The figures seem to be way too high.
The director of the University of Tennessee’s Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research William Fox, who is some sort of an expert, has whispered some incredible numbers into the ears of people in Nashville who want to land a part of the 2026 Men’s World Cup tournament. You get four soccer matches in the city. You get $695 million worth of economic impact. Where Fox found that number is unknown because four soccer games will not bring $695 million of economic impact and there won’t be $66.1 million as part of Nashville or Tennessee’s tax collection. Four games would also create about 5,500 jobs, no word on what kind of salaries those jobs would pay but anything related to sports means minimum wage or part time employment for vendors, parking lot attendants and ushers. But think about the tourists who would flock to Nashville and drop $639.3 million in town and maybe suburban areas. And those tourists are going to come back, according to Fox. “Longer term, hosting the event will increase tourism from around the world and dramatically expand the visibility of Nashville as a great place to visit and live.” Perhaps Fox is unaware that Nashville is the country music capital of the world and that it has the Grand Ole Opry, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge and other spots.
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli once pointed out, no one has ever bothered to really do a survey as to just what big sports events bring monetarily into an area. The numbers seem to be pulled out of a hat and no one really bothers to follow up after the event leaves town to see just how much money was left behind. Chances are government officials really don’t want to know because the big event is good for people. FIFA, the governing body of global soccer, has not chosen venues yet.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
