-term economic and social
consequences, directly or indirectly, resulting from the staging of the
event. These effects are primarily justified in economic terms, by
estimating the additional expenditure generated in the local economy
as a result of the event, in terms of the benefits injected from tourismrelated activity, and the subsequent re-imaging of the city following the
success of the event.
1.9
In the UK there has been a recent acknowledgement of the economic
and social benefits that major events can have upon the host city,
region or country. The setting up of the Major Events Support Group,
now the Major Events Steering Group (MESG), in 1994 by the Sports
Council was an attempt to assist governing bodies and local authorities
in bidding for, and staging, major sports events. A report by the
former National Heritage Committee entitled ‘Bids to Stage
International Sports Events’ provided a framework for a co-ordinated
approach to attracting events. The report indicated that the UK had
started to fall behind other countries in its approach to attracting major
sports events and that the UK had lacked a consistent approach for
bidding for events. One of the principal objectives in setting up the UK
Sports Council was to rationalise the system. The UK Sports Council
has since adopted a Policy and Strategy for Major Events and funding
is now available from the National Lottery to support major sports
events.
1.10
The National Heritage Committee report in 1995 stated: “It is clear that
bids to stage major sporting events....can operate as a catalyst to
stimulate economic regeneration even if they do not ultimately prove
successful.” The report uses the case of Sheffield and Manchester to
highlight the regenerative impact of sports events in the UK: “...once
the initial redevelopment has taken place, the existence of high quality
facilities means that the cities concerned are able to attract other
4
sports events. The impact however does not stop there. Many of the
facilities are suitable for other uses such as conferences and concerts.
In addition, the favourable publicity which can follow from a successful
event may increase the attractiveness of a city, raise its profile
overseas, and enable it to attract an increasing number of tourists.”
(National Heritage Committee, 1995).
1.11
The economic importance of major sports events became an
increasingly important issue following the economic success of the
Euro 96 football championships, which attracted 280,000 overseas
visiting supporters, spending around £120 million in the eight host
cities and surrounding regions (Dobson, Gratton, and Holliday: 1997) 2.
The total economic impact generated in the host cities by all spectators
and media/officials to Euro 96 was £195 million. Economically, Euro
96 proved to be the most successful sporting event ever held in the
UK. It emphasised that major sports events can be big business and
the success of Euro 96 has already led to an increased demand for
more major sports events to be staged in Britain, most notably the bid
to stage the 2006 football World Cup Finals.
2
Dobson N, Gratton C, and Holiday S (1997), Football Came Home: The Economic Impact of
Euro 96, Leisure Industries Research Centre, Sheffield.
5
1.12
These developments have also led to an increased need to
understand the complicated economics of major sports events, which
is part of the rationale for this study. In the UK, three cities, Sheffield,
Glasgow, and Birmingham, have adopted an economic strategy based
on attracting major sports events to their area as a catalyst to
stimulate economic regeneration. These three cities have been
designated ‘National Cities of Sport’ and five of the six events studied
in this project take place in these cities. In addition to analysing the
economics of each particular event, the study aims to contribute to the
discussion on the extent to which sports events can contribute to
economic regeneration.
6
2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2.1
This report presents the results of a study of six major sports events
held in the United Kingdom between May and August 1997. The study
aimed to evaluate the economic impact of these sports events on the
local economics of host cities and towns together with the wider effect
on the region and country as a whole.
2.2
A visitor survey was carried out at each event using self-completion
questionnaires. In total, 4,306 questionnaires were completed by
visitors to the six events. In addition to the social survey information,
additional information was collected from local authorities in the host
cities, governing bodies involved in staging the event, and hotels in the
host cities. The sample survey information, together with ticket sales
data, was used to provide estimates of additional expenditure by
visitors from outside the local economy. Estimates of additional local
income generated and additional jobs created were provided using a
proportional income multiplier approach. A summary of results, on an
event by event basis, is provided below.
2.3
World Badminton Championships and Sudirman Cup, Scoutstoun
Leisure Centre, Glasgow, 19th May - 1st June, 1997.
Competitors from 68 nations took part in the championships with most
staying for the full two week period. In total, there were 603 officials,
812 competitors and team managers, and 217 media representatives
officially accredited for the event. Because of the length of time these
officials and competitors stayed in Glasgow, they were the major
contributors to the economic impact of the event, accounting for 69%
of total additional expenditure attributable to the event. There were
21,642 spectator admissions over the two weeks of the event and
visiting spectators accounted for 31% of total additional expenditure.
Visitors to Glasgow as a direct result of the championships spent £1.9
7
million in Glasgow. In addition, the Scottish Badminton Union spent
£294,000 in Glasgow on the costs of staging the event with the result
that total additional expenditure due to the event was £2.2 million,
generating an additional local income of £445, 000, on the equivalent
of 36 full-time equivalent job-years.
2.4
European Junior Boxing Championships, National Indoor Arena,
Birmingham, 31st May - 8th June, 1997.
There were 36 nations represented at the event. In total, there were
226 competitors, 83 team managers and coaches, and 58
administrators. These contributed 35% of the total additional
expenditure generated by the event. There were 1,233 spectator visits
and visiting spectators accounted for 65% of total additional
expenditure. Visitors to Birmingham as a direct result of the event
spent £224,000 in Birmingham. In addition, the organisers spent
£260,000 on staging the Birmingham area in the championships with
the result that total additional expenditure in Birmingham due to the
event was £0.5 million, generating and additional local income of
£100,000 or the equivalent of 8-full-time equivalent job-years.
2.5
1st Cornhill Test Match, Edgbaston, Birmingham, 5th - 9th June,
1997
The 1st Cornhill Test Match between England and Australia was a
major spectator event with 72,693 spectator visits over the four days
that the match lasted. Only 8% of the spectators were from the
Birmingham area. 77% of the spectators were day-visitors, but the
daily spend was high, with an average for all visitors of £37.50 per day.
Total additional visitor expenditure in Birmingham attributable to the
event was £4.6 million, 91% of which was the result of the expenditure
by spectators. In addition, there was £0.5 million organisational spend
in Birmingham on the staging costs of the event, with the result that
8
there was £5.1 million additional expenditure in Birmingham
attributable to the event. This additional expenditure generated £1
million additional local income, or the equivalent of 82 additional fulltime equivalent job-years.
2.6
IAAF Grand Prix 1, Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield, June 30th 1997
The IAAF Grand Prix athletics in Sheffield attracted 16,025 spectators,
with 70% of them coming from outside Sheffield. Since the event only
lasted 4 to 5 hours, the majority of these visiting spectators, 97%, were
day visitors. Of the 400 athletes, officials, and media representatives
attending the event, 48% did stay at least one night in the Sheffield
area, with an average length of stay of 2.4 nights. Consequently, 25%
of total additional expenditure due to the event was contributed by
these athletes, officials, and media representatives due to their length
of stay in the city. Overall, all visitors generated £151,000 additional
expenditure in Sheffield. There was a further additional organisational
expenditure of £25,000 in Sheffield directly attributable to the event.
This total additional expenditure of £177,000 generated and additional
local income of £35,387, or the equivalent of an additional 3 full-time
equivalent job-years.
2.7
European Junior Swimming Championships, Tollcross Park
leisure Centre, Glasgow, 31st July - 3rd August, 1997.
39 nations took part in the European Junior Swimming Championships
sending 479 competitors, who were accompanied by a further 243
team managers, coaching and medical personnel. The average length
of stay in Glasgow of these visiting competitors and officials was 6.58
nights, and as a result 92% of total additional expenditure was
generated from these visitors with only 8% generated by visiting
spectators. Total additional expenditure by visitors to Glasgow for the
event was £258,000. In addition there was an organisational spend of
9
£40,000 in Glasgow giving a total of £298,000 as additional
expenditure directly attributable to the event. This expenditure
generated £60,000 local income, or the equivalent of 5 full-time
equivalent job-years.
2.8
Weetabix Women’s British Open Golf Championship,
Sunningdale, August 14th - 17th, 1997.
The Weetabix Women’s British Open Golf Championship attracted
50,000 visiting spectators, of which 87% were day visitors. Although
the players, officials, and media representatives were in total small in
relation to the number of spectators, a much higher percentage stayed
overnight in the local area than was the case with spectators. Of the
144 players in the tournament, for instance, 98 stayed overnight with
an average length of stay of 7 nights. The average daily expenditure
of the players, officials, and media was consequently much higher than
the average for spectators. Overall the expenditure of this group of
visitors accounted for 10% of the total visitor expenditure of £1.6
million. In addition, there was an organisational spend of 0.5 million in
the local economy with the result that there was a total of £2.1 million
additional expenditure in the local economy as a result of the event.
This generated £215,000 of additional local income, to the equivalent
of 17 additional full-time equivalent job years.
2.9
This study has shown a wide variety in the economic impact generated
by the six events. The two junior events (boxing and swimming)
generated a relatively small economic impact on the host city given
that one (boxing) lasted for 9 days and the other (swimming) for 4
days. Athletics also generated a small impact, but this event lasted
less than five hours. Cricket generated by far the highest level (£5.1
million) of additional expenditure in the host city, and also attracted the
highest number of spectators. Badminton and golf generated a similar
level of additional expenditure but badminton lasted for 14 days and
10
golf for 4 days. The length of the World Badminton Championships
and Sudirman Cup meant that competitors, officials and media
representatives stayed in Glasgow for 10 to 12 nights with the result
that this group accounted for 69% of the economic impact. In contrast,
the large number of spectators to the golf, mostly day-visitors,
accounted for 90% of the economic impact. The wide variety in
economic impact of the six events reveals in this study, emphasises
the difficulty in predicting the likely economic consequences of bringing
major sporting events to Britain. Just because an event is a World or
European Championship does not guarantee it will be an economic
success for either the host city, or the governing body, staging the
event. However, studies such as this one, do increase knowledge of
the economics of major sports events, which reduce the level of
uncertainty in making forecasts of the economic costs and benefits of
staging future events.
11
3
CONTEXT
What is a major sports event?
3.1
The Sports Council’s ‘Calendar of Major Sporting Events 1997’ listed
291 major sports events that took place in Great Britain in 1997.
However, many would be surprised to see that the list excludes the
whole of the Premier League in football as well as the Nation-wide
Football League. It also excludes the whole of rugby league except for
the Silk Cut Challenge Cup Final. The only football matches to be
included in the list are the Coca-Cola and FA Cup Finals and England
(not Scotland, Wales) internationals. Many Manchester United home
matches attract larger attendance’s than many of the major events
listed in the calendar and are of major economic significance.
However, such matches are part of the domestic competition. The
Sports Council’s calendar concentrates on single sports events of
World, Commonwealth, or European standard, both senior and junior,
for either sex, and including people with disabilities. It also includes
multi-sport events such as the Olympic Games.
3.2
The question arises, therefore, of how we define a sport event as
‘major’. As Mules and Faulkner (1996) point out, calendars of major
sporting events are not compiled on the basis of promoting either the
events or their host regions, but are mainly seen as an information
service. The majority of such events are run for their sporting outcome
rather than their economic potential. ‘Major’ then in this context is
normally to do with the sporting significance of the event rather than its
economic significance. This is not to say that such events do not have
economic significance. Rather the point is that there will be substantial
variation in the level of economic significance over events classified as
‘major’ sports events. In addition, there will be many events not
classed as ‘major’ that will have greater economic significance than
those attracting that label.
12
3.3
Some researchers in this area have moved to a definition of major,
hallmark, or special events that incorporates the economic dimension.
That is, the event has to generate economic activity in other industries
such as accommodation, transport, entertainment and retailing, in
order to be regarded as special or hallmark. However, again the
question arises as to whether the impact has to be significant
nationally or only in the host regions. It is clear that only two of the
events studied here (the cricket and the golf) could claim to be
significant nationally. Two of the events (the boxing and the
swimming) could be considered to have a negligible national effect and
a relatively small regional effect.
3.4
Another issue over the definition of what makes a sporting event
‘major’ is how the same event can change in economic significance
over time, as indicated by Mules and Faulkner (1996):
“For example, in the mid-1980s Test cricket matches were large events
but did not attract significant numbers of people from outside the host
region. In the 1990s this changed and we now see media coverage of
numbers of British tourists who travel to Australia specifically to watch
cricket, although to our knowledge the size of this phenomenon has
not bee documented”.
We have found that this phenomenon also applies in reverse, with
large numbers of Australians travelling to Britain for this summer’s test
match series. Equally, evidence suggests that there is a larger tourism
element to Premier League soccer matches than was the case with
equivalent First Division games ten years ago.
Major sports events and economic impact
13
3.5
Table 3.1 classifies the six major events studied in this project on a
variety of parameters. We would expect, in general, that those events
that were professional, senior, taking place over a large number of
event days, and at World or European Championship level would
generate the greatest economic impact. However, it is not quite so
simple. The London Marathon, although having an international elite
race within it, generates its main economic impact by the attraction of
large numbers of recreational non-elite runners from all over Britain to
London for the event. It is mainly a domestic event for non-elite
runners, yet its economic impact is potentially very large, and it is
clearly a ‘major’ event.
Table 3.1: Significant parameters for the major sports events
Badminton
Boxing
Cricket
Athletics
Swimming
Golf
Am
Am
Pro
Pro
Am
Pro
Sen
Jun
Sen
Sen
Jun
Sen
Gender
M/F
M
M
M/F
M/F
F
Days
14
9
4
1
4
4
Level
World
European
International
International
European
International
Championship
Championship
Amateur/
Professional
Senior/
Junior
3.6
Championship
Four of the six events studied in this project are part of a bidding
process, where a British governing body competes with those from
other countries for the right to stage the event in Britain. The
exceptions are golf and cricket, in which similar events are staged
annually in Britain, though not necessarily at the same venue.
Certainly, those events where a bidding process takes place are
normally regarded as ‘major’. With the exception of the athletics, in
this study, those events that have been part of such a bidding process
meet also the criterion of being a World or European championship,
although, in two cases, only at junior level.
14
3.7
It is normally the governing body that will bid for the event, and if it wins
the right to stage the event in Britain, it will choose a host city. Another
bidding process then takes place between British cities. Often the
governing body will work together with the chosen host city prior to
bidding for the event.
3.8
In general, however, the governing body will not have the financial
resources to underwrite the event if an operating loss is incurred, and it
normally looks to the host city to fulfil this underwriting role. The host
city therefore has, in the past, borne the major financial risk in staging
the event. This risk should be reduced in the future through lottery
funding, but the host city will still almost certainly incur costs in staging
events. The two events staged in Scotland in this study attracted
substantial lottery funding, but Glasgow City Council, the host city in
both cases, still contributed resources towards the staging costs.
3.9 As indicated earlier, there is direct rate of return on this investment by
the host city in the additional spending generated by the event in the
local economy. The problem is that the level of this economic impact is
rarely measured and, perhaps more importantly, is often completely
unknown prior to the decision to bid for the event. Governing bodies
and local authorities can invest a lot of resources in such a bidding
process and it would be useful for them to know, in advance, which
events were likely to be major in terms of economic impact, even though
all such events could be classified as major in sporting terms. This
study aims to enhance the knowledge base in terms of the economic
importance of major sports events so that, in future, cities and governing
bodies may make a more informed choice over which events to bid for.
15
4
METHODOLOGY AND ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK
4.1
There is no set way of evaluating the costs, benefits or impacts of a
major sporting event. The list of factors which could be evaluated is
almost endless and includes dimensions such as:
1
environmental impact;
2
loss of earnings on facilities whilst they are being used for
competition purposes;
3
the sports development effect on a city;
4
the job creation effect of an event on a city;
5
the effect of traffic congestion within the economy caused
by an event;
6
the city marketing benefits caused by media coverage;
7
long term legacies of events (investment in facilities or
other sports infrastructure).
4.2 Therefore, any research into the effects which events have must be
customised to suit the objectives of those who need particular
information. Many of the possible lines of enquiry listed above cannot
be measured in the short term and require detailed, long term, academic
studies which are expensive. However, it is possible to calculate
reasonably quickly, the additional expenditure generated in a city by an
event, using the relatively simple research methodology of self
completion questionnaires, desk research and qualitative interviews.
This additional expenditure can then be used as the basis for estimating
the additional local income and employment generated by the event so
that an objective, statistically reliable assessment can be made of its
effect on the local economy. It is important, however, that those carrying
out such assessments interpret the outcomes within a broader social
and environmental context.
16
4.3 The following sections outline the various stages of an economic impact
study. As indicated earlier the key data is provided by a sample survey
of visitors to the event and a large part of what follows discusses the
types of information required from this survey and the questions required
to elicit this information. The survey instrument is a short (4 to 5
minutes), self-completion questionnaire, but surveyors are on hand to
deal with any problems. A surveyor would normally deal with no more
than four or five respondents at any one time, handing out clipboards,
each with an attached pen and questionnaire. The surveyor would wait
for all to be completed (handling any queries while waiting) before
moving on to another small group of respondents. Although the major
part of an economic impact study is the visitor survey, additional
information is collected from local authorities, governing bodies, and
other relevant agencies. The sample survey information, together with
ticket sales information, is used to provide population estimates of
additional expenditure by visitors from outside the local economy.
Multiplier analysis can then be used to estimate additional local income
and employment generated by the staging of the event. These
estimates can be related to the overall costs of staging the event and
the sources of funding (local or non-local) of these costs.
The aim and objectives of the research methodology
4.4 In order to understand how the research methodology works, it is
important to appreciate what it was designed to achieve. For the six
events included in this project, the aim for each event was to evaluate
the economic impact of the event on the host city, its surrounding areas
and where applicable the rest of the UK. In this context, economic
impact on a host city was defined as the total amount of additional
expenditure generated within a city which could be directly attributable to
the event. For the most part, this calculation is sufficient to evaluate
most events in terms of comparing money spent with money generated.
However, the material used to arrive at this figure can be used in local
17
multiplier analysis to give estimates of local expenditure, income and
employment generated by the event.
4.5
The objectives of the research methodology are as follows:
1)
to quantify the proportions of respondents who live in the
host city and those who are from outside the host city;
2)
to group respondent types by their role in the event, for
example, media, spectators, competitors, officials, etc.;
3)
to identify basic characteristics of respondents from
outside the host city by gender, composition of party by
size and broad place of domicile;
4)
to determine the catchment area of the event by local,
regional, national and international responses;
5)
to quantify the number of people from outside the host
city who will be staying overnight in the host city and from
this sub-sample to quantify how many are staying in
commercially provided accommodation;
6)
to quantify how many nights those staying in commercial
accommodation will spend in the city and how much per
night such accommodation is costing;
7)
to quantify for both those staying overnight and day
visitors, the amount spent per day on six standard
categories of expenditure;
8)
to quantify how much in total people have budgeted to
spend in a host city and on how many other people this
expenditure will be made;
9)
to establish the proportion of people whose main reason
for being in the host city is the event under investigation;
10)
to determine if any respondents are combining their visit
to the host city with a holiday, so that the spending
associated with the holiday, and the location of the
spending, can be used to estimate any wider economic
18
impact in other cities or regions due to the staging of the
event.
The ten objectives listed above are the maximum that the questionnaire
is capable of achieving and it has been proven consistently to be an
efficient research instrument, which enables accurate information to be
obtained, analysed and written up quickly and accurately. The six
questionnaires used in this study are included in this report under
Appendix 1.
The methodology in practice
4.6 To achieve the level of detail required to produce an analysis of the
amount of additional expenditure in a host city which is attributable to an
event, is not simply a question of administering survey questionnaires.
Ideally, to achieve an overview of the context and the data requires a
four stage approach to be taken.
Stage 1: Pre-planning
4.7 Researchers need to be provided with the most comprehensive amount
of information available so that an appropriate strategy can be put in
place for optimum data capture. The likely respondent groups must be
defined. Their patterns of behaviour need to be modelled, for example:
a)
how many of each respondent group will there be?
b)
when will they be arriving?
c)
where will they be staying?
d)
how will it be possible to get convenient access to them?
e)
are there any unique circumstances relevant to this group
which may have an effect on the research (eg they are
juniors therefore they do not have significant amounts of
money?)
19
4.8 Even within each respondent group, there may well be particular
segments which exhibit different characteristics compared to other
segments. For example, the spending patterns of the former Eastern
bloc countries are normally quite different to those of the more affluent
Western European nations. By conducting this exercise, for each
respondent group, it becomes possible to put in place a plan which gives
an overview of the event and the likely economic impacts associated
with it. Only by identifying these considerations in advance, does it
become possible to devise strategies which will obtain the necessary
data.
4.9 Having what appears to be a workable plan is no guarantee of success
unless proper liaison with the organisers involved in the event is
conducted. For example, at the European Junior Swimming
Championships a huge opportunity to conduct a population survey of the
competitors was missed. Had the research team known that, on the day
before the event started, a mass accreditation and rules meeting was
taking place, it would have been possible to obtain a larger, more
representative, sample by building the questionnaire into the meeting.
On a positive note, good communication at Sheffield enabled near
population surveys to be conducted on two of the four respondent
groups, the media personnel and the trackside officials.
4.9 Language need not be a difficulty which prevents a respectable sample
from being achieved. For a number of the events which LIRC has
conducted similar research, translations have been made so as to make
the interviewing of overseas competitors and spectators a reality.
However, English language versions of the questionnaire can be
completed by non-English speakers so long as a group or team member
can be recruited to do the necessary translation. This proved to be a
pragmatic method in securing responses from the Russian team at the
European Junior Swimming Championships.
20
4.11 The overriding concern in the pre-planning is to have sufficient
knowledge of the event and the respondent groups, so as to be able to
operationalise a meaningful plan of action in order to collect valid and
reliable data.
Stage 2: Primary data collection (operational phase)
4.12 Every major event is a one-off in its own right. The survey questionnaire
cannot be assumed to be a template for all occasions, with the only
requirement being to change the name of the event and the date. In
order to achieve meaningful results which are consistent with the aim
and objectives of a study, changes need to be made to the way data is
coded from event to event and therefore questionnaire to questionnaire.
4.13 By far the most important concern in the operational phase is to achieve
sufficient, accurately completed questionnaires from each respondent
group to be able to make reliable estimates about the whole event. The
underlying principle is an appreciation of sampling theory so that the
data, upon which the overall estimates are based, are well grounded.
4.14 For respondent groups with relatively low numbers, 50 media
representatives, it is possible for all members of the group to be
interviewed (a population survey). However, for large respondent
groups, eg spectators, then a programme of random sampling needs to
be implemented. Essentially this means that all members of a particular
group must stand an equal chance of being included in the research. As
an example, at the IAAF Grand Prix 1 in Sheffield, research stewards
were given a quota of questionnaires to be completed in specified
seating blocks of the stadium. This enabled every block to be sampled
and so long as respondents were selected on a random basis, then all
members of the crowd would have stood an equal chance of being
included in the sample. Therefore, it could be concluded that the
sample obtained was representative of the crowd and therefore the
21
sample data (1,268 responses) could legitimately be used to make
inferences about the crowd as a whole (16,025 people).
4.15 It is possible to obtain relatively large sample sizes from respondent
groups such as crowds with adequate pre-planning. The questionnaire
is easy for respondents to complete and takes an average of 3-5
minutes for a full response and less than 30 seconds for a local resident
response. It is possible for individual researchers, equipped with up to
five clipboards each, to be conducting five interviews simultaneously
whilst being available to take any questions from people who need
further clarification. Assuming a worst case scenario of 10 minutes per
wave of 5 questionnaires, enthusiastic researchers can complete a total
of 30 questionnaires per hour. Well trained researchers can get close to
doubling this figure to 60 completions per hour.
4.16 Ideally, Stage 2 is complete when usable samples from each
respondent group have been completed, which enable accurate analysis
to take place of the data, from which credible inferences can be scaled
up to reflect the various populations’ data.
Stage 3: Data analysis
4.17 The completed questionnaires need to be analysed using a professional
statistical analysis package. Questionnaires need to be entered into the
chosen package and then analysed by three key filters: first; by whether
respondents are a local resident or a visitor; second, for visitors, by
respondent group type, e.g. spectators, media, etc.; and, third, within
each respondent group, by day visitors and overnight visitors. Using the
output from these analyses enables the economic impact of those who
have been reached by the questionnaire to be aggregated above.
4.18 The statistical analysis above gives average expenditure per day by
respondent group. This then becomes the input to the spreadsheet
analysis, an example of which is given in Appendix 2. The other major
22
input is ticket sales information, and information related to accredited
numbers of competitors, officials, and media. With these two sets of
input the spreadsheet calculates aggregate totals of additional spend by
each respondent group (see Appendix 2).
4.19 Although, the quantitative data is the core of the research, it also has to
be contextualised using other methods where necessary. For example,
many authorities are interested in comparing the costs of staging an
event relative to the benefits. In the case of IAAF Grand Prix 1 in
Sheffield, the direct cost to the local authority was a £39,500 loss at the
direct level, ie ticket sales minus cost of staging the event. However, the
trade off against this was twofold: first, the authority had agreed to
underwrite the project by £48,000; and, secondly the total additional
expenditure generated in Sheffield as result of the event was almost
£177,000. Questionnaire surveys do not reveal this “hidden” data and
thus it is necessary for the research manager to conduct a programme
of complementary research to try and establish the significance of the
quantitative findings. This usually takes the from of post-event
interviews with organisers and major beneficiaries of additional
expenditure such as hotels.
4.20 A further area of investigation required is to identify any additional
expenditure in a host city which is directly attributable to an event, but
which has not been collected by the questionnaire survey. Generally,
this is what is known as “organisational spend”.
4.21 It can therefore be concluded that the assembly of the data in all of its
forms needs to be collected using a variety of complementary means.
These will vary from event to event but typically include: qualitative
interviews, observation, quantitative techniques and data modelling.
The rationale for using a number of different means to conduct the
research is so that the findings can be triangulated, ie findings from one
method of enquiry confirming the results of a different method examining
23
the same consideration. For example, in Sheffield, analysis of the
questionnaires suggested the sale of approximately 4,000 programmes
at £3 each. By interviewing the organisers after the event, it was
discovered that in fact 4,200 had been sold which confirmed the primary
findings.
4.22 A final ingredient for successful data analysis and write up is judgement
based on a knowledge of the event. Sometimes it is necessary to make
informed judgements about an event and the economic impact
associated with it. In Sheffield, the sponsors of the event were not
prepared to divulge their additional expenditure in the city, beyond their
direct sponsorship of the event. Consequently, it was necessary to
make an estimate of the cost of providing hotel accommodation and
corporate hospitality for guests and staff. By building up a picture of the
sponsor’s activities such as the number of guests accommodated
overnight, the number of people invited to the corporate hospitality and
the likely cost of the menus, it was possible to make an informed
conservative estimate of £15,000 to be added to the organisational
spend total. Without this figure, the economic impact attributable to the
event would have been significantly understated. In a similar fashion,
judgements were also needed to quantify the expenditure in Sheffield of
the Channel 4 crew on accommodation (£5,000) and the British Athletic
Federation on general expenditure in the city (£6,000). The important
point about completing the research using judgement, is the need for the
assumptions upon which the judgements are made to be clearly stated
and supported by the evidence. This last point reinforces a theme that
runs throughout this document, that is the need for transparent audit
trails to give any economic impact study credibility and validity.
Stage 4: Multiplier Analysis
4.23 In most instances, an estimate of how much additional expenditure has
been generated in a host town or city is as much detail as most people
realistically need. However, for those who require a more detailed
24
analysis it is possible to use the additional expenditure data in more
complex ways. This involves multiplier analysis.
4.24 Multiplier analysis converts the total amount of additional expenditure in
the host city to a net amount of income retained within the city after
allowing for “leakages” from the local economy. As an example, the
total amount of money spent in a hotel will not necessarily all be recirculated within a given city. Some of the money will be spent on
wages, food suppliers, beverage suppliers, etc., the recipients of which
may well be outside the city. Thus the multiplier is a device which
converts total additional expenditure into the amount of local income
retained within the local economy. One of the problems with multipliers
in the leisure and tourism industries is that the assumptions upon which
multiplier calculations are based are often both technical and ambitious.
Unless appropriate local multipliers exist, any calculations using generic
multipliers must be considered as little more than approximations.
Although the mechanics of the multipliers are relatively straightforward,
the background in economics required to be able to use them
meaningfully is such that they should not be used by untrained
personnel.
4.25 The ultimate purpose of multiplier calculations is that they can be used
as the basis for further economic analysis such as making estimates of
job creation attributable to a given inflow of income into a local
economy. Sustained additional income into a local economy will lead to
the creation of additional jobs within that economy. However, it is rather
ambitious to attribute a reduction in the jobless to one-off events. In
reality, the most reliable conclusion that can be made is that the
additional expenditure within a local economy has helped to support jobs
in the hotel, catering, travel and retail sectors of an economy. It may
also be possible to interpret the data in couched terms such as “an
expenditure of this amount is approximately equivalent to a total of this
amount full time equivalent job years”. However, this sort of analysis
25
has been fraught with difficulty caused by untrained people making
insupportable claims about job creation. When there is sufficient critical
mass of events taking place in a local economy over a sustained period,
it is then more reasonable to suggest that there has been a job creation
effect linked to economic development through leisure and tourism.
4.26 There are many different multipliers, but there one used most commonly
for studies of events is called the proportional income multiplier. The
proportional income multiplier is expressed as:
Direct + Indirect + Induced Income
Initial Visitor Expenditure
Once the initial visitor expenditure has been measured, economic
impact in terms of additional local income can be estimated by
multiplying this initial expenditure by the local multiplier.
4.27
Direct income is the first round effect of outside visitor spending. It
represents additional wages, salaries, and profits to local residents
working in businesses that were the direct recipients of the additional
visitor expenditures. Indirect income is the income to other businesses
and individuals within the local economy as a result of the additional
expenditures of the visitors but who were not the direct recipients of
this visitor expenditure (eg local suppliers to the shops, restaurants,
hotels, etc, that were the recipients of visitor expenditures). Induced
income is the income resulting from the respending of additional
income earned directly or indirectly on locally produced goods and
services.
4.28 In practice, the value of the local multiplier multipier is ‘borrowed’ from
other studies in related cities since it is both complicated and costly to
estimate the value directly. In Sheffield, for instance, a local
proportional multiplier of 0.2 (meaning that only 20 per cent of the
26
additional visitor expenditure is retained in the city as additional local
income) has been used for several previous economic impact studies,
and this is the value that was used in the study of the athletics Grand
Prix. The larger the city, the less the leakages, and, in general, the
higher the value of the multiplier. A multiplier value of 0.2 was used for
the events held in Sheffield, Glasgow, and Birmingham, and 0.1 for the
golf championships in Sunningdale, since the leakages from the local
economy in this case would be substantial. Using a proportional income
multiplier of 0.2 gives a local income of £35,387 generated by the
£176,937 additional expenditure from visitors from outside Sheffield for
the Grand Prix athletics. By dividing additional local income by an
average annual full time wage for the sector where the income is
received (eg hotel and catering), then the additional jobs created is
expressed in full-time equivalent job years. One full-time equivalent job
year is the employment equivalent of one full-time job for one year. In
reality, few, if any, full-time jobs lasting as long as one year are
generated by any single, one-off, sports event. Most of the employment
effect is normally seen in short-term and part-time employment. The
average annual income figure that is used in such calculations,
therefore, is normally lower than the national average wage to reflect
this employment structure. In this study. a figure of £12,500 was used
so that the job generation effect of the athletics event on Sheffield was
2.8 full-time equivalent job years.
27
5
RESULTS: EVENT REPORTS
5.1
WORLD BADMINTON CHAMPIONSHIPS AND SUDIRMAN CUP
Background
5.1.1 The World Badminton Championship and Sudirman Cup took place at
Scotstoun Leisure Centre, Glasgow, from Monday 19th May to Sunday
1st June. The first week, Monday 19th May to Saturday 24th May, was
a mixed team event, the 5th Sudirman Cup, with teams representing
63 nations. The World Championships began on Sunday 25th May
and finished the following Sunday, 1st June. Players from 68 countries
took part in the World Championships.
5.1.2 The event marked the first time a World Championship in an Olympic
sport had ever been held in Scotland.
5.1.3 Support for the event came from several sources. One of the
sponsors, Yonex UK Ltd provided the 400,000 shuttles (estimated cost
£333,000) estimated to have been used during the two weeks.
Glasgow City Council expenditure associated with the event was
£216,000 in addition to their provision of administration support. The
International Badminton Federation gave a grant of £100,000.
Vauxhall Motors provided eight vehicles as courtesy cars; Horizon
Software Systems Ltd provide £33,000 worth of information technology
equipment and software; Trakman (who handled merchandising for the
event) provided 450 volunteers’ uniforms; and Prinsen (UK) Ltd, the
official energy drinks supplier provided 800 litres of energy drinks.
5.1.4 The World Championships are badminton’s premier event and started
twenty years ago, the first championships taking place in Malmö,
Sweden. Since 1983 the tournament has been held every two years.
China holds the highest number of titles with 19 of the 45 titles. In
28
1987, in Beijing, China took all five titles (men’s singles, ladies’ singles,
men’s doubles, ladies’ doubles, mixed doubles) in front of their home
crowd. The last championships took place in Lausanne, Switzerland in
May 1995 and the titles were more evenly spread with Indonesia
winning two, and China, Denmark, and Korea winning one each.
5.1.5 The first Sudirman Cup was held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1989.
Badminton is one of the few sports where men and women can play
together, and the world mixed team championships for the Sudirman
Cup is the event which celebrates this. The best players from each
country compete in groups composed of four countries of similar
strength. A final ranking order of countries is produced at the end of
the tournament: the winner of group one being the winner of the
Sudirman Cup. The four previous contests have produced two Korean
victories, one Indonesian and the current cup holders, China. The first
contest had 28 competing nations. Glasgow, the fifth, had more than
twice as many - a record 63 entries.
5.1.6 In recognition of the importance of bringing a major World
Championship event to Scotland the Scottish Sports Council awarded
the Scottish Badminton Union (SBU) its highest ever grant of £196,000
from the Lottery Sports Fund’s Major Events Programme.
5.1.7 Despite the size of the event, International Management Group (IMG)
were unable to sell the terrestrial television rights. The event was
beamed, however, direct to 65 countries in Asia, where badminton was
the most watched TV sport of the Atlanta Olympics. BSkyB broadcast
20 hours of programming from the event.
5.1.8 Another disappointment on the marketing front was the failure of IMG
to sell the title sponsorship, valued at £500,000.
Methodological issues specific to the event
29
5.1.9 A single questionnaire was employed for all visitors to Glasgow for the
badminton championships, whether the visitor was a spectator,
competitor, team official, or media representative. This questionnaire
is reproduced in Appendix 1. A separate questionnaire was used for
Glasgow residents to investigate the importance of the event in
bringing people in to Scotstoun Leisure Centre. Then questions were
added at the request of Glasgow City Council’s Parks and Recreation
Department. This questionnaire is reproduced in Appendix 1.
5.1.10 Interviews were carried out by a survey team of four interviewers from
the 21st to 23rd May inclusive in the first week and from the 28th May
to 31st May in the second week. 788 questionnaires were completed
including 356 from spectators who were visiting Glasgow, 218 from
spectators who were Glasgow residents, 140 from team officials and
competitors, and 74 from media representatives and other officials not
connected to teams.
5.1.11 There were difficulties in obtaining interviews while a competition was
in progress. In addition, the number of completed surveys achieved in
a day declined as finals day approached. This was partly due to
reductions in the length of the event day restricting opportunities for
interviewing. In earlier rounds, the event day began at 9:30 am and
finished at 11:30 pm. On semi-finals day the events started at 1:30 pm
and finished at 7:30 pm. On finals day the event began at 2:30 pm
and finished at 5:30 pm. For virtually all of this time a match was in
progress and it was impossible to interview and very few spectators
were available for interview in other areas of the leisure centre.
5.1.12 Some of the far eastern nations appeared to be offended by the
questions regarding money, even though it was stressed that individual
nationals’ expenditure was not to be identified. Certain of the
accredited personnel from the larger far eastern nations (eg China)
30
seemed to be suspicious of responding to the questionnaire. Individual
players/coaches were more co-operative, however, although it was
very difficult to contact them at an appropriate and convenient time.
Team managers were contacted on 3 occasions and where necessary
questionnaires were supplied to them. As many as possible of the
competitors were contacted personally.
5.1.13 Danish spectators were by far the most supportive group of the whole
survey, with the vast majority of those asked agreeing to be
questioned. Also, German spectators proved to be very co-operative.
The co-operation of Glasgow residents was very poor. They seemed
to be generally unwilling to complete their questionnaire, despite the
fact that most resident interviews lasted only between 30 secs and 1
minute. This was the case even though the brevity of the interview
was stressed to them.
5.1.14 The wording of the questions about daily spending levels was changed
for this study by the request of the Steering Group. Instead of asking
what the respondent was spending ‘today’, the question asked what
the respondent spent ‘yesterday’. Several problems arose as a result
of this. A large number of those who were interviewed were on their
first day in Glasgow, as the vast majority of people refused to cooperate on a repeat basis. A couple of respondents who claimed to be
market research professionals had problems with this question. There
were many questions about this to interviewers which wasted time and
reduced their ability to move on to other possible respondents.
Respondents provided a ‘typical or average day’s’ expenditure here
rather than being able to provide specific details of the previous day’s
expenditure.
Visitor Profile
31
5.1.15 The seating capacity in the Scotstoun Leisure Centre for the
tournament was 2986, but this capacity was only reached on the final
day of the championships, Sunday June 1st. Attendances on each
day are itemised below:
Attendances
Monday 19 May
326
Tuesday 20 May
727
Wednesday 21 May
669
Thursday 22 May
831
Friday 23 May
1364
Saturday 24 May
2676
Sunday 25 May
2156
Monday 26 May
1284
Tuesday 27 May
993
Wednesday 28 May
1198
Thursday 29 May
2076
Friday 30 May
1989
Saturday 31 May
2427
Sunday 1 June
2986
Total attendance over the two weeks was 21,702, substantially less
than the 30,000- 40,000 spectators expected.
5.1.16 In addition to the spectators, there were 603 officials, 812 team
officials and players, and 217 media representatives officially
accredited for the event.
5.1.17 Of the 21,702 visits by spectators to the badminton championships
62% were from outside the Glasgow area, of which 47% were day
visitors and 53% stayed at least one night in Glasgow. 87% of the day
visitors were British and 78% of them were going back to their home
32
after their visit. 7% of day visitors were spending at least one night in a
guest-house or hotel not located in the Glasgow area. 70% of the day
visitors lived in Scotland, 11% in the North of England, 7% elsewhere
in the UK, and 10% in the rest of Europe. 97% of day visitors indicated
that the badminton championships were the main reason for their visit
to Glasgow.
5.1.18 For those spending at least one night in Glasgow, 32% were combining
their visit to the championships with a holiday. Virtually all of these
holidays were in Scotland, with the Highlands the most popular
destination, and Edinburgh the second most popular.
5.1.19 Overall then, there was a significant proportion of overseas visitors in
the spectators. On the first Friday, 250 Chinese were flown in,
sponsored by Saab, just for the last two days (semi-finals and finals) of
the Sudirman Cup. In the second week, we estimated that about 70
spectators were with the Indonesian team and about the same
supporting the Malaysian team, but the latter were from Glasgow
University and had not come to Glasgow specifically for the event.
There was also a substantial influx of Danes, Swedes, Belgians, and
Germans who came for the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the
second week for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals.
5.1.20 32% of those staying overnight were British and 53% other European.
92% indicated that the main reason for their visit to Glasgow was the
badminton championships.
5.1.21 For officials not connected with teams and media representatives who
stayed overnight, 90% of them were not combining their trip to the
championships with a holiday. 65% of them were British with 23%
other European, and 11% Asian. All of the team indicated that the
badminton championships were their main reason for visiting Glasgow.
33
18% lived in Scotland, 27% in the North of England, 15% in South East
England, 10% in the rest of the UK, and 26% in the rest of Europe.
5.1.22 Responses from officials and media who were day visitors were
broadly similar, except that over half of the day-visitors in this group
lived in Scotland and over two-thirds were British.
5.1.23 Of the team officials and competitors interviewed, 35% were Asian,
22% British, and 32% from the rest of Europe. 87% were staying in a
hotel, with a further 6% staying in a guest house.
5.1.24 Hotels reported a significant impact on bookings as a result of the
event although many were not full. The Marriot was the only one to
indicate only a slight effect but the Moat House, Central, Charing Cross
Tower, Stakis Grosvenor, and the Jury Hotel reported a large number
of bookings related to the badminton championships. For instance, the
Central had 15 teams with around 10 per team staying for 12 nights,
giving 2000 bed-nights overall for the team demand alone. In fact, the
length of the competition meant that hotel bookings were dominated by
team officials, competitors, media and other officials despite the
relatively small numbers in these categories compared to spectators.
Expenditure Patterns and Economic Impact
5.1.25 The single most important contribution to additional expenditure in
Glasgow as a result of the badminton championships was the
expenditure of team managers, coaches, and competitors. There were
812 in total accredited to the event but most of these stayed at hotels
in Glasgow, paying an average of £51.07 per night. The average
length of stay in Glasgow for this group was 12.92 nights. Overall
spending by this group was £778,729.
5.1.26 The next largest contribution came from spectators with a total
additional expenditure of £609,396, with 80% of this coming from those
34
with at least one overnight stay in Glasgow. The average length of
stay in Glasgow for those that stayed overnight was 5.41 nights. The
average cost of accommodation for spectators was lower than for
competitors/team officials at £29.40 per night.
5.1.27 Table 5.1.1 shows the pattern of expenditure for all those who spent at
least one night in Glasgow as a result of the championships. It shows
daily average expenditure per head is dominated by accommodation
expenditure and expenditure on food and drink.
35
Table 5.1.1: Pattern of expenditure for all those who stayed at least one
night in Glasgow
Overnight Stays
8,555
Ave No of Attendances
5.84
Average Stay (Nights)
6.48
Category
Per Head, Per Day (£)
Gross (£)
Accommodation
32.18
1,007,359
Food & Drink
15.26
346,944
Entertainment
4.40
77,844
Progs/Merchandise
1.03
13,574
Shopping/Souvenirs
7.46
168,756
Travel
4.67
87,272
Other
1.61
53,114
Total
66.61
1,654,863
5.14
Table 5.1.2 shows overall additional visitor expenditure averaged over
all visitors to the event. Comparison between Tables 5.1.1 and 5.1.2
shows those who stay overnight contributed 91% of total additional
expenditure due to the event.
36
Table 5.1.2: Pattern of Expenditure for all Visitors to the Event
Total
15,092
Ave No of Attendances
4.69
Average Stay (Nights)
3.67
Category
Per Head, Per Day (£)
570
Gross (£)
Accommodation
18.24
1,007,359
Food & Drink
12.50
407,290
Entertainment
3.35
97,315
Progs/Merchandise
1.19
24,384
Shopping/Souvenirs
6.33
206,763
Travel
4.88
124,552
Other
1.28
59,030
Total
47.78
1,926,692
5.1.29 The additional expenditure of £1,929,692 by visitors to the World
Badminton Championships and Sudirman Cup created an additional
local income in the local economy of Glasgow of £385,900, or the
equivalent of 31 full-time equivalent job-years. The majority of these
jobs (83%) were in the Hotels/Restaurants/Catering sector. Further
expenditure of £296,000 by the organisers raised this local income
total to £445,000, or the equivalent of 36 full-time equivalent job-years.
Costs of Staging the Event
5.1.30 The overall budget for the event was £510,638. This was made up of
two major parts: expenditure by the Scottish Badminton Union
(£294,438) and expenditure by Glasgow City Council (£216,200). The
latter, with the exception of £5,000 contributed towards this
expenditure by the Foundation for Sport and the Arts, cannot be
considered as contributing to the economic impact of the event since
this level of expenditure would have been spent on something else in
Glasgow if it had not gone on the event. The expenditure by the
37
Scottish Badminton Union can be regarded as additional expenditure
in Glasgow due to the event since it was financed by a lottery grant of
£196,000 and a grant from the International Badminton Federation
(IBF) of £100,000.
5.1.31 The main items of the Scottish Badminton Union’s expenditure are
given in Table 5.1.3.
38
Table 5.1.3: Expenditure on the Event by the SBU
Tournament
1
Hire of Halls
2
Shuttles
3
Equipment & setting up costs
4
IBF Committee of Management
5
Referee and Deputy Referee Costs
6
Umpires (Scottish)
Umpires (Others)
7
Linejudges
8
Senior Personnel and Hostesses
9
SBU personnel/admin support expenses
10 Stewards
11 Drivers
12 Presentation Costs
13 Media/Telecommunications
14 IT Hardware, Software and On-Site Support
15 Accreditation
16 Medical Services
Hospitality
17 IBF Delegates Lunch
18 Players/Volunteers party
19 Championships Closing Banquet
20 Transport
Promotional/Commercial
21 Programme Production
22 Information Booklet
23 Souvenirs
24 Marketing & Promotion
General
25 Administration
26 Insurance
27 Accountancy & Audit Fee
28 Travel and Committees
29 Sundries
less IBF Grant
projected deficit
IBF
IBF
19,800
IBF
2,240
8,000
15,680
16,776
31,050
18,720
2,760
4,648
2,200
4,000
SBU
2,550
12,840
4,400
12,000
GCC
50,500
8,000
2,500
1,000
36,024
25,000
750
6,500
3,500
3,000
£294,438
100,000
£194,438
39
5.1.32 The main items of expenditure by Glasgow City Council are shown in
Table 5.1.4.
Table 5.1.4: Expenditure on the Event by Glasgow City Council
EXPENDITURE
1
Carpeting (to cover surround of tennis floor)
2
Lighting (upgrade of lighting in tennis hall)
3
Seating (temporary, 4,500 seats)
4
Fire Exit (installation of new exit in tennis hall)
5
Access point (temporary access for players &
VIPs)
6
Portaloos
7
Security (including car par supervision at
Scotstoun and Victoria Park)
8
Telephone lines
9
Drapes (to improve court lighting)
10 AA Road Signage
Less Grant from Foundation for Sport & The Arts
Projected Deficit
OVERALL EVENT EXPENDITURE
1
SBU
2
GCC
15,000
90,000
45,000
8,150
13,100
4,300
21,800
3,400
15,000
450
£5,000
£211,200
294,438
£216,200
£510,638
Less total income from grants
1 IBF
2 Foundation for Sport and the Arts
Overall Projected Deficit
£100,000
£5,000
£105,000
£405,638
40
5.1.33 Certain items of expenditure are omitted from the above figures. As
Table 5.1.3 illustrates the IBF paid for the hire of the hall and for their
own Committee of Management expenses. Also, there is expenditure
itemised for referees, umpires and lines judges in the table. However,
these expenditures only relate to the expenses of those officials ( ie
subsistence and accommodation). The time input of these officials is
not costed. We have no details of their time input but given there were
603 officials, with an average length of stay in Glasgow of more than
10 nights, the value of this time input could be as high as £400,000, if
valued at market rates. Similarly, the costs do not include the time
input of SBU and Glasgow City Council officers, which again would be
substantial if valued at market rates.
Glasgow Residents Questions
5.1.34 At the request of Glasgow City Council Parks and Recreation
Department, an additional questionnaire was administered to those
respondents that were Glasgow residents. The questions related to
their usage, in the past and the future, of Scotstoun Leisure Centre.
5.1.35 As indicated earlier, there was some resistance from Glasgow
respondents to answering these questions. 50% of those questioned
thought that their visit to the badminton championships would not
affect their future usage of Scotstoun Leisure Centre. 10% thought
that their visit would lead to a substantial increase in their use of
Scotstoun, 37% thought that it would increase their use slightly.
5.1.36 60% of respondents had visited Scotstoun Leisure Centre before. Of
those, 31% used it regularly, 28% occasionally, and 41% rarely. 39%
had an increased level of expenditure on this visit compared to a
normal visit; 47% about the same level of expenditure; and 15% had
spent less.
Conclusions
41
5.1.37 The World Badminton Championships and the Sudirman Cup was a
successful event and the first time a World Championship for an
Olympic sport had been held in Scotland.
5.1.38 The economic impact was considerable with over £2 million additional
expenditure in Glasgow as a result of the event. The biggest
contribution to this was from players, officials, and media, most from
overseas, who stayed in Glasgow for the two week event. Long events
of this type involving large numbers of competitors and officials
automatically make a significant economic impact, although they also
entail significant staging costs.
5.1.39 There was also a significant contribution from spectators, many again
from overseas and staying a considerable time in Glasgow, although
the numbers of spectators was considerably lower than forecast by the
event organisers.
42
5.2
THE EUROPEAN JUNIOR BOXING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Background
5.2.1 The XV European Junior Boxing Championships in Birmingham was
one of the largest boxing tournaments ever to be held in the United
Kingdom, with 36 countries from throughout Europe represented.
5.2.2 The championships were first staged in Hungary in 1970 and rotate
through Europe on a two year basis. They have only once previously
been held in the UK, in Edinburgh in 1992. The invitation to host the
1997 championships was accepted by the Amateur Boxing Association
(ABA) as the governing body hoped that they would improve their
chance of hosting an amateur World Championship or Olympic
qualifying event in the near future.
5.2.3 The National Indoor Arena (NIA) is a prestigious facility in which to
stage this type of event with excellent support and auxiliary services.
The Arena has previously hosted major championship boxing with the
ABA National Finals held there each year since 1993 and with
professional World Championship boxing also taking place there. The
use of the Arena was beneficial in that the event itself became largely
self-contained. Competitors, officials, referees, and other event
accredited personnel were able to eat at the Arena throughout the day,
an important consideration for all concerned, but particularly the
boxers.
5.2.4 The event, was advertised widely in Birmingham through the use of
70,000 ‘fliers’, large posters throughout the city and publicity in local
newspapers and on local radio. Prior to the event there was an
expectation by the governing body that it would be well attended
(based on the number of spectators who attended the ABA finals:
approximately. 3,000).
43
5.2.5 Free admission and complimentary tickets were available for the first
five days of competition, 2,000 free tickets per day. Two tickets for
each of these five days were distributed to 605 boxing clubs throughout
the country. Complimentary tickets were also sent to local schools.
5.2.6 The championships commenced with the preliminary rounds on
Sunday 1st June and continued with the semi-finals and finals
throughout the week, staged on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th June
respectively. Friday 6th June was a rest day. The championships were
open to boys aged under 19, with weight categories ranging from lightfly (48Kg) to super heavyweight (91+Kg). The programme of boxing
consisted of a late morning and early evening session, specifically built
around the needs and requirements of the boxers. Each session
consisted of approximately twelve, four round bouts, in each of the two
rings. A session lasted between 3-4 hours. In total 193 bouts took
place during the championships.
5.2.7 England recorded their best ever result with 3 bronze and 1 silver
medal. However, as this report will illustrate, several factors severely
limited the economic potential of the event. Many of these factors were
outside of the control of the event organisers and the governing body
for a number of reasons.
Methodological issues specific to the event
5.2.8 Questionnaires were distributed in and around the National Indoor
Arena (NIA) and deposited with team managers and officials at the
team hotels. The survey team of four was instructed to operate in all
accessible areas of the Arena, but to be careful not to disturb
competitors and team coaches prior to their bouts. Surveys were
conducted on 5 of the 8 days of the championships, at various times
during the morning and evening sessions and breaks between the two.
The survey team, between them, had fluency in seven different
44
languages, but despite this language barriers were a problem. The
target for the sample was 500 questionnaire completions. For the
reasons that the report will highlight, this target sample size proved
impossible to achieve.
5.2.9 The self-completion questionnaires (Appendix I), translated into the
native language of the majority of competing countries, were handed
out by the survey team, at random, at different survey times and on
different days. Surveyors were constantly on hand for any questions. If
a respondent had difficulty with any part of the questionnaire,
surveyors were instructed to guide them through the relevant parts
where applicable. However, difficulties were encountered
administering the questionnaire to certain groups due to language
barriers.
5.2.10 The questionnaire was translated into 12 different languages (the
Russian translation applicable to nations from the former Soviet
Republic). Each nation had a particular colour coding to distinguish
one language from another, an important consideration for the survey
team. Since this was a team event, easy recognition of each team was
possible through national tracksuits. However, identifying the
nationality of referees and judges was more problematical, so
questionnaires were left at their hotels, for collection at a later date.
5.2.11 Due to the event’s eight day duration and the ‘knock-out’ nature of the
competition, respondents were asked both for their daily expenditure
and their total expenditure during their stay in Birmingham. This was
essential for the analysis of the competitors’ expenditure as they had
little opportunity to spend money whilst in competition in the early part
of the week but greater opportunities in the latter half of the week,
when and if they were no longer in competition. Both methods provided
similar expenditure values. Eventually it was decided to use an
average of the two values for the purpose of analysis.
45
5.2.12 The total sample size was 254, which was significantly less than the
target. However, given low spectator interest and a large number of
repeat visits (average attendance at the championships was 2.35
days), the sample provides a fair reflection of those typically at the
event. In total 73 percent of all spectators sampled were visitors to
Birmingham.
5.2.13 Table 12 illustrates the number of completed questionnaires that were
received from the respective types of non-Birmingham respondents.
Approximately 50 questionnaires were completed per day.
Table 5.2.1: European Junior Boxing Questionnaire Responses
Category
Day Visitors
Overnight
Total
Stays
Number
Spectators
85
56
141
Officials
0
23
23
Managers/Coaches
0
12
12
Competitors
0
78
78
Total Sample Size
254
5.2.14 The questionnaire included a section for Birmingham residents to
complete in order to provide an indication of the percentage of the
spectators and officials who were from the city, and who, for purposes
of analysis, were regarded as dead-weight. This was invaluable
exercise for this event where detailed profile information from ticket
sales was not available. The total number of attendances from
Birmingham residents was estimated at over 400 visits or 220 actual
people (approximately 27 percent of all spectators).
Visitor Profile
46
5.2.15 The European Junior Boxing Championships drew competitors from all
over Europe to Birmingham. There were a total of 36 nations
represented at the event, with each nation represented by competitors,
officials, administrators, event organisers, referees/judges, team
managers and spectators. A total of 226 competitors entered the
event, with many teams bringing more boxers than expected, providing
increased organisational problems which the ABA were required to
resolve.
5.2.16 Competitors and other visitors involved in the competition arrived in
Birmingham between Friday 30th and Saturday 31st May. The majority
arrived via Birmingham airport, while others entered the UK at
Heathrow. The majority left Birmingham on Monday 9th June. These
visitors, typically wearing national tracksuits, had a high profile image in
and around Birmingham during the staging of this event.
5.2.17 Evaluation of this event enables an economic breakdown of
expenditure by competitors, team officials, spectators and
administrators. The analysis of European Junior Boxing visitor
expenditure has been conducted by category of visitor in the hope of
identifying whether each grouping had a different pattern of
expenditure. The survey revealed that 40 percent of the spectators
stayed overnight in Birmingham. The average length of stay for those
spectators who stayed overnight was 3.52 nights and the average
number of attendances for spectators was 2.35 days.
5.2.18 Although the European Junior Boxing is primarily known as a
competitor-intensive event, there were 1,690 visits by spectators, 1,233
of which were by spectators from outside Birmingham. A number were
accompanying UK competitors and so were also staying overnight in
the city. Estimates made from the proportion of questionnaire
responses received from spectators suggest that there were 596
visiting spectators from outside Birmingham responsible for generating
1,233 actual attendances at the championships. Only 362 tickets for
47
the event were actually sold, the majority of attendances being through
free or complimentary tickets.
5.2.19 Many of the officials and volunteers who were involved in the
championships were from outside Birmingham, taking time off from
work to help organise the event. A total of 56 ABA officials/volunteers
helped with the organisation of the event. Their duties ranged from
recording results to glove preparation. Again the vast majority stayed
overnight in Birmingham. The typical pattern was for these officials to
be involved for most of the championships as their average number of
attendance’s was 8.22 days and their average stay was 8.53 nights.
5.2.20 Despite the size of the event and the high standard of much of the
competition the media were noticeable by their absence from the
championships. Despite surveys being carried out on 5 out of the 8
days of the championships, few members of the media were present.
Consequently, we have assumed the economic impact from this
source to be very small, this contrasts significantly with more high
profile events. Of the 5 accredited media representatives only 2 stayed
overnight.
5.2.21 There was a significant difference in the standard of accommodation
available to competitors and team managers in comparison to officials
from the European Amateur Boxing Association (EABA). The ABA had
a pre-arranged deal with several hotels for the competitors, averaging
between £20-25 per person per night, whereas the EABA officials
stayed in accommodation priced at £75 per night. Each
competitor/official involved in the event had to contribute £50 per day
towards the cost of accommodation and food.
Expenditure Patterns and Economic Impact
5.2.22 Spectators generated 66% of additional visitor expenditure in
Birmingham. The net expenditure generated from all other visitors
48
(competitors and officials) involved in the event amounted to £84,147.
The vast majority of this, £53,788, came from the 226 boxers who
attended the championships. However, the largest single economic
affect on Birmingham came from the organisers, who spent over
£260,000 in the Birmingham area on the championships.
5.2.23 Table 5.2.2 contains a summary of the expenditure made by the
various groups.
Table 5.2.2.: European Junior Boxing Summary of Net Expenditures
Category
£
£
Visitors
Spectators
160,227
Officials
8,252
ABA Officials
7,433
Coaches
14,674
Competitors
53,788
Organisers
264,546
Total
508,920
5.2.24 Spectator attendance at the event was well below expectations and
this had a direct effect on secondary spending in the NIA. Expenditure
on food and drink purchased by spectators totalled only £2,000 (exc.
VAT) over the championships, equating to approximately £1.18 per
visitor. In addition, there was little expenditure on championship
merchandise such as T-shirt sales. One small Birmingham business
hired a unit in the Arena foyer to sell posters at a cost of £2,000 for the
week. After sales of only £7 by the second day of the event they did
not return for the rest of the week.
5.2.25 On the final evening, Sunday 8th June, a banquet was held in the NIA
to celebrate the event. The total expenditure on food for competitors
49
and officials thorough the week including the closing banquet was
£57,000.
5.2.26 Table 5.2.3 shows the average daily expenditure levels by visitors to
Birmingham for the championships, broken down by type of visitor.
The average amount spent per day in Birmingham by a visitor was
£39.88 per day, with 27% of this being on food and drink and 11% on
shopping/souvenirs.
Table 5.2.3: European Junior Boxing Visitors’ Average Daily Expenditure
Levels
Category
Total
£
Spectators
46.02
Officials
22.28
Admin/ABA
20.07
Team Managers/Coaches
17.68
Competitors
23.80
Average
39.98
5.2.27 In general spectators had the highest budgets for expenditure whilst
they were in Birmingham, averaging £46.02. per day. Team managers
and coaches were the group with the lowest level of spending. They
averaged £17.68 per day. Officials average spending level was £22.28
per day.
Bednights Generated and Jobs Created
5.2.28 A considerable number of bed-nights were generated in Birmingham
as a consequence of the European Junior Boxing Championships. A
total of 5,674 additional bed-nights were generated in the Birmingham
area as a direct result of the event. Without doubt the city’s
commercial accommodation stock saw a direct benefit from the
50
championships as nearly all the additional nights (93%) generated
were in hotels. Table 5.2.4 outlines the number of additional bednights
generated in each category of accommodation.
Table 5.2.4: European Junior Boxing Summary of Bednights Generated
in Birmingham
Accommodation Category
Number of Bednights Generated
Hotel
5,327
Guest House
87
Friends/Relatives
260
Other
0
Total
5,674
5.2.29 The greatest economic impact was in Birmingham’s Hotel, Catering
and Retail Distribution sectors. The additional expenditure generated in
this sector accounted for 61% of total visitor expenditure.
5.2.30 The additional expenditure due to the event generated £101,600 local
income or the equivalent of 8 additional full-time equivalent (FTE) jobyears. In total 90 staff were working at the Arena during each day of
the championships in a variety of roles including, security, catering,
cleaning, technical staff, box office staff and management.
Costs of Staging the Event
5.2.31 The ABA’s overall budget for the event was £405,000 and
approximately 70% of this budget was spent in Birmingham on items
ranging from accommodation, transport, insurance, food & drink and
paramedic cover. A contribution from the English Sports Council
(ESC) of £35,000, was made towards the staging costs.
5.2.32 The event was not able to secure a major high profile sponsor or
secure television coverage. Hitman Equipment (boxing clothing and
51
support gear) provided backing for the event, along with other
companies willing to advertise in the programme. The National Indoor
Arena and Birmingham City Council supported the event to the extent
of £50,000. Despite this backing the ABA estimated the loss of the
event to be around £70,000.
5.2.33 In addition, to this monetary expenditure, 56 ABA officials/volunteers
contributed 8 days of their time without payment, which, if valued at
market rates, would be equivalent to an additional labour cost of
£37,000. In addition, the time input of officers of Birmingham City
Council, for which there is no quantitative estimate, is not included in
the budget figure.
Conclusions
5.2.34 The European Junior Boxing Championships staged at the National
Indoor Arena in Birmingham generated just over £0.5 million of
additional expenditure in the local economy. Around half of this was
generated by visitors to Birmingham for the event (competitors,
officials, coaches, and spectators), with the other half as additional
expenditure by the organisers in Birmingham on staging the event,
5.2.35 The organisers had expected much greater spectator interest in the
event than actually materialised. Only 362 tickets for the event were
sold, with the rest of the attendances being through free admission or
complimentary tickets. The lack of spectators in an arena the size of
the NIA meant that the whole event lacked atmosphere.
5.2.36 There was also little media interest in the event. The lack of television
coverage and sponsorship for the event contributed to the lack of
spectator interest and also put pressure on the event budget, with the
result that the event made a loss of overall of about £70,000.
52
5.2.37 The European Junior Boxing provided the majority of competitors and
visitors with a positive image of Birmingham to take home with them.
The comments interviewers received whilst at National Indoor Arena
were generally positive, with much praise being afforded to the event
organisation and the facility itself. Competitors appeared to be
impressed with Birmingham as a city and the ease of access between
the NIA and the city centre.
53
5.3
THE 1ST CORNHILL TEST MATCH: ENGLAND V AUSTRALIA
Background
5.3.1 Following the success of the English cricket team against Australia in
the three Texaco One Day Internationals, the 1st Cornhill Insurance
Test Match at Edgbaston in June the first Test of a six match Ashes
series, and a full house for the first three days was guaranteed on the
basis of advance ticket sales.
5.3.2 Unlike the majority of other events studied in this project, a Test Match
at Edgbaston is a regular annual event and so Warwickshire County
Cricket Club has considerable experience in the organisation of such
an event. However, despite this, Engand’s opponents in this event
change annually with a consequent effect on the demand for tickets.
Also, the weather changes annually with a real impact on the
economic significance of the event.
5.3.3 On the eve of the 1st Cornhill Test Match, Cornhill Insurance
announced that it would continue its sponsorship of home Test
Matches for a further three years. The new sponsorship agreement
with the England and Wales Cricket Board will mean that a further £9
million will be injected into the game over the next three years.
Cornhill has already supported English cricket to the tune of £18.7
million over a period of 20 years and, by the end of the new contract in
the year 2000, their contribution will have risen to £27.7 million.
5.3.4 1997 was the final year of Cornhill’s current three year sponsorship
agreement. In 1997 this contributed £2,250,000 to English cricket.
This was paid as fees to Test Match players (£3,000 in 1997, with
£4,500 to the England Captain), Team and Individual Awards (Team
Win (either side, each Test) £17,000); Man of the Match Awards (each
Test: £1,000); and Player of the Series Awards (both sides: £2,500)).
54
Methodological issues specific to event
5.3.5 The methodology adopted for this event was similar to previous events,
although more time intensive due to the difficulties of handing out
questionnaires once the match had begun. Sampling was typically
undertaken prior to the game, when spectators had time on their
hands, and during the natural breaks in play, at lunch and at tea. As
these time periods were short, it was difficult to obtain a large response
in these two periods. Additionally, the response rate in the latter part of
the day was lower due to over-consumption of alcohol by many
spectators.
5.3.6 The self-completion questionnaires were handed out by the survey
team, at random, in each section of the ground. During the four days
all sections of the ground were sampled at least twice but more often
three or four times. Surveyors were constantly on hand for any
questions. If a respondent had difficulty with any part of the
questionnaire, surveyors were instructed to guide them through the
relevant parts. Few spectators refused to complete the survey.
5.3.7 The quota was set at 200 completed questionnaires, each day, for five
days. However, after just one day it became evident that the Test was
unlikely to last five days, so the quota was adjusted accordingly. In
total 1060 completed questionnaires were returned, 205 on day one,
319 on day two, 288 on day three, and 248 on day four. The
questionnaire is illustrated in Appendix 1.
5.3.8 Table 5.3.1 illustrates the number of completed questionnaires that
were received from the respective types of non-Birmingham
respondents.
Table 5.3.1: Ist Test Match Questionnaire Responses
Category
Day
Overnight
Total
55
Visitors
Stays
Number
805
240
1045
0
15
15
805
258
1060
Spectators
Media
Total Sample Size
5.3.9 The questionnaire included a section for Birmingham residents to
complete in order to provide an indication of the percentage of the
spectators and officials from the city. Expenditure by these residents is
regarded as ‘dead-weight’ and not included in the economic impact
analysis. This was an invaluable exercise for this event where detailed
profile information from ticket sales was not available. From the sample
it is estimated that 8% of spectators were actually from Birmingham,
out of the total attendance of 72,693 people. The results reveal 77
percent of all visitors only visited the Test Match as day visitors. The
mean number of days for all visitors to the Test was 1.48 days; 1.24
days for day visitors, and 2.30 days for overnight stays.
Visitor profile
5.3.10 With little previous research into the composition and expenditure
levels of a Test Match crowd, this study provided an interesting insight
into the market attracted to Edgbaston for the First Test. The
questionnaire included a question to evaluate the percentage of the
sample, and hence the crowd, who were residents of Birmingham.
Their expenditure was not included, as it is not an additional net gain to
the local economy as arguably it was expenditure that would have
occurred in Birmingham with or without the Test Match. Table 5.3.2
indicates the numbers attending on the different days .
Table 5.3.2: Ist Test Match Attendance
Advance sales
Advance sales
public
members
Adults
U16s
Adults
U16s
Gate
Comps
Total
56
Day 1
12479
2235
3579
61
18
970
19342
Day 2
14875
110
3655
73
-
737
19450
Day 3
14250
619
3536
330
-
647
19382
Day 4
9402
720
2168
192
1082
955
14519
51006
3684
12938
656
1100
3309
72693
5.3.11 The Test Match drew spectators from all over the UK to Birmingham. A
number of repeat visits were made but the crowd was mainly
composed of one day attendees. On each day of the match an
average of 77% of the crowd were returning home after the end of the
day’s play. There were a total of 326 different places of
origin/residence identified from the 1060 questionnaires. The majority
(63%) had travelled less than an hour, but some had travelled over five
hours, to attend the match. There was a strong contingency of
spectators from Wales on each of the four days.
5.3.12 A number of different spectator groups were identifiable and analysis
of different expenditure patterns at different sections of the ground
provides a useful comparison. The largest of these groups was public
paying spectators, who are attending the Test Match as a member of a
group of people. The second largest group were members of
Warwickshire Cricket Club, and the third group consisted largely of
hospitality guests. In total, 3,000 hospitality places were available on
each of the first three days, and this is the main reason for the fall in
attendances between the first three days and the last day. The average
price per person for a hospitality package was £145 (including
entrance).
5.3.13 The paying public bought tickets ranging in price from £18 to £36.
While the average spectator visited for just over one day of the Test,
the average Australian spectator visited for four days, as part of an
extended trip in the UK or Europe. In total, 8 % of survey completions
were from Australian spectators, suggesting that approximately 5,000
57
Australians attended the Test over the four days. The mean number of
overnight stays for all spectators who stayed in Birmingham whilst
attending the Test was 2.68 nights.
5.3.14 Other recognisable groups attending the Test Match included the
media, former players, and entertainers (bands and parachute teams
for example). A large number of media representatives were at the
match. These ranged from broadcasters, to the written media, to
photographers and technical staff. This group had the longest
average stay in Birmingham, their mean number of nights in
Birmingham being 4.47, typically in higher rated accommodation. This
group also had a high level of daily expenditure.
5.3.15 Team expenditures were also high as a result of being in Birmingham
from the Tuesday before the Test Match began. However, individual
accounts of expenditure from team players were not forthcoming and
therefore gross team expenditures have been utilised.
5.3.16 The large majority of the crowd were male, with around approximately
5% of the crowd being female. A majority of the members of groups
were adults. The average size of groups was 5, although many groups
were as large as 40. Only 8% of visitors brought children under the
age of 16 with them to the Test Match.
58
Expenditure Patterns and Economic Impact
5.3.17 As expected the majority of the additional expenditure in Birmingham
made as a result of the Test Match was made by spectators to the
event. Their contribution to additional expenditure in Birmingham
amounted to £4.2 million over the four days. The vast majority of this,
£3.4 million, came from general public spectators and members of
Warwickshire County Cricket Club. Hospitality guests also made a
significant contribution to the impact with £0.8 million of expenditure.
Total additional visitor expenditure was £4.6 million. Additionally the
ECB spent £0.5 million in the Birmingham area on staging the Test
Match. Table 5.3.3 contains a summary of the expenditure made by
the various groups of visitors to Birmingham as a direct result of the
Test Match. The total additional expenditure of £5.1 million generated
by the event created an additional £1 million local income.
Table 5.3.3: Ist Test Match: Summary of Expenditures by visitors
Category
£
Visitors
Spectators
3,352,990
Hospitality
818,024
Media
95,479
Officials
277,552
Teams
27,180
Net Expenditure
4,571,225
5.3.18 The Test Match crowd had fairly high levels of expenditure, primarily on
food and drink. The average amount spent per day in Birmingham by
all visitors was £37.49 per day, with 37% of this being on food and
drink. The average expenditure by day visitors was £31.90 and
overnight staying visitors £60.03.
59
5.3.19 In general hospitality/media had the highest budgets for expenditure
whilst they were in Birmingham. Hospitality guests averaged £112.00
per day, while the media spent on average £106.80 per day.
5.3.20 The lowest level of daily expenditure was by officials at £28.97 per day.
Spectators on average spent £29.36 per day.
Bednights Generated and Jobs Created
5.3.21 A total of 48,394 additional bednights were generated the Birmingham
area as a direct result of the event. The city’s commercial
accommodation stock saw a direct benefit from the Test Match as 64%
of the additional nights generated were in hotels or guesthouses.
When secondary spend in hotels is taken into account the business
generated at these establishments is even greater. Table 5.3.4
outlines the number of additional bednights generated in each category
of accommodation.
Table 5.3.4: Ist Test Match: Summary of Bednights Generated in
Birmingham
Accommodation Category
Number of Bednights
Generated
Hotel
20,685
Guest House
10,095
Friends/Relatives
13,301
Other
4,312
Total
48,394
5.3.22 The majority, 74%, of the economic impact from the Test match of the
was seen in Birmingham’s Hotel, Catering and Retail Distribution
sectors.
60
5.3.23 82 additional full-time equivalent (FTE) job years were generated in
the local economy as a result of the Ist Cornhill Insurance Test Match
in Birmingham. In total 600-800 staff were working at Edgbaston during
each day of the Test Match in a variety of roles, the largest number
being in catering and hospitality. Table 5.3.5 gives a detail breakdown
of the staff and associated costs of stewards for the event.
Table 5.3.5: Costs and Numbers of Stewards
Type of
Number
Rate
Total cost
£
£
11
340
3,740
34
220
7,480
Basic (4 days)
268
192
51,456
Basic (3 days)
6
144
864
steward
All Club
Stewards
Supervisors
(4 days)
Responsibility
(4 days)
Sundry
3,126
66,666
Other
Expenses
Head steward, pre-match
1,356
preparations and practice
sessions
Lavatory attendants provided by
916
‘We are Cleaning Ltd’ - 4
operatives
Employer’s National Insurance
5,177
Pre match supervisors meeting
240
74,355
61
Costs of Staging the Event
5.3.24 Table 5.3.6 shows the three main categories of expenditure associated
with staging the event. The total cost of staging the 1st Cornhill Test
Match was just under £0.5 million.
Table 5.3.6: Expenditure: 1st Cornhill Test
EXPENDITURE
Authorised expenditure
Miscellaneous expenditure
Special authorised expenditure
1
2
3
£
%
5,495
196,315
288,751
490,561
11
40
59
5.3.25 The single largest item of expenditure (59%) was the item ‘Special
authorised expenditure’, which included the commission on ticket
sales to Warwickshire County Cricket Club out of the total revenue
from admissions of £1,351,994. Table 5.3.7 gives full details of all the
items of expenditure under this category.
62
Table 5.3.7: Special Authorised Expenditure
Special authorised expenditure
Luncheons and teas for official guests
£
8,000
Advance booking commission:
Ground authority
100,387
Commission on additional seat
income
171,312
Closed circuit television
3,136
Replay screen footings
5,000
Video equipment for third umpire
916
288,751
5.3.26 The second largest item of expenditure associated with the Test Match
was ‘Miscellaneous Expenditure’ as itemised in Table 5.3.8. Three
items stand out in this table. The largest item (38%) is ‘Attendants’
which is the expenditure on stewards in Table 5.3.5. The second
largest item (19%) is expenditure on the police. The third largest item
(14%), is expenditure on ground.
63
Table 5.3.8: Miscellaneous Expenditure
Miscellaneous Expenditure
Police
Attendants:
Gate and stand
Scoreboard
Dressing room
Press Box
Pavilion
Lavatory
£
£
36,606
69,476
587
925
205
2,246
916
Ground cleaning
Match balls
Walkie talkies
Public address announcer
Signposting
Printing
Advertising
Doctor’s attendance
St John’s Ambulance
Lunch and teas for cricketers
Guest lunches and teas for
selectors, umpires and cricketers
Audit fee
Credit card commission
Net bowlers
Sundries
74,355
26,958
250
786
737
707
10,182
7,416
2,000
2,300
6,272
8,837
900
14,956
2,855
198
196,315
5.3.27 The final and smallest item of expenditure is ‘Authorised Expenditure’
which is itemised in Table 5.3.9. This is the travelling and hotel
expenses of the cricketers, scorers, and physiotherapist.
64
Table 5.3.9: Authorised Expenditure
Authorised
Expenditure
Cricketers
Scorers
Physiotherapist
£
Travelling expenses
Hotel and incidental
expenses
Remuneration
Travelling expenses
Travelling expenses
Hotel and incidental
expenses
1,255
3,097
528
21
154
440
5,495
5.3.28 In addition to the direct staging costs of the Test Match there were
several other costs. The ECB spents around £10,000 on hotels.
There was a further £80,000 paid in players fees and £18,000 in prize
money.
5.3.29 Finally, every member of the permanent staff at Warwickshire County
Cricket Club spent some of their time on the Test Match, and this
commitment of staff time was in aggregate quite considerable.
However, it has not been possible to obtain a quantitative estimate of
the value of this time input.
Revenue Generated to the ECB
5.3.30 The overall Test Match surplus of £861,433 was payable to the
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The ECB distributes this
surplus equally to all First Class Counties. Forecast income from
broadcasting rights (£11,8000,000) and sponsorship (£4,550,000) is in
respect of the three One Day Internationals and the six Test Matches.
By assuming that three One Day Internationals equates with one Test
Match the ECB estimates that around £2.3 million of this income (ie
one seventh of the total) may be attributed to the Edgbaston Test.
65
5.3.31 Sales of all official merchandise was undertaken by a company named
‘Nice Man Europe’. The ECB received royalties on the sales
made. Total sales of merchandise at the 1st Test was £92,877.
Conclusion
5.3.32 This study of the 1st Cornhill Test Match between England and
Australia at Edgbaston in June 1997 was a considerable economic
success for all parties involved in its organisation. There was an
additional £5.1 million expenditure in the local economy of Birmingham
predominantly by visitors to the Test Match from outside Birmingham.
There was an overall Test Match surplus of around £0.9 million, with
and additional income of around £2.3 million from the sale of
broadcasting rights. Unlike some of the other events studied in this
project, there was no need for the local authority to underwrite the
costs of the event.
5.3.33 This economic success materialised despite the fact that the event
finished after four days rather than the scheduled five. Also, the
additional expenditure generated in the local economy is unusually
large given that the majority of visitors did not stay overnight in the
city. This is due to the unusually large average expenditure per
visitor of £37 in the Birmingham area, the majority of this inside the
ground.
5.3.34 The Test Match at Edgbaston is one of an annual cycle of major sports
events in Britain. Some of the other events studied in this project are
of the, one-off, World or European Championship level. This study
highlights benefits to the organisers in having the experience of
organising a similar event on an annual basis. It is much easier, for
instance, to predict levels of attendance and provide catering
arrangements to meet demand.
66
5.3.35 The Test Match staged in Birmingham was an extremely well managed
and efficiently organised major sport event. It was apparent that
Warwickshire County Cricket Club have enormous expertise in
managing this type of event. From car parking to toilet arrangements
the whole operation of accommodating nearly 20,000 spectators per
day was run extremely smoothly. For the club to move from the normal
County scene to a full scale major sports event requires considerable
expertise which Warwickshire appear demonstrated that they have.
67
5.4
THE IAAF GRAND PRIX 1
Background
5.4.1 On June 29th 1997, the first International Amateur Athletic Association
(IAAF) Grand Prix event of the 1997 season took place at the Don
Valley Stadium, Sheffield. Grand Prix 1 was presented by the Events
Unit of Sheffield City Council in association with the British Athletic
Federation (BAF) and was sponsored by Securicor. The programme
of events ran from 4pm until approximately 8.45pm with Channel 4
broadcasting a combination of highlights and live coverage between
6.30pm and 8pm. This was the first time that the Don Valley Stadium
had hosted an IAAF Grand Prix event.
5.4.2 The bidding process to be awarded a Grand Prix event starts with the
national governing body for athletics, in this case the British Athletic
Federation (BAF), applying to the international governing body, the
International Amateur Athletic Association (IAAF). Having been
awarded a Grand Prix in principle, BAF were required to propose a
suitable venue and invited tenders for the privilege of staging the
event. There were two contenders, Gateshead and Sheffield.
Sheffield submitted a tender document which offered four key benefits
to BAF:
a)
a financial contribution to defray some of BAF’s operating costs
for the event, most notably expenditure on athletes, marketing
and transport;
b)
the underwriting of the official programme costs;
c)
a percentage share of the ticket revenues;
d)
the provision of a suitable venue and an appropriate event
management infrastructure.
68
The Sheffield tender was considered to be superior and was
consequently awarded the contract for the event.
Methodological issues specific to event
5.4.3 The data collection for the methodology was relatively straight forward:
to conduct 1,000 self completion questionnaires and to obtain
additional data via interviews and desk research. However, in order to
achieve the data requirements in a scientific manner required
considerable planning and resources. The key challenge was that the
window of opportunity in which to conduct the interviews was initially
planned to be 90 minutes. This time frame was determined by the fact
that the doors would not be open to the public until 2.30pm and the
first event was scheduled to begin at 4pm. Previous experience at
athletics events (Welsh Championships 1997) had proved that it was
almost impossible to interview people once the events had started.
Furthermore, in anticipation of the grandstand area (c.10,000 covered
seats) of the Don Valley Stadium being sold out, it was felt that it would
be difficult for researchers to circulate once the crowd had taken their
places. Fortunately, the first event was a 10,000m race which in effect
extended the interviewing period from 90 minutes to 2 hours. As the
uncovered seating areas were not sold out, it was possible for the
research team to conduct randomly selected interviews in this area
(15,000 seats) by simply sitting next to members of the public and
asking them to complete questionnaires whilst the 10,000m event was
in progress.
5.4.4 A team of 23 researchers were recruited for the quantitative data
collection exercise. The rationale for the size of the team can be
appreciated by the requirement to achieve the requisite number of
interviews in a relatively short period of time. Although the number of
researchers may appear to be high, the fact that the event took place
69
in Sheffield meant that it was possible to make use of a large team
without incurring additional costs on travel and accommodation.
5.4.5 In order to ensure that the sampling would be random and therefore
representative of the whole crowd, the Don Valley Stadium ground
plan was used to divide the stadium into discrete areas. A specified
number of researchers was then allocated to a given seating block and
a given quota of questionnaires set as a target for each area of the
stadium. These measures and the sampling frame are best
represented in tabular from and are shown in Table 5.4.1.
70
Table 5.4.1: Sampling frame and quotas
Main Stand Block
Questionnaires
Open Blocks
Questionnaires
1
1-60
11
1021-1035
1
61-120
12
1036-1050
2
121-180
13,14
1051-1065
2
181-240
15,16
1066-1080
3
241-300
17,18
1081-1095
3
301-360
18,19
1096-1110
4
Do Not Survey
4
Do Not Survey
5
361-420
20,21
1111-1125
5
421-480
22,23
1126-1140
6
481-540
24,25
1141-1155
6
541-600
26,27
1156-1170
7
601-660
28,29
1171-1185
7
661-720
30,31
1186-1200
8,9,10
721-780
32,33
1201-1215
8,9,10
781-840
34,35
1216-1230
8,9,10
841-900
36
1231-1245
39,40,41
901-960
37
1245-1260
39,40,41
961-1020
38
1261-1275
5.4.6 Table 5.4.1 shows how seventeen researchers were allocated to
sample the spectators. Each researcher had a responsibility to
conduct 60 interviews in the grandstand area before proceeding to the
uncovered area and conducting 15 further interviews in the uncovered
block allocated to them. Each questionnaire was numbered so that
every questionnaire could be traced to a specified seating block within
the stadium. The target of 17 researchers conducting 75 interviews
would have created a total of 1275 completed questionnaires. This
figure was deliberately set above the contracted figure of 1,000 in case
71
of any unforeseen problems. In practice a total of 1,268 usable
questionnaires were returned.
5.4.7 By using different series of numbers for the crowd, officials and the
media it was also possible to have an additional check on respondent
type by questionnaire number (eg any questionnaire between 1 and
1275 could not logically be an official or media representative as the
interview had been conducted in the spectators’ area). Equally a
questionnaire with the number 3000 or more could not be a member of
the crowd as the interview must have taken place in the officials’ room
(see Table 5.4.1). This proved to be a worthwhile measure as 58
respondents from the 1268 spectators described themselves as
“athletes”. They may well have been athletes in the sense that they
were members of athletics clubs, but in the context of this study they
were clearly spectators and were recorded as such. The relatively high
number of spectators describing themselves as athletes, probably
provides further evidence of the success of marketing the event to
athletics clubs. The athletes themselves had been interviewed in their
hotels.
5.4.8 By negotiation with the Meeting Manager, a researcher was granted
permission to conduct interviews in the officials’ room. Questionnaires
were distributed as officials reported in and submitted their expenses
claims. This led to a near population survey of officials and is
indicative of the overall level of co-operation granted to the research
team. With the permission of the BAF press officer, a researcher was
given access to the press room and this too led to a near population
survey of media representatives.
5.4.9 Interviews with the athletes proved problematic largely because of:
language problems; a ‘rival’ monitoring questionnaire being
implemented by IAAF; and the fact that the BAF were paying for hotel
and food bills and thus the athletes did not know details of the key data
72
required. Some questionnaires (21) were completed by athletes which
gave an indication of how much they spent in and around Sheffield.
However, the main economic impact of their visits, ie hotel
expenditure, was collected via an interview with the BAF.
5.4.10 The actual number of responses by respondent type are shown in
Table 5.4.2. Table 5.4.2 also shows the percentage of responses
received from Sheffield residents which were subsequently filtered out
so as to exclude ‘dead-weight’ expenditure.
Table 5.4.2: Sample size by respondent type and ratio of
Sheffield/Non-Sheffield respondents
Respondent Type
Questionnaires
Sheffield
Non-Sheffield
Non
Respondents
Respondents
Sheffield
Percentage
Spectators
1268
334
934
74%
Officials/Coaches
69
5
64
93%
Media *
59
5
54
92%
Athletes/BAF**
21
0
21
100%
1417
344
1073
Total
* Approximately 50 Channel 4 television crew were present at the
event but were not interviewed. Their expenditure is picked up in
organisational spend for Channel 4.
** Approximately 40 BAF staff and officials were present at the event. As
hotel bills were being settled by BAF on behalf of the athletes and the BAF
officials, the expenditure for these two groups is aggregated.
5.4.11 Table 5.4.2 shows that the final sample size was 1417 questionnaires
and that in the spectators category, 74% of respondents were not from
Sheffield, whilst for all other groups almost all respondents were from
outside the Sheffield area. As all four groups are discrete and not
73
strictly comparable, the database was filtered into four sub samples
reflecting the four respondent types and each database was analysed
in isolation.
5
Visitor profile
5.4.12 The catchment area, for the event, can be examined by the response
to the question “where do you live?” and the results of this are shown
in Table 5.4.3 which shows that 76% of the overall sample came from
Sheffield, Yorkshire or the North. This suggests that the event was
one with a predominantly local, sub- regional and regional catchment
area.
Table 5.4.3: Where respondents live
Where do you live?
Percentage
Sheffield
26%
Yorkshire
26%
North
23%
Midlands
10%
South
10%
Other UK
4%
Other
<1%
Total
100%
5.4.13 The vast majority of the crowd who were non-Sheffield residents came
with other people (96%) and thus only 4% of the crowd attended on
their own. It is possible to examine the distribution of party sizes to
see a pattern of how people attended the event. The results of this
distribution are shown in Table 5.4.4.
Table 5.4.4: Distribution of number of people in party
74
Party size
Percentage
Cumulative
4%
4%
2 people
26%
30%
3 people
27%
57%
4 people
20%
77%
5 or 6 people
8%
85%
7 to 20 people
4%
89%
11%
100%
Attending alone
45 or more people
Total
100%
5.4.4 Table 5.4.4 shows that 77% of the non-Sheffield crowd were either
alone, or in a party of 4 or less. The 11% of people who came in
groups of 45 or more points to a degree of success in attracting large
parties to the event. Children under 16 were twice as likely to have
come in groups of 10 or more than adults, as the relevant percentages
for each group are 21% and 10% respectively.
75
Table 5.4.5: Locations in which non-Sheffield groups stayed on
the night of 29th June 1997
Town or City Staying
Spectators
Officials
Media
Athletes/BAF
Sheffield
5%
30%
24%
66%
Elsewhere
95%
70%
76%
34%
Total
100%
100%
100%
100%
in Tonight?
5.4.15 Table 5.4.5 shows that for the spectators, officials and media, only a
minority of respondents stayed in Sheffield with the relatively low
numbers of officials and media being more likely to stay in Sheffield
than the spectators. The group with the highest proportion staying
overnight in Sheffield was athletes/ BAF, with 66% spending at least
one night in Sheffield.
Expenditure Patterns and Economic Impact
5.4.16 Having established the number of people staying overnight in
Sheffield, and by using the data collected on average length of stay
and amount paid per night, it is possible to calculate an estimated
number of commercial bed-nights generated and the revenue
attributable to this level of activity. The results of this are shown in
Table 5.4.6. The shows that the revenue generated in commercial
accommodation (predominantly hotels) by Grand Prix 1 was nearly
£32,000 of which 72% was attributable to the athletes and BAF
officials staying in Sheffield or its immediate surroundings.
76
Table 5.4.6: Revenue generated in commercial accommodation in
Sheffield by Grand Prix 1
Commercial Revenue
Spectators
Officials
People staying commercially
154
15
Average duration in nights
1.3
Commercial bed-nights
Media
Athletes/BAF
Total
10
190
369
1.5
1.8
2.4
1.9
200
23
18
456
697
Average cost per night
£34.2
£30.5
£76.2
£50.0
Revenue generated
£6,840
£702
£1,372
£22,800
£31,714
22%
2%
4%
72%
100%
Estimates
generated
Percentage of total
5.4.15 The majority of economic impact studies conducted on sporting events
consistently show that those who stay overnight typically have higher
levels of secondary spending than those who are day visitors. Table
5.4.7 shows the secondary spending of overnight visitors in Sheffield to
have been worth just over £19,000. The athletes and BAF officials
generated the most secondary expenditure in absolute terms, ie 48%
of the total, closely followed by spectators at 44% of the total.
Expenditure by officials was relatively low as many of them were
volunteers and were being paid expenses for their involvement in the
event. Food was also provided for officials in the officials’ rest room.
Consequently officials’ direct personal expenditure was low and the
expenses paid to them have been included in the organisational spend
estimates. The highest expenditure in relative terms at £57.20 per
head was incurred by the media. Unlike the volunteer officials, the
media were carrying out their main employment and received
expenses and per diems for working away from their normal places of
work. It is therefore reasonable to expect that the media as a group
will have relatively high levels of secondary spending at sports events.
77
Clearly, there is a commercial advantage to be gained by securing high
numbers of media representatives attending major sporting events.
Table 5.4.7: Secondary spending in Sheffield by Grand Prix 1 overnight
visitors
Secondary Spending Estimates
Spectators
Officials
Media
Athletes/BAF
Commercial overnight visitors
154
15
10
190
Average duration in nights
1.3
1.5
1.8
2.4
Food & Drink
£14.95
£9.67
£44.70
Entertainment
£3.71
£0.00
£1.00
Travel
£3.53
£6.93
£10.00
Programmes & Merchandise
£5.16
£0.20
£0.00
Shopping & Souvenirs
£9.62
£6.00
£0.00
Other (Parking, Petrol etc.)
£4.67
£5.60
£1.50
Total
£41.64
£28.40
£57.20
£20.00
Secondary Spend
£8,328
£639
£1,030
£9,120
Cumulative Total
£8,328
£8,967
£9,997
£19,117
44%
3%
5%
48%
Expenditure per head on:
Percentage of Total
£20.00
5.4.17 Whilst overnight visitors typically spend more than day visitors in
relative terms, there are inevitably much greater numbers of day
visitors who tend to return a higher absolute amount of secondary
expenditure. In this case, taking the crowd as an example, there were
an estimated 277 people who stayed overnight and approximately
10,773 day visitors. The secondary spending levels of all day visitors
is shown in Table 5.4.6.
Table 5.4.8: Secondary spending in Sheffield by Grand Prix 1 day
visitors
78
Secondary Spending Estimates
Spectators
Officials
Media
Athletes/BA
F
Number of Day Visitors
10,773
45
41
96
Food & Drink
£2.73
£2.25
£24.63
Entertainment
£0.61
£0.15
£0.56
Travel
£1.85
£2.36
£6.47
Programmes & Merchandise
£1.60
£0.45
£2.77
Shopping & Souvenirs
£1.37
£2.45
£0.94
Other (Parking, Petrol etc.)
£0.86
£1.21
£3.05
Total
£9.02
£8.87
£38.42
£10.00
Secondary Spend
£97,172
£399
£1,575
£960
Cumulative Total
£97,172
£97,571
£99,14
£100,106
Expenditure per head on:
£10.00
6
Percentage of Total
97%
<1%
1.5%
1%
5.4.18 Table 5.4.8 shows the total secondary spending of day visitors to
Grand Prix 1 to be approximately £100,000 of which 97% is
attributable to spectators. The average expenditure of £9.02 per head
was relatively low compared to findings at other events. Two possible
observations may contribute to an understanding of why secondary
spending was not particularly high. First, a large number of spectators
had brought food and drink into the stadium with them. Second, there
was resistance to some of the concessionaires’ pricing in the
uncovered areas. In particular the sales of alcohol were low with
considerable resistance to prices of £2 per pint of beer.
5.4.19 To see the full economic impact of Grand Prix 1, the results of Tables
5.4.6, 5.4.7 and 5.4.8 have been aggregated to provide a concise
analysis of the relevant data. This is shown in Table 5.4.9. Table
5.4.9 illustrates the economic impact of Grand Prix 1 by spectators,
officials, media personnel and athletes to have been £150,937 of
79
which 21% is attributable to commercial accommodation by overnight
visitors; 13% is attributable to secondary spending other than on
accommodation in Sheffield by the overnight visitors; and the
remaining 66% is attributable to secondary spending by day visitors.
These figures exclude organisational spend in Sheffield and its
surroundings by BAF, the event’s sponsor Securicor and the television
crew of Channel 4, which is considered below.
80
Table 5.4.9: Summary of additional spending attributable of Grand Prix 1
by group
Spending
Spectators
Officials
Media
Athletes/BAF
Totals
%
A. Accommodation
£6,840
£702
£1,372
£22,800
£31,714
21%
B. Secondary
£8,328
£639
£1,030
£9,120
£19,117
13%
£15,168
£1,341
£2,402
£31,920
£50,831
34%
£97,172
£399
£1,575
£960
£100,106
66%
£112,340
£1,740
£3,977
£32,880
£150,937
100%
Estimates
spend by overnight
visitors to Sheffield
C. Sub total
overnight visitors
i.e. (A+B)
D. Secondary
spend by day
visitors to Sheffield
E. Overnight &
day visitors’
spend in Sheffield
(C+D)
5.4.20 The majority of organisational spend by the BAF in Sheffield was in the
estimates of expenditure on accommodation by athletes staying in
local hotels and this is estimated at £22,800. However in addition to
this sum, BAF also incurred further expenditure in Sheffield. Most
notably the Swallow Hotel, Nether Edge, was the headquarters for the
event’s administration and was also the official hotel for the sponsors,
Securicor. The tariff secured by BAF for half board was £50 per
person per night. However, additional expenditure above the basic
tariff was incurred on entertainment, beverages, telephones and other
81
hotel consumables. The amount spent above the £22,800 already
identified was estimated by BAF to be approximately £6,000.
5.4.21 Securicor, as sponsors of Grand Prix 1, exploited their financial
commitment to the event with a complementary programme of
corporate hospitality at various levels. Premium guests were
entertained with an overnight stay in the official hotel on the night of
Saturday 28th June and enjoyed the hospitality of the Securicor
marquee adjacent to the Don Valley Stadium. In addition to the
premium guests, other guests and company employees were provided
with complimentary tickets in Block 4 of the grandstand area of the
Don Valley Stadium. The additional expenditure incurred by Securicor
on hotels and stadium hospitality is commercially sensitive and
attempts to obtain estimates from the sponsors themselves have been
met with polite refusals. However it is known that Securicor used
caterers with whom they were familiar from outside the Sheffield area
to provide catering in their marquee. Hospitality catering in the stadium
for approximately 550 people was provided at an estimated cost of £20
per head. The contractor for this provision was Catering for Sheffield
Ltd. Linked with the marquee hire and hotel accommodation it is
proposed to use a nominal figure of £15,000 as the additional spend
made by Securicor in Sheffield on corporate hospitality and associated
activities.
5.4.22 An estimated 50 television crew personnel were accommodated in
Sheffield for a maximum of two nights on the nights of 28th and 29th
June 1997. As this group were working during the sampling period, it
was not possible to interview them. It was assumed that the television
crews secured a hotel deal similar to that of BAF (£50 per night half
board) and that all 50 crew members stayed locally for two nights. This
gives an estimated additional organisational expenditure of £5,000 and
no further expenditure is attributed to this group.
82
5.4.23 Using the results of Table 5.4.7 and the estimates of £6,000 (BAF),
£15,000 (Securicor) and £5,000 (Channel 4), as additional
organisational spend in Sheffield, it is possible to arrive at a final total
of additional spending in Sheffield as a result of staging Grand Prix 1,
in Sheffield. This is shown in Table 5.4.10. The table reveals a total
expenditure of nearly £177,000 of which 86% is attributable to visitors
and 14% is attributable to organisational expenditure. It is clear that
certain items of expenditure would have had high leakage rates. The
BAF book stall was Surrey based and another stall was occupied by
Bourne Sports which is Stoke-on-Trent based. On the other hand, a
large proportion of expenditure was on accommodation in Sheffield
hotels, where leakage rates would be much smaller. The overall
additional expenditure in Sheffield of £176,937 generated an additional
local income of £35,387, or the equivalent of an additional 3 full-time
equivalent job years to local employment.
83
Table 5.4.10: Economic impact of Grand Prix 1 summary table
Spending Estimates
Totals
%
A. Accommodation
£31,714
18%
B. Secondary spend by overnight visitors to
£19,117
11%
£50,831
29%
£100,106
57%
£150,937
86%
£6,000
3%
£15,000
8%
£5,000
3%
Sheffield
C. Sub total overnight visitors i.e. (A+B)
D. Secondary spend by day visitors to
Sheffield
E. Overnight & day visitors’ spend in
Sheffield (C+D)
F. BAF organisational spend
G. Securicor organisational spend
H. Channel 4/television crew organisational
spend
I. Total spend in Sheffield attributable to
£176,937
100%
event
Costs of staging the event
5.4.24 Most of the cost of staging the event fell on Sheffield City Council.
Their total expenditure was £67,000 and their total income from the
event was £27,500 leaving a financial loss of £39,500. The £67,000
expenditure has not been itemised but it is known that the major items
of expenditure are marketing expenditure, costs of hotel
accommodation for the athletes, and costs of stewards for the event.
Expenditure on the event by BAF on appearance money for athletes
was not revealed but this is unlikely to affect the economic impact of
the event in Sheffield. The true resource costs of staging the event,
however, are underestimated by the financial costs incurred. This is
because the time expended by employees of Sheffield Events Unit and
84
the time of volunteers, both in the Events Unit and at Don Valley
Stadium, is not recorded in these costs.
5.4.25 In addition to the loss of £39,500 reported by the Events Unit as being
directly attributable to the event, there were also some ‘hidden’ costs
which should also be considered in conjunction with the operating loss.
These hidden costs fall into three broad areas: first, the staffing costs
of the Events Unit personnel involved in bidding for, planning and
staging the event; second, the economic value of the volunteer time
contributed to the event; and, third, the costs incurred on office
expenses by the Events Unit staff which were attributable to the event
but not reported elsewhere.
5.4.26 A detailed analysis of the staff costs incurred by the Events Unit in
staging IAAF Grand Prix 1 is shown in Table 5.4.11 below.
Table 5.4.11: Events Unit Staff Costs
Staff
Hours
Cost per
Total
hour
Staff 1
102
£16.53
£1,696
Staff 2
752
£11.43
£8,595
Staff 3
404
£10.40
£4,202
Staff 4
94
£9.35
£879
Staff 5
192
£7.80
£1,498
Totals
1,544
£16,870
Simply, on the basis of assuming a 37 hour week, 42 person weeks of
work were used by the Events Unit. With the average wage nationally
being approximately £16,000, the equivalent of at least one person
year was incurred on the event.
5.4.27 200 volunteers (officials, judges, starters, etc) were employed at Don
Valley stadium for an average of six hours on the day of the event.
The value of these 1200 hours of volunteer time is around £10,000,
85
using the method used by LIRC in their valuation of sports volunteers
time for the Sports Council in 1996.
5.4.28 In addition to the labour costs incurred by the Events Unit, there were
also direct and indirect office costs attributable to the event. Direct
office costs include the accreditation system, stationery for publicity,
signage, and photocopying. These direct costs are estimated as being
£300. Additionally, there were also indirect costs incurred such as
office rent, uniform business rates and utility costs. These have been
estimated on the basis of how much time was devoted to the event as
a function of the annual premises costs and are quantified as being
£1,700. Thus the final amount incurred by the Events Unit on office
costs not reported elsewhere is estimated as being approximately
£2,000.
5.4.29 In addition to the operating loss of £39,500, hidden costs itemised
above total around £30,000.
Conclusions
5.4.30 For a one-day event, the IAAF Grand Prix 1 athletics from Sheffield
generated a considerable impact, with £177,000 additional expenditure
in the local economy of Sheffield as a direct result of the event.
5.4.31 Forecasts of attendances at close to capacity, and certainly above
20,000, proved to be over optimistic, despite considerable expenditure
in marketing the event. The attendance of over 16,000 spectators,
however, was the highest at any athletics event held in the UK in 1997.
5.4.32 Sheffield City Council made an operating loss of £39,500 on staging
the event, illustrating the normal pattern for many major sporting
events. That is, the event itself often makes an operating loss but this
is the cost of generating the additional economic activity in the local
economy.
86
5.4.33 In addition to the direct economic benefit to Sheffield from staging the
event, there was also a marketing benefit to the city from the Channel
4 coverage of the event.
87
5.5
THE EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Background
5.5.1 The 24th European Junior Swimming and Diving Championships were
held in Glasgow and Edinburgh between 31st July 1997 and 3rd
August 1997. The event was managed by the Scottish Amateur
Swimming Association (Scottish ASA) and was presented in
conjunction with the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. The primary
research for this report focuses on the economic impact of the
European Junior Swimming Championships (EJSC) which took place
solely in Glasgow. On the basis of the Glasgow findings, an estimate
is made of the economic impact of the European Diving
Championships which took place simultaneously in Edinburgh.
5.5.2 1997 was the thirtieth anniversary of the first European Junior
Swimming and Diving Championships held in 1967. During this
period, eight championships were held biannually between 1967 and
1981. Since 1982 the event has been held annually, with 1997 being
the sixteenth consecutive year in which the event has been held and
the twenty-fourth championships in total. Great Britain has hosted the
championships four times, with the three previous events all being held
in Leeds.
5.5.3 The 1997 championships were attended by 39 of the 50 nations
affiliated to the European governing body, Ligue Europeenne de
Natation (LEN), which was the highest number of nations ever
attending the event. These 39 nations sent a total of 479 competitors
who were accompanied by a further 243 team management,
coaching
and medical personnel. Monaco sent one diver and his
coach which was the smallest delegation. Great Britain had the largest
delegation with a total party size of 52.
88
5.5.4 The European Junior Swimming Championships were held in
Glasgow’s Tollcross Park Leisure Centre which was opened in
December 1996 and has an explicit role in contributing to economic
regeneration in the east end of Glasgow. The venue hosted a FINA
Grand Prix event in January 1997 and the European Junior Swimming
Championships was the second major event to be staged at Tollcross
Park in the centre’s short history.
5.5.5 A unique feature of the championships was that it was one of the first
events in the United Kingdom to receive financial assistance from the
National Lottery. The Scottish Sports Council’s Lottery Sports Fund,
under the Major Events Programme, provides revenue funding for
major international sporting events and is a significant
government-approved departure from the original Department of
National Heritage Policy Directions for the use of Lottery funds.
5.5.6 The 24th European Junior Swimming and Diving Championships were
secured by the Great Britain governing body, the Amateur Swimming
Federation of Great Britain (ASFGB). In the face of competition from
other European countries, ASFGB were awarded the contract to stage
the championships by the European governing body (LEN). The main
criteria upon which bids were assessed were the quality of the
facilities, plus the financial arrangements in place in order to stage the
event.
5.5.7 With ASFGB having secured the right to stage the championships in
principle, a secondary, internal, bidding process was gone through in
order to determine the city, or cities, within Great Britain which should
be the venue for the event. In practice there were two competitors,
Leeds and the joint Glasgow-Edinburgh bid. Again the criteria by
which cities were judged were facilities and financial arrangements.
89
5.5.8 Although Leeds had staged the event on the three previous occasions
in which Great Britain had been awarded the championships, there is
evidence that, on both criteria, the Glasgow-Edinburgh bid was
superior. The facilities in Leeds are relatively old and beginning to
appear dated despite limited refurbishment in 1991. Tollcross Leisure
Centre in Glasgow, by contrast, is a recently opened (December 1996),
purpose built facility which is characterised by state of the art facilities.
Equally, the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh has hosted two
Commonwealth Games and is in a good state of repair.
5.5.9 The financial arrangements for a major event in Glasgow and
Edinburgh were favourable and emphasise the respective city councils’
commitment to sports development. The City of Glasgow invested
approximately £80,000 in the event in the from of marketing support,
staff time, venue hire and transport arrangements. This was a clear
and further demonstration of Glasgow’s intent to use sport as a vehicle
for regeneration having already invested £300,000 in the World
Badminton Championships in May 1997.
5.5.10 In addition to the £80,000 support in kind from Glasgow City Council,
the event was underwritten by a guarantee against loss by the Scottish
Sports Council via its Major Events Programme strand of the Lottery
Sports Fund. The total sum guaranteed was a maximum of £47,000 of
which the amount actually required was only £40,000. This was
funding which would not have been available for English or Welsh
cities who may have wished to bid for the event, as their Major Event
Programmes were not in operation.
5.5.11 The organisation of the event was a function of both professional input
via the paid staff of the Scottish Amateur Swimming Association and
volunteer input from honorary committees (swimming and diving) and
an extensive supporting network of volunteers. For both groups, the
90
championships proved to be a significant test of their event
management skills.
Methodological issues specific to the event
5.5.12 The primary research was conducted in Glasgow by a team of three.
Following an afternoon of familiarisation with the venue and the key
personnel, the days of 1st-3rd August 1997 were spent surveying all
visitors to Glasgow who were attending the event. The target sample
size was 500, but similar to the World Junior Boxing Championships
held earlier in the year in Birmingham, the number of responses
obtained was less than expected. A total of 233 questionnaires were
completed. One of these was completed on behalf of the Great Britain
team based in East Kilbride and was a summary of the expenditure of
48 people. This Great Britain team questionnaire in effect increased
the number of people surveyed from 233 to 279. The key reasons that
the number of responses were below target are discussed below.
5.5.13 In retrospect it would have been more effective to interview the
competitors and team management prior to the event rather than
during it. Although the event lasted four days, the average number of
nights spent in Glasgow was 6.58 with the vast majority of all teams
arriving at least two days before the start of the event. The ideal
opportunity to secure as high a response rate as possible would have
been to survey people as they were accredited. Alternatively, it would
have been possible to promote the research to the team managers at
their full meeting the day before the event started, on the 30th July
1997. Once the event had started it was both difficult and
inappropriate to interview competitors and team managers. Most
competitors were committed to a regimented routine of training,
warming up and taking part in heats in the mornings, resting in the
afternoons and competing in finals in the late afternoons and evenings.
Those not taking part in finals were invariably supporting their team
91
mates. Given the importance of rest to competitors, it was agreed that
interviewing competitors at their accommodation was not appropriate.
Even when access to competitors was secured, it was not possible to
interview them all because there were only a limited number of suitably
translated questionnaires. With teams from 39 countries and an
average party size of 19, it was not economically viable to have low
numbers of questionnaires translated into the many different
languages being spoken at the event. Translated questionnaires from
Euro ’96 were edited in French, German and Spanish and proved
helpful in obtaining responses from Western European competitors.
However, with high numbers of competitors from former Eastern Bloc
countries, particularly Russia (39), Poland, (37), Ukraine (17) and
Romania (16), who were unable to complete questionnaires, some of
the results are inevitably biased in favour of those who were English,
French, German or Spanish speakers. Had the research been
conducted on teams in a “captive group” situation prior to the event, it
would have been possible for an English speaking team manager or
official to translate the questionnaire verbally to the rest of the group,
who could then have entered their responses onto the English version
of the questionnaire. Including the team response made on behalf of
Great Britain (48), the number of competitors and team managers
interviewed was 137 out of the 582 based in Glasgow. As will be
explained in the results section, the vast majority of the additional
expenditure in Glasgow was on accommodation, for which exact
records were made available to the research team by the Scottish
ASA. Therefore, despite the apparent bias caused by sampling, the
effect on the results is not severe as the accommodation data is highly
accurate.
5.5.14 The research team enjoyed considerable success interviewing
technical officials and the media who comprised 72 and 6 of the total
responses respectively. These two sub-samples are considered to be
92
population surveys of each group. The total number of responses
gained from all respondent types is shown in Table 5.5.1.
Table 5.5.1: Responses by sample type
Respondent Type
Number
Percentage
137
49%
Technical officials
72
26%
Spectators
65
23%
5
2%
279
100%
Competitors and team management
Media
Total
5.5.15 The attendance by spectators for both the swimming in Glasgow and
diving in Edinburgh was reported by the Scottish ASA as being 990.
The number of the spectators interviewed in Glasgow over three days
was 65 which superficially represents a considerable disparity with the
aggregate total of 990. However there are some possible explanations
which can help to reconcile the difference between the two figures.
First, the 990 refers to both Edinburgh and Glasgow, whereas the
research team’s figure relates to Glasgow only. Second, the research
team surveyed on only three out of the four days of the event, missing
the opening day. Third, the figure of 990 refers to “attendances” whilst
the 65 people interviewed were “attenders”. The majority of the 65
spectators interviewed were the parents or the family of competitors
and were attending a number of days at the event. Subsequent
analysis of the spectators sub-sample, reveals that the average
number of days of attendance was 3.8, which in turn means that the 65
attenders interviewed actually accounted for 247 attendances. The 65
people interviewed refer to adults interviewed, ie people aged 16 and
over. There were more than 65 people present as some adults were
accompanied by children but they were not asked to complete
questionnaires. However, it is likely that any economic activity
93
attributable to such children will be included in the responses of their
parents or guardians
5.5.16 There were no questionnaires completed by spectators who were from
Glasgow and who would have been filtered out subsequently as deadweight expenditure once they had completed the opening three
questions on the questionnaire. As will be demonstrated in the results
section, the European Junior Swimming Championships was clearly
characterised by having a competitor-driven economic impact, with the
competitors and team management accounting for 80% of the total net
expenditure in Glasgow. It is clear that even by taking the 990
attendances and dividing them over 8 days of competition (4 in each
city) and two sessions per day, it can be concluded that the event did
not attract significant public support. Consequently the analysis
focuses primarily on the economic impact of the competitors, team
managers and technical officials. The contributions of the spectators
and the media can be regarded as a welcome but secondary benefit to
the overall economic impact of the event.
Visitor profile
5.5.17 The number of competitors and team management based in Glasgow
for the European Junior Swimming Championships is shown in Table
5.5.2.
94
Table 5.5.2: Glasgow competitors and team management
numbers
No:
Nation
Number
Percentage
Cumulative
1
Great Britain
48
8.4%
8.4%
2
Germany
39
6.8%
15.2%
3
Russia
39
6.8%
22.1%
4
Poland
37
6.5%
28.5%
5
France
35
6.1%
34.7%
6
Italy
35
6.1%
40.8%
7
Sweden
28
4.9%
45.7%
8
Spain
24
4.2%
49.9%
9
Denmark
19
3.3%
53.2%
10
Greece
19
3.3%
56.6%
11
Netherlands
19
3.3%
59.9%
12
Hungary
17
3.0%
62.9%
13
Ukraine
17
3.0%
65.8%
14
Belgium
16
2.8%
68.7%
15
Romania
16
2.8%
71.5%
16
Switzerland
14
2.5%
73.9%
17
Israel
13
2.3%
76.2%
18
Czech
12
2.1%
78.3%
Republic
19
Portugal
12
2.1%
80.4%
20
Lithuania
10
1.8%
82.1%
21
Turkey
10
1.8%
83.9%
22
Ireland
9
1.6%
85.5%
23
Luxembourg
9
1.6%
87.0%
24
Belarus
8
1.4%
88.4%
25
Finland
8
1.4%
89.8%
26
Slovenia
8
1.4%
91.2%
27
Austria
7
1.2%
92.5%
28
Norway
7
1.2%
93.7%
95
29
Slovakia
6
1.1%
94.7%
30
Yugoslavia
6
1.1%
95.8%
31
Croatia
5
0.9%
96.7%
32
Macedonia
5
0.9%
97.5%
33
Bulgaria
3
0.5%
98.1%
34
Cyprus
3
0.5%
98.6%
35
Georgia
3
0.5%
99.1%
36
Iceland
3
0.5%
99.6%
37
Faeroe
2
0.4%
100.0%
571
100.0%
Islands
Total
The total of 571 accredited competitors and their management
represents 79% of the total number accredited to the event. This
suggests that the diving competition in Edinburgh with 21% of the
competitors and team management was a more low key event than the
swimming competition in Glasgow. It would therefore be expected that
the economic impact attributable to the event would be significantly
greater in Glasgow than in Edinburgh. It is also worth noting that the
distribution of team sizes was not normally distributed with the largest 8
of the 37 teams accounting for 50% of the total accreditations. The
significance of Table 5.5.2 is that when combined with the number of
nights spent in Glasgow and the cost per room per night, it is possible
to make a highly accurate estimate of the amount spent on
accommodation by the competitors and their team management.
Expenditure pattern and economic impact
5.5.18 The accommodation used by the overseas competitors and team
management was organised directly by the Scottish ASA and the
accommodation for the Great Britain team was organised by ASFGB.
Details provided by both of these bodies allow for an accurate
reconstruction of expenditure on accommodation. Two venues were
96
used for the overseas visitors, namely the Glasgow Thistle Hotel and
Strathclyde University, whilst the Great Britain team were based
outside Glasgow in the Stakis Hotel, East Kilbride. Each of these
venues is considered in turn to analyse the economic impact on them.
97
Table 5.5.3: Bed-nights and revenue generated at the Glasgow Thistle
Hotel
Numbe Federatio Singl Twins Triples People Nights Bed-nights Cost Revenu
r
n
es
£s
e £s
1
Denmark
3
5
2
19
7
133
48
6384
2
Switzerla
1
2
3
14
7
98
48
4704
4
17
6
102
48
4896
35
4.7*
164
48
7872
nd
3
Hungary
1
2
4
France
7
14
5
Italy
10
2
7
35
8
280
48
13440
6
Israel
1
0
4
13
6
78
48
3744
7
Netherlan
6
2
3
19
7
133
48
6384
9
6.7*
60
48
2880
ds
8
Ireland
3
3
9
Lithuania
0
2
2
10
5
50
48
2400
10
Luxembo
2
2
1
9
4.3*
39
48
1872
urg
11
Sweden
8
10
28
6
168
48
8064
12
Cyprus
1
1
3
5
15
48
720
13
Portugal
3
3
1
12
6
72
48
3456
14
Greece
3
2
4
19
6
114
48
5472
15
Germany
7
16
39
8.1*
314
48
15072
Totals
56
66
281
6.5
1820
48
£87,360
31
* Some teams have an average number of bed-nights which are not integers
e.g. France. This is because not all team members arrived and departed at
the same time. The figures quoted in Table 5.5.3 are a team average.
5.5.19 Table 5.5.3 shows that 281 people from 15 countries spent a total of
1,820 bed-nights at the Glasgow Thistle Hotel which in turn generated
a revenue of £87,360. The room rate was negotiated by the Scottish
ASA and included full board (three meals per day). The competitive
room rate secured was due to the amount of business on offer and
98
also the fact that there were relatively high levels of multiple
occupancy, with an average of 1.84 people in each of the 153 rooms
booked. The average stay was for 6.5 nights even though the event
lasted for four days. This is because most teams arrived early in order
to become familiar with the pool and also to give competitors plenty of
opportunity for rest. Furthermore, as the finals did not finish until late
evening on Sunday 3rd August, many teams stayed overnight and did
not travel to their respective countries until Monday 4th August. The
Glasgow Thistle Hotel was the greatest beneficiary from expenditure
on accommodation as it hosted 49% of the competitors and team
management and enjoyed 48% of the total number of competitor and
team management bed-nights. However, the fact that those staying at
the Glasgow Thistle Hotel were on a full board tariff meant that the
economic impact of the event was heavily concentrated on the hotel.
As will be shown when examining secondary expenditure by
competitors and team management on food and drink, the amounts
are very small and thus the event, in economic terms, would have
been an irrelevance to restaurants, cafes and bars in Glasgow. As
competitors and team management were the largest single visitor
group to Glasgow for the event, this is a significant finding when
examining the wider economic benefit of all visitor groups to the city.
99
Table 5.5.4: Bed-nights and revenue generated at Strathclyde University
No:
Federation
Rooms
Nights
Bed-nights
Cost per night (£s) Revenue
1
Austria
7
6
42
50
2100
2
Finland
8
5
40
50
2000
3
Slovakia
6
6
36
50
1800
4
Faeroe Islands
2
7
14
50
700
5
Iceland
3
7
21
50
1050
6
Poland
37
6
222
50
11100
7
Romania
16
7
112
50
5600
8
Slovenia
8
7
56
50
2800
9
Turkey
10
6
60
50
3000
10
Norway
7
6
42
50
2100
11
Spain
24
7
168
50
8400
12
Belgium
16
6
96
50
4800
13
Belarus
8
7
56
50
2800
14
Czech
12
6
72
50
3600
Republic
15
Bulgaria
3
5
15
50
750
16
Yugoslavia
6
7
42
50
2100
17
Croatia
5
6
30
50
1500
18
Ukraine
17
6.35
108
50
5398
19
Georgia
3
6
18
50
900
20
Russia
39
6
234
50
11700
21
Macedonia
5
7
35
50
1750
22
Belarus (D) *
5
1
5
50
250
23
Romania (D) *
6
1
6
50
300
253
6.05
1530
50
£ 76,498
Sub Totals
* (D) = diving teams who spent one night in Glasgow
100
5.5.20 The second largest provider of bed-nights in Glasgow for the event
was Strathclyde University and the level of economic activity at the
University is shown in Table 5.5.4. The table shows that 21 swimming
teams and two diving teams used Strathclyde University during the
event. The combined effect of the 253 visitors to the University was to
generate 1,530 bed-nights over an average stay of 6.05 nights. The
cost per night was £50 per person and thus the total revenue
generated was £76,498. It may seem unusual that the cost of staying
in university accommodation (£50) was marginally more expensive
than staying in a hotel (£48). However this can be explained by the
“products” being different. The university accommodation was in
single rooms of which 100 (mainly team management) were en-suite.
As was the case in the hotels, the tariff was for full board. Strathclyde
University provided 40% of the competitor and team management bednights in Glasgow and received 41% of the revenue attributable to this
group.
5.5.21 The Great Britain swimming team was based at the Stakis Hotel, East
Kilbride which is outside Glasgow but within what would generally be
regarded as the local economy. A total of 48 people each spent 10
nights in the hotel at a cost of £46 per person per night. This
generated a total of 480 bed-nights and a revenue of £22,080 for the
hotel. As at the Glasgow Thistle Hotel, it is likely that a competitive
room rate was provided in return for high room occupancy levels.
5.5.22 Table 5.5.5 shows a summary of the amount of accommodation used
in and around Glasgow by the competitors and team managers
attending the European Junior Swimming Championships.
101
Table 5.5.5: Competitors & team management accommodation
usage
Venue
Visitors
Bed-nights
Revenue
Glasgow Thistle Hotel
281
1,820
£87,360
Strathclyde University
253
1,530
£76,498
48
480
£22,080
582
3,830
£185,938
Stakis Hotel, East Kilbride
Totals
The key explanations for the considerable economic impact of the
competitors and team management are twofold: first, the tariffs were
for full board which has the effect of concentrating the economic
impact on the three venues used; and, second, the average length of
stay was for 6.58 nights for a competition which lasted four days. The
significance the expenditure on accommodation used by the
competitors and team management is that the net figure of £185,938
accounts for more than 70% of the total economic impact of the event.
5.5.23 In addition to expenditure on accommodation, competitors and team
management also made secondary expenditure in Glasgow on various
items. Table .5.5.6 reports the findings of the questionnaire.
102
Table 5.5.6: Secondary spend by competitors and team
management
Category
Spend per head (£s)
Days
Total Spend
(n=582)
Food and drink
2.53
6.58
9,689
Entertainment
0.13
6.58
498
Programmes &
0.38
6.58
1,455
Shopping & souvenirs
2.79
6.58
10,684
Travel
0.14
6.58
536
Other
0.22
6.58
843
Total
6.19
6.58
23,705
merchandise
At first glance, the figure of £6.19 expenditure per head per day may
seem surprisingly small. The competitors themselves spent on
average about £3.50 per day whilst the team managers spent about
£10, with £6.19 being the weighted average of both groups. There are
a number of explanations which may account for the apparent low level
of expenditure and these are suggested below:
a)
the full board tariffs in the accommodation meant that there was
little need for competitors and team managers to buy food or
drink, which is typically the second largest expenditure heading
after accommodation;
b)
the intense nature of the event would have meant that there was
little opportunity for competitors and team managers to have the
time or opportunity for shopping. The routine of training, resting
and competing would have given little time for anything else;
c)
at the venue itself there was no official merchandise available.
There was a stall at the venue selling swimwear and
accessories but nothing official;
103
d)
the nature of the competitors themselves (juniors) would have
meant that they were not economically active in their own right
and would have been dependent upon their own part-time
earnings or family contributions for spending money;
e)
travel was provided for competitors in Glasgow via buses
shuttling from the accommodation to the Tollcross Park Centre
and back. Consequently, there was little need to pay travelling
expenses within the city.
5.5.24 The combined total of the accommodation cost and secondary
expenditure of the competitors and team management was £209,643
which represents 81% of the total economic impact of the event.
5.5.25 As for many sporting events, the majority of the operational
management is conducted by volunteer officials receiving, at most,
expenses only. This event was no different and a total of 72 officials
were interviewed in Glasgow. The Scottish ASA report that there were
62 technical officials accredited to the event of which we estimate 50
were based in Glasgow and 12 in Edinburgh. The additional 22
interviews conducted in Glasgow were with visiting dignitaries from the
governing body, LEN, or alternatively, with participating nations. Some
(33) technical officials lived relatively close to Glasgow and commuted
to the event on a daily basis from home. The remaining 39 officials
stayed in Glasgow in commercial accommodation ranging from
Strathclyde University to the Marriott Hotel. For ease of comparison,
the technical officials and LEN delegates are divided into two subsamples: first, those 39 staying in Glasgow in commercial
accommodation; and, second, those 33 commuting to the event on a
daily basis.
104
5.5.26 A summary of the economic impact of the officials staying in Glasgow
is shown in Table 5.5.7 and is based on average stay in Glasgow of
5.66 nights. The Scottish ASA itself accommodated 23 officials at the
University of Strathclyde for an average of 4.61 nights which generated
an additional 106 bed-nights at the University and an additional income
of £5,300. The remaining data for those staying in locations other than
the University has been pieced together from the questionnaires and
qualitative research.
Table 5.5.7: Expenditure by officials staying in Glasgow
Category
Spend per head
Days
Total Spend
(£s)
(n=39)
Accommodation
56.86
4.66
10,334
Food and drink
14.36
4.66
2,611
Entertainment
13.20
4.66
2,399
Programmes &
0.71
4.66
130
14.40
4.66
2,617
Travel
1.99
4.66
362
Other
2.33
4.66
424
Total
103.86
4.66
18,876
merchandise
Shopping & souvenirs
Table 5.5.7 shows an average expenditure of £103.86 per official per
day and a total economic impact of £18,876. In relative terms this
compares very favourably with the expenditure made by competitors
and team management, probably reflecting the difference between
economically active professionals on expenses compared to
economically inactive juniors experiencing punitive exchange rates.
Those officials staying overnight in Glasgow (54%) accounted for 87%
of the total economic activity attributable to officials and LEN
delegates.
105
5.5.27 Table 5.5.8 shows the economic impact attributable to the 33 officials
(46%) who commuted to Glasgow daily and who contributed 13% of
the total economic impact attributable to officials.
Table 5.5.8: Expenditure by officials commuting to Glasgow from
home
Category
Spend per head
Days
Total Spend
(£s) per day
(n=33)
Food and drink
7.79
4.03
1,036
Entertainment
1.18
4.03
157
Programmes &
0.76
4.03
101
Shopping & souvenirs
5.42
4.03
721
Travel
2.06
4.03
274
Other
3.42
4.03
455
Total
20.63
4.03
2,744
merchandise
The difference in expenditure between officials staying in Glasgow and
those staying at home is over £83 per head per day which can be
attributed primarily to accommodation costs but also to the fact that
day visitors are likely to spend less money on food, entertainment and
shopping than those staying overnight.
5.5.28 The total spent in Glasgow by technical officials and LEN delegates is
estimated as being £21,620, of which accommodation (48%) and food
and drink (17%) comprised 65% of the total. In the context of the
event overall, expenditure by this group is estimated as being 8% of
the aggregate economic impact.
5.5.29 As indicated earlier, spectators contributed a relatively small amount to
the economic input of the event. This was mainly due to the small
number of visiting spectators. However, the average daily spend of
these visiting spectators was relatively high and the average length of
106
stay was 3.8 nights. Table 5.5.9 shows the economic impact
attributable to spectators to be £21,336, which in turn is 8% of the total
economic impact of the event in Glasgow. Predictably,
accommodation (58%) and food and drink (20%) account for the
majority of all spending by this group
Table 5.5.9: Expenditure by spectators
Category
Spend per head
Days
Total Spend
(£s)
Accommodation
49.75
3.80
12,288
Food and drink
17.45
3.80
4,310
Entertainment
1.51
3.80
373
Programmes &
4.15
3.80
1,025
Shopping & souvenirs
6.13
3.80
1,514
Travel
5.22
3.80
1,289
Other
2.17
3.80
536
Total
86.38
3.80
21,336
merchandise
5.5.30 A total of six media representatives were interviewed in Glasgow and
this is considered to be a population survey of the media attending the
event. Two of the media were from Great Britain with the remaining
four coming from Europe. All were staying in Glasgow in commercial
accommodation for an average of 4.67 nights. A full breakdown of
their economic impact on Glasgow is shown in Table 5.5.10.
107
Table 5.5.10: Expenditure by the media
Category
Spend per head (£s)
Days
Total Spend
(n=6)
Accommodation
64.58
4.67
1,810
Food and drink
28.75
4.67
806
Entertainment
34.00
4.67
953
Programmes &
9.00
4.67
252
36.67
4.67
1,027
Travel
0.67
4.67
19
Other
12.00
4.67
336
Total
185.67
4.67
5,202
merchandise
Shopping & souvenirs
5.5.31 As shown in previous studies, media representatives consistently
emerge as being high spenders when attending major sporting events.
The findings from the media attending the European Junior Swimming
Championships endorse this observation, with the media
representatives having the highest expenditure per head in all
categories, other than travel, and contributing on average £185.67 per
person per day. Whilst impressive in relative terms, the absolute
contribution of the media to this event was only 2% of the total
economic impact on Glasgow. Perhaps of greater concern is the fact
that what is described as the second most important event in the
swimming calendar attracted such little media attention.
5.5.32 The total additional visitor spend of £257,802 in Glasgow as a result of
the European Junior Swimming Championships generated £51,560 of
additional local income, or the equivalent of 4 full-time equivalent jobyears to local employment. adding in the organisational spend in
Glasgow of £40,000 raises this local income effect to £59,560, or the
equivalent of 5 full-time equivalent job-years. Table 5.5.11 gives a
breakdown of the contributions of the various groups of visitors to
economic impact.
108
Table 5.5.11: Summary of the economic impact on Glasgow of EJSC
Category
Comp/
Officials
Spectator
Media
Total
Team Man
Accommodation
% of
Total
185,938
10,334
12,288
1,810
210,370
82%
9,689
3,647
4,310
806
18,452
7%
498
2,556
373
953
4,380
2%
1,455
231
1,025
252
2,963
1%
10,684
3,338
1,514
1,027
16,563
6%
Travel
536
636
1,289
19
2,480
1%
Other
843
879
536
336
2,594
1%
Total
209,643
21,620
21,336
5,202
257,802
100%
81.3%
8.4%
8.3%
2.0%
100.0%
Food and drink
Entertainment
Programmes &
merchandise
Shopping &
souvenirs
% of Total
The table shows that the European Junior Swimming Championships
was driven primarily by competitors, team management and officials
driven with these groups accounting for 90% of total expenditure. The
use of hotels and Strathclyde University on full board tariffs for most of
the visitors resulted in 89% of total expenditure being spent on
accommodation, food and drink. In overall terms, the injection of more
than a quarter of million pounds into the Glasgow and surrounding
area economy indicates the significance of the event regardless of the
relative lack of public and media interest.
109
Costs of staging the event
5.5.33 We have not been able to obtain detailed income and expenditure
figures for this event and also we have no estimates of the staff time,
volunteer time, and other resources contributed to the event by the
Scottish ASA. The Scottish ASA estimated that the City of Glasgow
invested approximately £80,000 in the event in the from of marketing
support, staff time, venue hire and transport arrangements. In
addition, there was an estimated £40,000 deficit on the event which
was covered by the grant from the National Lottery under the Scottish
Sports Council’s Major Events Programme. 50 technical officials were
involved in the Glasgow part of the event and the average time
committed to the event was 5 days. This is equivalent to an
investment of around £17,000 of volunteer time in the staging of the
event, valued at market rates. On the basis of these calculations, the
cost of staging the event in Glasgow was, at the very minimum, around
£140,000. This is almost certainly an underestimate of the true cost of
staging the event since it does not include the value of Scottish ASA
resources committed to the event.
Estimate of the economic impact of EJDC on Edinburgh
5.5.34 The basis for estimating the economic impact of the European Junior
Diving Championships on Edinburgh relies on three key pieces of
information. Firstly, the number of competitors, team management/
officials accredited to the event plus an estimate of the number of
spectators. These can be estimated with a reasonable degree of
accuracy using the total number of accreditations/admissions and the
findings from Glasgow. These are shown in Table 5.5.12.
110
Table 5.5.12: Estimate of attendances in Edinburgh by category
Category
Total
Glasgow
Edinburgh
722
571
151
Technical officials
63
50
13
LEN delegates
20
16
4
990
600*
390*
6
6
0
1,795
1,243
552
Competitors & team management
Spectator attendances
Media
Total
* Estimate
Secondly, the Scottish ASA provided exact details of the hotel bills
incurred in Edinburgh which came to a total sum of £61,858. Third
using the data from the questionnaires completed in Glasgow and
making the assumption that the spending habits of each category in
both cities were similar, it is possible to construct an estimate of the
event’s effect on Edinburgh. By far the most important detail to get
right is the accommodation expenditure and we are fortunate to have
been provided with the details of this and of the room rate charged.
5.5.35 Table 5.5.13 provides a summary of estimated additional expenditure
in Edinburgh as a result of the EJDC. The final estimate of the
economic impact on Edinburgh is £83,684 of which 81% is expenditure
on accommodation.
111
Table 5.5.13: Summary of the economic impact on Edinburgh of
EJDC
Category
Comp/
Officials
Spectators
Media
Man
% of
Total
Accommodation
55,591
4,432
7,940
67,963
81%
Food and drink
2,514
1,138
2,785
6,437
8%
Entertainment
129
1,046
241
1,416
2%
Programmes &
378
56
662
1,096
1%
2,772
1,141
978
4,891
6%
Travel
139
158
833
1,130
1%
Other
219
185
346
750
<1%
Total
61,742
8,156
13,785
83,684
100%
74%
10%
16%
100%
merchandise
Shopping & souvenirs
% of Total
Conclusions
5.5.36 The European Junior Swimming and Diving Championships held in
Glasgow and Edinburgh attracted a record number of entrants from
nations affiliated to LEN (39 out of a total of 50 affiliates). A total of
722 competitors and team management officials attended the
championships and stayed for, on average, 6.58 nights. These
contributed most to the overall economic impact with over £0.25 million
additional expenditure in Glasgow, and £84,000 in Edinburgh, as a
result of the staging of the event.
5.5 37 The European Junior Swimming and Diving Chamionships were a
good example of a major event where the economic impact is
generated by the visiting competitors and associated officials, with the
impact of expenditure by visiting spectators being relatively minor. The
event also illustrates the importance of secondary research information
from hotels and the governing body, in addition to the questionnaire
112
responses, in building up a picture of additional expenditure generated
as a result of the event.
113
5.6
THE WEETABIX WOMENS BRITISH OPEN GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP
Background
5.6.1 The 1997 Weetabix Women’s British Open Golf Championship held at
Sunningdale from August 14th to the 17th attracted a high quality field
and a world-wide television audience to view the UK’s premier ladies
golf event. Following the success of previous championships held
predominantly at Woburn Golf and Country Club, the expectation for
the successful staging of the event was high.
5.6.2 The event was first staged at Fulford Golf Club in York in 1976 and has
taken place at the Duke’s Course at Woburn Golf and Country Club for
the last seven years. The event is now in the top ten women’s events
in Europe and only one of a few major ladies tournament’s to be
played in the UK. Recently the decision was taken to rotate the
tournament around a series of high quality courses from 1997,
Sunningdale being the first of these.
5.6.3 The tournament has progressed into its twenty-first year and some
significant changes have occurred over this time. The prize money has
increased from £130,000 to £500,000; spectators have increased from
over 10,000 to just over 50,000; television coverage from one hours
coverage to four days live coverage; and the field now includes the
world’s top players. Ladies golf itself is in a period of strong growth.
The Women’s Professional Golf European Tour (WPGET) estimates
that the growth in the ladies game exceeds the male equivalent by a
factor of two.
5.6.4 With an average gate of 10-12,000 spectators per day at Sunningdale
(excluding media passes and complimentary tickets), the majority
spending six to seven hours at the course, it was expected that the
additional expenditure generated would be high. In particular, it was
114
expected that there would be high levels of expenditure on food and
drink and additional items including programmes and merchandise.
5.6.5 Golf, by its very nature, is an event where spectators move around the
course following the play. Therefore, on the whole, spectators bring
food and drink to the championship with them, which dampens the
economic effect. However, the hot weather at this years event virtually
guaranteed that spectators would spend additional money on
refreshments.
5.6.6 The players made an important contribution to the event since they
stayed in the area the longest. 260 players originally entered the
event. A pre-qualifying round was played on 29th July when 60 players
played for 23 places in the Final Qualfying on the 11th August. At Final
Qualifying, 36 players out of 70 went through to play in the
Championship, which had a field of 144.
5.6.7 The event was able to secure a major high profile sponsor in Weetabix,
and a number of secondary sponsors including Highland Water.
Additionally, the event secured BBC and extended international
television coverage, and was transmitted to over 100 countries worldwide.
5.6.8 In terms of economic impact, this event is more difficult than the
other previous five events to delimit, especially in terms of boundaries,
and in terms of inputs into, and leakages out of, the local economy.
Sunningdale golf course itself is in Surrey, while Sunningdale village is
within the Royal Borough of Berkshire.
115
Methodological issues specific to event
5.6.9 The methodology adopted for this event was similar to previous events,
although more time-intensive due to the difficulties of handing out
questionnaires when play approached the greens. Sampling was
typically undertaken throughout the day. It was important that
spectators were not interviewed too early in the day as this would have
distorted the estimates of how much they had, or were planning to,
spend.
5.6.10 Questionnaires were distributed in and around Sunningdale Golf
Course. The survey team of four was instructed to operate in all
accessible areas of Sunningdale golf course and surveys were
conducted on all four days of the event. The original target was to
collect 125 completed questionnaires per day.
5.6.11 The self-completion questionnaires were handed out by the survey
team, at random, around the course. During the four days of the event
all areas of the course were covered at least twice, but more often
three or four times. Surveyors were constantly on hand for any
questions, but typically response was uncomplicated and swift. If a
respondent had difficulty with any part of the questionnaire, surveyors
were instructed to guide them through the relevant parts where
applicable and able. Few spectators refused to complete the survey.
5.6.12 In total 508 completed questionnaires were returned from nonSunningdale residents. 140 on day one, 124 on day two, 120 on day
three, and 124 on day four.
5.6.13 Table 5.6.1 illustrates the number of completed questionnaires that
were received from the respective types of non-Sunningdale
respondents. Utilising questionnaire returns and ticket sale information
it is estimated that the percentage of day visitors to Sunningdale for the
116
event was 83 per cent, with only 17 per cent of visitors staying
overnight in the area.
Table 5.6.1: Golf Questionnaire Responses
Category
Day Visitors
Overnight
Total
to area
Stays
Number
392
61
453
Media
3
2
5
Players
6
13
19
Officials
7
3
10
Others
15
6
21
423
85
508
Spectators
Total Sample Size
Visitor Profile
5.6.14 With little previous research into the composition and expenditure
levels of a largely female golf crowd, the research provided an
interesting insight into the market attracted to the event at
Sunningdale.
5.6.15 The golf drew spectators from all over the UK to Sunningdale. There
were a total of 270 different places of origin/residence identified from
the 508 questionnaires. The majority, 53% had travelled from within a
one hour drivetime of the course.
5.6.16 A number of different groups were identifiable. The largest of these
groups were the spectators. Public paying spectators attended the golf
in an average group size of 6.42 people. A large number of coaches
transported parties of spectators to the golf. The second largest group
were players, caddies and families, and the third group comprised media
representatives and event organisers.
117
5.6.17 The paying public bought tickets ranging in price from £5 to £10 per
day. The majority of spectators, 81%, came from within a one to two
hour drive time from Sunningdale. A number of spectators had taken
the opportunity to buy discounted tickets through a Weetabix
promotion that had been running through the year. The average
spectator visited only one day of the golf. The number of overnight
stays was low in comparison to other similar spectator-intensive sports
events, due to the fact that most visitors were only one to two hours
from their homes. Of those spectators that did stay overnight, the
majority stayed with friends and relatives rather than in commercial
accommodation. The sampling revealed that 0.2% of the total
attendance were from Sunningdale (approximately 100 people).
5.6.18 The media, players, representations corporate guests, and organisers
had the longest length of stay. A large number of media
representatives were at the event. These included broadcasters, sports
journalists from the written media, photographers and technical staff.
Of all groups the players and event organisers had the longest average
stay in Sunningdale, Berkshire and Surrey, the average length of stay
for these being 7 nights. This group also had a high daily expenditure
level, predominantly due to expenditure on accommodation.
5.6.19 The players’ and event organisers’ expenditures were high overall
because they were in Sunningdale on the Monday and Tuesday
before the event began. These impacts are not usually highlighted, but
are significant when considering that over 200 people spent an extra
three or four days in the area. A sample of players provided individual
accounts of their expenditure during their time in and around
Sunningdale. The majority stayed in the area, although some stayed in
London.
5.6.20 In contrast to the other five events in this study, the majority of the
crowd were female with an average age in the 40-60 year category.
118
Only 15% of the crowd were male. The majority were adults and only
7% of visitors brought children under the age of 16 with them to the
golf.
Expenditure Patterns and Economic Impact
5.6.21 As expected the majority of the additional expenditure made as a result
of the golf was made by spectators to the event. Their expenditure
amounted to £1.48 million. Table 5.6.2 contains a summary of the
expenditure made by the various groups of respondents. Total
additional expenditure generated in the local economy amounted to £1.6
million.
Table 5.6.2: Summary of Additional Expenditure Generated
by the Visitors
Category
£
Visitors
Spectators
1,479,331
Officials
56,669
Players
55,168
Media
35,491
Others
18,585
Total
1,645,244
5.6.22 Given the nature of the event, visitors to the golf had fairly low levels of
expenditure. Most brought their own food and drink to the course. The
average amount spent per day in Sunningdale by all visitors was
£15.49 per day. The players had the largest budgets for expenditure
whilst they were in Sunningdale, averaging £56.39 per day. Spectators
averaged only £14.62. per day over the four days. Summaries of
expenditure levels by visitor category appear in Table 5.6.3 below.
Table 5.6.3: Visitors’ Average Daily Expenditure Levels
119
Category
Expenditure Per Day
£
Spectators
14.62
Officials
33.03
Players
56.39
Media
51.49
Others
22.32
Average per day
15.49
5.6.23 Further economic impact is generated by the expenditure of the LGU,
which organised the golf requirements of the event, and IMG, who
organised the non-golfing requirements (ticket sales, programmes,
etc). The LGU spent £23,419, about half of which went on
accommodation and subsistence, but we do not have a detailed
breakdown of IMG expenditure, although they claimed to have spent
£400,000 on local contractors. Together with the expenditure of
visitors, the total additional expenditure generated by the event was
£2.1 million.
120
Bednights Generated and Jobs Created
5.6.24 A small number of bed-nights were generated in Sunningdale, Surrey,
Berkshire as a consequence of the event. A total of 2,039 additional
bed-nights were created in the area as a direct result of the event. The
majority of these bed-nights were accounted for by the players,
officials, IMG, and LGU. The commercial accommodation stock
witnessed a direct benefit from the golf, as nearly all the additional
nights generated were in hotels. Hotel accommodation in the area was
relatively expensive, with media representation, for instance, paying
on average £110.00 per night for accommodation. When secondary
spend in hotels is taken into account, the business generated at these
establishments was quite substantial.
5.6.25 The event created £215, 000 additional income in the local economy,
or the equivalent of 17 additional full-time equivalent (FTE) job years.
Approximately 200 staff were working at Sunningdale Golf Course
during each day of the event in a variety of roles including, security,
catering, merchandising, programme selling, courtesy car driving,
marshalling and other operational tasks.
Costs of Staging the Event
5.6.26 The overall budget for the event was around £0.5 million with the
largest single component accounted for by IMG’s expenditure on
staging the event. IMG received all the direct revenues from ticket and
programme sales in return for bearing all the staging costs. LGU
received income from entry fees and were responsible for prize
money. Prize money at this year’s event totalled £500,000. We do not
have accounts for the event from IMG and therefore cannot give
details of the breakdown of costs. LGU had 8 officials involved in the
administration of the event, 2 as referees, 3 as starters, and 3 as
recorders. In addition there were 4 referees from the Royal and Ancient
121
Golf Club. A detailed breakdown of the LGU expenditure is given in
Table 5.6.4.
Table 5.6.4: LGU Expenditure (excluding prize money)
Planning Costs
£ 2029
Pre-Qualifying - July
1479
Officials Travel
1508
Accommodation and Subsistence
12658
Entertaining Costs
3300
Professional Services - Computer
1332
Printing
814
Miscellaneous
299
TOTAL
23419
Conclusions
5.6.28 The 1997 Weetabix Women’s Open Golf Championship made a
significant economic impact on the local economy of Sunningdale, with
£2.1 million of additional expenditure generated in the local economy.
70% of this additional expenditure was generated by spectators, the
majority of whom were day visitors. This large contribution to
economic impact by spectators was mainly due to the large number of
spectators attending, 50,000. The next most significant contribution
(20%) was the local expenditure by the event organisers on staging the
event.
5.6.29 Despite the fact that only 13% of visiting spectators stayed overnight,
with an average stay of 3 nights, accommodation expenditure
dominated the total expenditure of spectators, accounting for 53% of
total additional expenditure by spectators. Overall, 56% of all
expenditure by visitors was spent on accommodation, with 23% being
spent on food and drink.
122
123
5.7
RESULTS: OVERVIEW
5.7.1 Table 5.7.1 compares the overall additional visitor spending generated
by each of the six events and breaks down the total additional
expenditure in the host city by the source of this spending. The table
shows that the events differ in the relative share of total additional
spending generated by visiting spectators on the one hand, and
competitors, officials, and media representatives body on the other.
The cricket and golf stand out as spectator-driven in the economic
impact with 91% and 90% respectively of the additional expenditure
generated by visiting spectators. Athletics is also spectator-driven with
75% of total additional expenditure generated by visiting spectators. In
the case of athletics, most of the spectators were day visitors, whereas
the much smaller number of competitors and officials had a higher
proportion of them staying overnight, and spending considerably more
in the host city. Consequently, the percentage contributed by
spectators is less than in the cricket and golf events.
Table 5.7.1: Source of additional visitor spending in host city
Visiting
Badminton
Boxing
Cricket
Athletics
Swimming
Golf
31%
65%
91%
75%
8%
90%
69%
35%
9%
25%
92%
10%
£1,926,692
£244,374
£4,571,225
£150,936
£257,802
£1,645,244
Spectators
Officials,
Competitors,
and media
TOTAL
ADDITIONAL
SPEND
5.7.2 At the other extreme, at the swimming in Glasgow, 92% of the
additional expenditure generated resulted from the spending of
competitors, officials, and media representatives. For badminton
around one third of the additional spending was due to spectators, with
the other two thirds due to competitors, officials and media
representatives. For boxing, the proportions were reversed with
124
around two-thirds of the additional spend being due to visiting
spectators.
5.7.3 Overall then if we consider a spectrum from spectator-driven to
competitor-driven then cricket and golf are at the spectator-driven end
of this, and swimming at the other, competitor-driven end. The other
three events lie in between with athletics and boxing on the spectatordriven side and badminton on the competitor-driven side (as in Figure
5.7.1).
Figure 5.7.1: The spectrum from competitor-driven to spectatordriven
Cricket
Swimming
Competitor
Badminton
Golf
Boxing
Athletics
(+ officials
Spectator
driven
+ gov body)
driven
5.7.4 The level of additional expenditure generated by competitors, officials,
and media should be relatively easy to forecast in advance since it
depends on the numbers of competitors and officials visiting and the
number of event days. Hence, forecasting the economic impact of
competitor-driven events is not a major problem. As the report on the
EJSC in Glasgow showed, it is possible to build up a profile of
expenditure on the main items of accommodation and food by
investigating the terms offered by the hotels to the visiting teams and
officials. Since this was a junior event, there was little additional
expenditure in addition to that on accommodation and food. In such
circumstances it should be possible to build up a very accurate
forecast of the economic impact of the event. It should also be
possible to do this prior to bidding for the event by investigating the
number of competitors, officials and media present at previous
125
stagings of the same championships and the number of days for which
the championships ran.
5.7.5 Predicting the impact by spectators is much more difficult. Below is the
projected attendance at each of the events as given to us by the
English Sports Council at the beginning of the study and prior to the
events, and the actual total spectator attendance at the events.
Predicted Total
Actual Total
Attendance
Attendance
Badminton
35,000 - 40,000
21,642
Boxing
35,000 - 40,000
1,233
Cricket
63,000 - 70,000
72,693
25,000
16,025
1,500 - 2,000
990
40,000
50,000
Athletics
Swimming
Golf
5.7.6 The boxing and badminton estimates of the likely attendances were
considerable overestimates of the actual attendances. The athletics
event in Sheffield also attracted many fewer than expected, even after
tickets were distributed to Sheffield residents and schools at a heavily
discounted price. Only in the case of the two main spectator events,
cricket and golf, were the forecasts of attendances relatively close to
the actuals. Both these events are annual events, and therefore
relatively easy to predict. However, both are susceptible to the
weather, and in the case of cricket, the way the match develops. Test
matches sometimes finish in three days, considerably reducing the
economic impact. In the case of the golf championships, very good
weather in August increased attendances above expectations.
5.7.7 This illustrates the danger of staging special ‘one-off’ events.
Projected attendances have a high error margin and mistakes can
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have a dramatic effect on the final budget out-turn as well as on the
economic impact of the event on the local economy.
5.7.8 Table 5.7.1 shows that, overall, the cricket generated the highest level
of economic impact followed by badminton and golf. However, the
impact of the badminton was to a large extent due to the fact it was by
far the longest event with 14 event days. Table 5.7.2 shows average
additional spend per day. Cricket has by far the highest visitor
expenditure per day, over twice the level of the next highest spend,
golf, and 42 times the spend per day of the lowest, boxing. Badminton
slips to fourth out of the six on this measure behind cricket, golf, and
athletics. The table shows more clearly the distinction between those
events that generate significant economic impacts and those that
generate little.
Table 5.7.2: Average additional visitor expenditure per day
Average additional expenditure
per day
Badminton
£137,621
Boxing
£27,153
Cricket
£1,142,806
Athletics
£176,937
Swimming
Golf
£64,451
£411,311
5.7.9 Table 5.7.3 shows the distribution of additional expenditure due to the
event over the different items of expenditure. It is interesting that
swimming has by far the highest proportionate expenditure on
accommodation. This is not surprising when we know that additional
expenditure due to this event is almost totally generated by
competitors and officials staying in full-board accommodation for the
duration of the competition. In general, the more competitor-driven the
event is, the higher the proportion of expenditure that will go on
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accommodation. Thus, we see that badminton also has a high
proportion of total expenditure on accommodation. The exception is
golf, which is a spectator-driven event but has a high proportion of
expenditure on accommodation. This is because a higher proportion
of spectators stayed overnight than in the other spectator-driven
events, there was a large absolute number of competitors, officials,
and media representatives staying for long periods even though this
number was small in relation to the total number of competitors, and
because the cost of the accommodation was relatively high.
5.7.10 Athletics showed the smallest percentage on accommodation due to
the high proportion of day-visitors spectators. Cricket showed by far
the highest percentage spend on food and drink, again not surprising
given the nature of the event. Overall, Table 5.7.3 shows a large
degree of variability in the percentage breakdown of expenditure but is
broadly consistent in that most events have more than 60% of total
expenditure on accommodation and food and drink, the main
exception being athletics where programmes, shopping and travel took
up a higher than normal proportion of total spend.
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Table 5.7.3: Percentage expenditure on various items of expenditure
Badminton
Boxing
Cricket
Athletics
Swimming
Golf
Accommodation
52
31
25
21
82
55
Food and Drink
21
26
35
24
7
23
Entertainment
5
7
15
5
2
2
Programmes and
1
3
7
12
1
6
11
19
5
18
6
7
Travel
6
8
8
14
1
4
Other
3
6
4
7
1
2
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
Merchandise
Shopping and
souvenirs
TOTAL
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6
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF MAJOR
SPORTS EVENTS IN THE UK
6.1
Of the six events studied in this project, two were part of the normal
annual cycle of sports events in Great Britain and three were special
‘one-off’ or irregular events that would not normally take place in
Britain, and the final one (the athletics Grand Prix) normally takes
place in Britain, but not in Sheffield. If we add to this typology, the
extent to which the event is capable of generating significant economic
impact (either on a per day basis or overall), then it is possible to
consider the following typology for major sports events:
Type A:
Irregular, major international spectator events generating
significant economic activity and media interest.
(eg Olympics, World Cup, Euro’ 96)
Type B:
Major spectator events, generating significant economic
activity, media interest and part of an annual domestic
cycle of sports events. (eg FA Cup Final, Five Nations
Rugby Union Internationals, Test Match Cricket, Open
Golf, Wimbledon).
Type C:
Irregular, major international spectator/competitor events
generating limited economic activity (eg. European Junior
Boxing Championships, European Junior Swimming
Championships, World Badminton Championships, IAAF
Grand Prix).
Type D:
Major competitor events generating limited economic
activity and part of an annual cycle of sports events (eg
National Championships in most sports).
6.2
Use of the word ‘major’ in each of these categories is to signify the
importance of sporting outcomes of such events (eg. national,
European, or World Championships) rather than the economic
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importance. The typology is relevant to indicate that not all events that
are ‘major’ in sporting terms are important in economic terms.
6.3
Of the 291 major sporting events in Britain listed for 1997 in the
calendar of major sporting events, none are of Type A, and 43 of them
are of Type B. However, as indicated in our earlier discussion, many
more would qualify for inclusion. If the Cup Finals for football (both FA
and Coca-Cola), rugby union, and rugby league are included, why not
the semi-finals which certainly qualify for the Type B criterion.
Similarly, any Manchester United home game would qualify, as would
many other Premier League matches and some matches from the
1997/98 First Division involving clubs such as Sunderland,
Middlesborough, Manchester City, and Nottingham Forest. If we only
included the major football matches attracting crowds over 30,000 in
1997 we would be adding at least an extra 400 events of Type B to the
list in the Sports Council calendar.
6.4
The majority of the events listed in the calendar are of Types C and D,
and this balance is also reflected in the 6 case-studies of this project.
However, in terms of economic impact it is the Type A and B events
that will dominate the contribution to economic impact in any one year.
6.5
Type D events, though of limited economic significance, also have
limited additional costs of staging, since they are annual events and
the governing bodies have long-term experience in terms of putting on
such events.
6.6
Type C events, however, are special events that take place on a oneoff or irregular basis. Even if they take place regularly, from any one
country’s point of view they will be irregular since they move from
country to country. Such events have to be planned and managed
from scratch, and potentially pose a major organisational problem for
the governing bodies and the cities in which they take place, since they
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will not have had the experience in hosting that particular event.
Mega-events such as the Olympics and the World Cup, which also
pose a similar problem, have proved that the costs of staging such
events are easily matched by the economic benefits generated.
However, for smaller events, such as the World Badminton
Championships, the true costs of the organisation and staging of the
event are potentially greater than, or equivalent to, the economic
benefits. In addition, it is very difficult to predict the level of spectator
interest in such an event. Whereas the World Badminton
Championships attract huge spectator and media interest in Asia, it is
much more difficult to forecast the level of spectator demand when the
event takes place in Glasgow. The more competitor-driven the event
then the easier it is to forecast the economic impact, but also the less
the impact is likely to be.
6.7
For Type D events, the benefits do not cover the costs in economic
terms and the rationale for bidding for such events must lie outside the
purely economic domain.
6.8
Type A and B events will generate the largest economic benefits to
the cities that host them. This is already well-known for Type A
events, hence the fierce competition between cities to host them. The
majority of Type B events either do not move venues for year to year
(eg Wimbledon), or if they do, cities are not able to bid to host them.
What is not generally realised, however, is that Britain is unusual in
having a very high number of such events. This means that the sports
event business is a significant industry in Britain and we have a
competitive advantage over most other nations in having considerable
expertise and experience in staging major sports events.
6.9 Type B events are normally a low-risk investment for any hosting city
since spectator demand is relatively easy to predict. However, for cities
trying to follow an event-led tourism strategy, such events are not
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normally ‘on the market’. The result is that cities compete to stage Type
C events, which is the most uncertain category in terms of economic
impact. The results of this study, together with previous event impact
studies, allow us to make certain generalisations about Type C events:
1 the economic impact of competitor-driven events is relatively easy to
forecast in advance;
2 in general, junior competitor-driven events generate small impacts;
3 the more senior the event and the longer the event, then the larger
the economic impact, with World Masters events, in particular,
generating significant impacts as large numbers of relatively affluent
competitors stay in the host city for several weeks;
4 spectator forecasts for Type C events are subject to large error
margins and the tendency is to make highly optimistic forecasts that
rarely materialise, with the result that higher than expected losses
may be made on the event.
6.10
As more and more economic impact studies of sports events are
carried out it will be possible to identify with more certainty the
parameters of events that categorise their economic significance. As
indicated in Section 1 of this report, 20 years ago little was known
about the economic significance of Type A and B events. The
challenge for the next 10 years is to understand more about the
economics of Type C events.
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