World Cup ticket 'is worth £130m'
Thursday, December 2, 2010
If FIFA's 2018 World Cup decision on 2 December goes in favour of England, and Nottingham is successful in becoming a host city, experts say the rewards will be plentiful.
The body that represents businesses in Nottinghamshire estimates the area could reap financial benefits in excess of £130m.
Scott Knowles, the Deputy Chief Executive of the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce, said: "It will create a large number of local business and employment opportunities during the tournament and beyond."
This is a sentiment echoed by Experience Nottinghamshire, the county's official tourism promoters. In a statement they said: "The global attention will allow Nottingham to showcase itself as a premium visitor destination."
Nottingham is well used to large-scale sporting events. Last year it hosted cricket's World Twenty20 and the 1996 UEFA European Football Championship.
Hugh White is in charge of Nottingham's 2018 bid. He was also part of the team that co-ordinated activities during Euro '96, when Nottingham Forest's City Ground played host to Croatia, Turkey and Portugal.
Because of Nottingham's central location, Danish fans also made the city their base.
Mr White said: "Anywhere up to 500 Danish fans taking over Yates Wine Lodge [in Long Row] for brunch. Having a great time, mixing with locals. That's the nature of Nottingham," he said.
And he remains hopeful that Nottingham will be chosen if the England 2018 bid is successful.
He said: "We have good experience of hosting large scale events. Our transport infrastructure, police, security and safety set-up is well versed and we're confident we can rise to the challenge."
As part of the city's bid, a new 40,000-seat Nottingham Forest stadium would be built. Despite the county council and local residents objecting to the proposed location at Gamston, Mr White said it remained the officially preferred site.
One Nottingham psychology expert has claimed that bringing World Cup football to the city would be good for us.
Professor Mark Griffiths from Nottingham Trent University said: "Football is the one thing that brings the country together and we'll have none of the anxiety of whether we will qualify as the host country automatically qualifies."
To go to the Forest ground and watch Brazil, that'd be amazing!
Home advantage is also a huge motivator. Out of only eight countries that have ever won the World Cup, six of those have done it on home soil.
Prof Griffiths said psychological evidence showed that people were happier and healthier during Euro '96. "In medical terms," he said. "When teams are doing better, psychological admissions reduce."
He also said that happy people spend more money, and therefore the longer England remain in the competition, the more profits Nottingham businesses should make.
On what it would mean to the people of Nottingham, and the legacy it would leave, he added: "To go to the Forest ground and watch Brazil, that'd be amazing!"
Labels: FIFA 2018
posted @ 9:23 AM,
0 Comments:
Post a Comment