Alwaght- The Euro 2016 football matches hosted by France are set to end next week. An array of French cities including Paris, Lille, Villard-de-Lans, St Denis, Lyon, Saint-Étienne, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Nice, and Marseilles hosted the tens of matches that started from June 10 and would continue to July 10. The matches are expected to hit 51 in number until the ending day of the tournament.
Due to rise in clothes and food shopping during the games and also because of presence of thousands of foreign teams’ fans in France, some of the media have called the sports event “a good news for the French economy.” Counting the costs of preparations for holding the Euro 2016 football matches, some others, however, find the tournament a challenge for France’s economy.
The website of Europe 1 French radio has called hosting Euro 2016 a chance for France that could bring the French economy over €1.270 billion in profits. Referring to the “initially promising figures”, the French radio maintained that only during a single game of French team some 115,000 pizzas have been sold. This means that five pizzas have been sold every single second during the almost two hours of the French team's game. This figure shows a 70 percent growth in pizza sales during the event in comparison to the normal day sales. During the Euro 2016, the rate of buying and consumption of all kinds of goods including food, beverages, and the national teams’ replica shirts from famous brands has witnessed remarkable increase.
Reporting on the revenues of hotels in the hosting cities of France, Europe 1 website has written that between 90 and 100 percent of Nice hotels and 95 percent of Lille hotels sold out their rooms during the Euro 2016.
The French magazine Le Figaro in a report titled “Positive Influences of Euro 2016 on the French Economy...If Strike Wouldn't Mess Up Everything,” has written that the images of strikes and the clashes between people and police that were aired by world media very likely had dissuaded many of football fans, who had not yet bought tickets, from travelling to France for Euro 2016.
However, hosting Euro 2016 football matches has breathed a new life into the French tourism which since the terrorist attacks of November 13 on Paris suffered an inconveniently stagnant situation, although Paris feared that the strikes at the time of the tournament could nullify the positive effects of Euro 2016 on the French business atmosphere.
The French economic information company (IHS) had forecasted that the hotels, restaurants, and transportation companies would make big profits from waves of the tourists arriving in France during the tournament. Also it foresaw a rise in sales of the cafés, special tourism markets, and the clothing shops that sold shirts of national teams. The same thing was predicted to be experienced by the supermarkets as they see a rise in their seasonal sales. Also, TV sales in the country were foresaw to observe an increase during the time of Euro 2016, according to the forecasts made by IHS.
But France repeatedly saw strikes and demonstrations protesting the reforms introduced to the country's labor law. This challenge beside its side effects like delays of trains and flights and also stranded passengers could affect the estimations on revenues of France as host of the Euro 2016.
The website of Francetv Info in a report titled “ Challenges of Euro 2016 on France Economy”, has noted that France spent €1.7 billion for renovation of existing stadiums or building new ones and also rehabilitation of public watching places. In the four cities of Lille, Nice, Lyon, and Bordeaux four stadiums were especially built to host the Euro 2016 football matches.
The Center for Sports Law and Economy, based in Limoges in southwestern France, has reported the French revenues from the Euro 2016 to be €1.266 billion.
Paris forecasted the number of the foreign fans who came to France to watch the events to be 2,500,000 people. The UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) which is responsible for organizing the games estimated that every single football fan spends an average amount of €353 every day. Additional daily €25 to €900 ticket and hotel costs are added to this amount. So, it is estimated that Euro 2016 makes €1.266 billion in profits for the French economy.
France, twice brought under terrorist attack in 2015, during the process of Euro 2016 has grappled with serious security challenge. The US also fueled the French security concerns as it warned the tourists of possibility of terrorist attacks in the stadiums, public watching sites and the unofficial centers for broadcasting the football matches in France.
The French officials mobilized 90,000 police forces to provide security during the Euro 2016. Furthermore, the special forces and rescue teams held maneuvers in ten French cities hosting the football event to make sure that they were ready to address the worst incidents that could take place during the Euro 2016. They exercised to deal with such scenarios as hostage taking, poisonous material shooting at the stadiums, terrorist attacks, and suicide bombing.
The Euro 2016 is nearing its final days. Then there must be an assessment to see if the big French money spent on infrastructures and security provision matches Paris revenues as a host of the European football event.
