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,
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FIFA 2018 World Cup Bids
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
A deal is being discussed whereby only European nations would bid to host the 2018 World Cup, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Monday.
Russia and England have applied separately to stage the 2018 and/or the 2022 World Cup while Spain and Portugal and Netherlands and Belgium have made joint bids for one or both.
Australia, Japan and United States have also bid for the 2018 and/or 2022 edition and South Korea, Indonesia and Qatar have all applied to host only the 2022 version.
Blatter said he had talked over the deal proposal with Michel Platini, president of European soccer's governing body UEFA. Reuter
"There is a movement at the moment among the various candidates that in the end it would be a good solution ... if the candidates for 2018 would only be those from Europe," said Blatter at a news conference.
"It's not been finally decided but it's the idea, also to make the work of FIFA easier and especially that of the executive committee," he added after meeting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Madrid.
"It would also possibly make the work of the different organisations applying for the World Cup easier."
World soccer's ruling body FIFA need bid documentation by the end of May and will study them in June and send out groups of specialists to visit candidate nations and assess their ability to stage the event successfully, Blatter said.
FIFA will announce which nations will host both tournaments in Zurich in December.
(Reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by Tony Jimenez)
Labels: FIFA 2018
posted @ 2:24 PM,
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Five Billion World Cup
Thursday, December 17, 2009
The 2018 or 2022 World Cup would provide a $5 billion economic impact and create as many as 100,000 jobs in the United States, the U.S. Bid Committee said on Tuesday.
The U.S is one of 10 bidders looking to host either the 2018 or 2022 tournaments. U.S. soccer president Sunil Gulati presided over meetings in New York to discuss the campaign and develop plans for the final push leading up to the decision on the hosts for the two tournaments by FIFA in December 2010.
The high-powered committee includes luminaries from politics and business like former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"The meeting marks an important milestone for our bid as we now start the second and final stage of our bid campaign," Gulati said in a statement.
The committee said it had discussed a recent study conducted by consultants that estimated a successful bid would have an economic impact of $5 billion and would create between 65,000 and 100,000 new jobs during the preparation and operation of the tournament in the year of the event.
The committee also said there are currently 27 cities and 32 stadia under consideration as host venues.
The list would need to be trimmed to the maximum of 18 cities that can be included in the formal bid book due to be handed to FIFA next May.
posted @ 8:55 AM,
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US for World Cup
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama, says the White House is right behind the U.S. bid to stage the World Cup in 2018 or 2022.
In an interview with World Football Insider’s sister publication Around the Rings, the head of the new White House Office on Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport, spoke about the government’s support for the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid and also for the World Cup bid.
Asked whether Obama, a Chicago native, was also prepared to back the football bid, she said: "Absolutely, absolutely. I think that the White House will be fully behind the World Cup as well.
“We will compete wherever we have the opportunity to compete. We think that our country, at this moment in time, is the perfect place to host world competitions.
“I think President Obama has made it clear that he wants the kind of administration that is warm and welcoming to people who are outside of the United States, that this is a place where we want visitors to come and have a great experience, whether it is visiting Chicago or whether it is visiting the rest our wonderful country.
“So I think looking at the president’s popularity around the world it sends a very important message that the United States is back.”
Jarrett spoke with Around the Rings at the White House earlier this week after an event hosted by the Obamas to support the Chicago bid. Jarrett and First Lady Michelle Obama will represent the White House at the IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark where they will promote the Chicago Olympic bid. The IOC vote for the 2016 host city comes Oct. 2.
Last month, the U.S. bid to stage the World Cup in 2018 or 2022 received its largest donation to date. Cal South, southern California’s state soccer association, contributed $100,000.
In August, the U.S. bid committee also launched a new website dedicated to bringing the World Cup back to the country for the first time since 1994. The website - www.goUSAbid.com - is designed to aid fundraising and bid initiatives in the build-up to FIFA’s announcement in December 2010 of the host countries for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup.
The U.S. is one of 11 countries vying to stage the 2018 or 2022 World Cups. It faces competition from Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands/Belgium (joint bid), Russia, and Spain/Portugal (joint bid) for 2018. Qatar and South Korea are only bidding to host the 2022 edition.
For more information on the USA Bid, visit www.goUSAbid.com
posted @ 2:45 PM,
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2018 World Cup
Saturday, September 5, 2009
he race to stage the 2018 World Cup finals is going to be the most competitive ever, Andy Anson, chief executive of England's bid, said on Friday.
Playing down any idea that England were favourites to win the right to host the event, he said with 11 nations competing for the votes of just 24 FIFA Executive Committee members, it was impossible to say who was likely to win.
As well as England, there are bids from Spain, Russia, Australia, the United States, Netherlands-Belgium, Qatar, Indonesia, Mexico, Japan and South Korea for either 2018 or 2022.
FIFA will announce the hosts for the two tournaments in Zurich in December next year and Anson told a news briefing in London that while England represented a safe pair of hands other countries also had selling points.
"There are 11 countries ultimately bidding and they are just as desperate to win as we are," he said.
"That makes it incredibly challenging and that's why we cannot be complacent. Any talk about England being favourites is slightly misplaced because it's so competitive.
"I don't think we are going to be the only ones who feel really passionate about winning.
"It's going to be an incredibly tough race and that's why we have to work extra hard to make sure our messages are very clear." Continued...
Labels: FIFA 2018
posted @ 9:00 AM,
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