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

Abstract

Baade R. A. and Matheson V. A. (2004) The quest for the cup: assessing the economic impact of the World Cup, Reg. Studies 38, 343–354. Hosting the World Cup, the world’s second largest sporting event, is a potentially expensive affair. The co-hosts of the 2002 games, Japan and South Korea, spent a combined US$4 billion building new facilities or refurbishing old facilities in preparation for the event. An ex post analysis of the 1994 World Cup held in the US suggests that the economic impact of the event cannot justify this magnitude of expenditures and that host cities experienced cumulative losses of $5·5 to $9·3 billion as opposed to ex ante estimates of a $4 billion gain touted by event boosters. Potential hosts should consider with care whether the award of the World Cup is an honour or a burden.