Introduction: World Cup & Soccer
Soccer World Cup is a game that attracts masses of people from all over the world and has the largest number of fans who watch it amounting to billions of people. It is an event that is widely supported by the corporate world, and the hosting country goes through bidding before being accredited to host the tournament.
Various benefits and disadvantages come with hosting the matches, which may be economical, social, and environmental. Various research designs can be employed while assessing the advantages and disadvantages of hosting such an event.
In this research paper, a combination of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches would be used to assess the advantages and disadvantages that would accrue to the US if it competed to host the soccer World Cup in one of the states.
Economic Impacts and Disadvantages of Hosting the World Cup
To understand the economic impact of world cup soccer in the United States, it is important to look at a report by the AECOM that assessed the economic impact if US hosted the 2018 world cup. AECOM found out that there would be a conservative domestic economic impact of five billion dollars, but on average, about 65 000 to 100 000 jobs would be created in the cities during planning and execution of the tournament.
According to Cohen as cited in (AECOM studies, 2009), hosting the world cup in the US would have a positive impact on the US economy and global profiles of the hosting cities and the whole nation.
He supported his argument by arguing out that the hosting cities would be more than a dozen and the impact of the event would be on a scale of 12-18 superbowls. Holding such an event would lead to creation of more jobs in the state, and this would boost the economic sector.
Considering that the US economy is still recovering from economic recession, this would be of great help to the many citizens who are jobless and need to make ends meet. This would even improve the living standards of the people and increase per capita income that would contribute to growth in the Gross National product.
It would also attract foreign investors who would be willing to come and invest in the state and take advantage of the juicy opportunities that would arise as a result of hosting the World Cup.
For example, there would be an increased demand for hotels and guest rooms to provide accommodation to the vast majority of visitors who would stream in, while public transport would be in high demand for the sake of moving people from one placer to another (Copper and Hall, 2008).
Other industries that would grow or experience high season would be the construction industry since the engineers would be in high demand to carry out road and building renovations where necessary.
Considering that grants would be obtained from FIFA to partly support the preparation, the revenue body in the state would benefit from such grant and the developments that will be carried out with the support of the grant will be a total gain to the state. During such an event, many tourists are expected from all over the world.
Some people view it as a good chance to be on vacation and travel with the other members of the family and friends even if they are not soccer funs. Such people utilize the chance to adventure by visiting the tourist’s attraction sites such as hotels, museums, mountains, game parks and so on.
Moreover, they end up spending considerable amounts in the hosts’ country. Such spending boosts the tourism sector and the economy in general (World Cup kick for SA economy, 2004).
Other benefits that would come by include greater opportunities to market the product and services produced or manufactured there and are traded globally. Companies like Coca-Cola would have a great opportunity to market its brands to the people and gain popularity.
This would cut on cost that would otherwise be used to carry out marketing campaigns globally and such savings by the companies could be used to either expand, engage in corporate social responsibility or diversification to promote economic growth.
The long-term effect would be that, due to better and improved infrastructure, the nation will find itself at a better position to attract foreign investors since they will be assured of high security, and improved physical accessibility to the market due to proper road and airport infrastructure.
However, even with all these advantages, there will be considerable investment by the state that will drain the funds and can even lead to a loss if proper budgeting and planning is not carried out.
To start with, the host country is required to adhere to the rules, regulations and specifications which include but not limited to accommodation, transport, marketing, security of the many fans who are normally around, training facilities, ticketing, opening and closing ceremonies, insurance and other legal and administrative matters. The financial risks associated with holding such an event in us are also of great importance.
The hosting country must look at the infrastructure issues, this implies that the airports and airstrips should be in good condition; the roads should be in a usable state and well repaired to avoid accidents and make movements easier.
Looking deeply at the infrastructure issues, the stadium or exact field where the match will take place will require some renovations and if not large enough to accommodate the masses, ways of expansion should be looked into.
Arrangements should be done to ensure that public transport will run efficiently, ensure that the vehicles to be used are roadworthy, insured, and accessible. Such issues would seriously drain the economies finances and if not addressed in an appropriate manner the state may suffer considerable losses that would take time to recover.
To support the information above, there are a few examples of some cities that have hosted soccer games and how it affected the budget: Athens budget shot from US$ 1.6 billion to US$16 million after hosting the Olympic games in 2004, Beijing’s budget shot from US$1.6 billion to about US$ 40 billion in 2008 and South Africa, the last recent host of the soccer world cup estimations came to around US$ 5 billion before the world cup kicked-off.
For example, there is need to purchase and install high –tech-monitoring equipment, ensure security for all the fans.
It is also feared that hosting such an event may have adverse effect such as increased inflation rate due to the expected high spending rates especially by the foreigners thus making consumer goods to be expensive which is a great disadvantage to the poor people in the country.
For example, in the just concluded FIFA world cup in South Africa, the biggest concern was that the increase of the wealth foreigners would drive the costs of basic goods high. Research showed that 70% of the respondents believed that holding the tournament there would lead to inflation hence high prices for consumer goods (Wolfe, 2010). Diversion of resources is another disadvantage that may come in with hosting the world cup.
The reason behind this is that the country may diversify resources from other sectors in managing the game. Considering the provision of some of the basic services to the larger population of fans and players, the company may neglect its citizens in provision of some services in pursuit of making sure that the foreigners are comfortable.
Social Benefits and Drawbacks of International Sporting Events
FIFA World Cup serves as a mechanism to bring the world together since it receives attention from all over the world. It serves as a mechanism to strengthen the social ties between nations in that it enhances cross-cultural interaction and promotes international understanding.
Considering that the worlds is a hostile place in which there exists racism, wars and religious conflicts, FIFA tends to foster global brotherhood that is essential to all human beings. This can be demonstrated by the fact that the FIFA world cup is watched by over 26 billion people and harmony is necessary for such an event with dynamic funs to be successful (Khong, 2010).
Another social advantage that can be gained or achieved through hosting such an event is promotional of culture and publicity of the city as well as the nation. Considering that such an event would be cupped with a lot of attainment from the hosts, it would be a good a chance for the state to promote and appreciate its culture.
Publicity could be viewed in two dimensions. It could be either negative or positive. Whereas positive publicity would make the nation to have better relations with other nations, negative publicity might destroy nation’s relations with other nations. In general, it can be said that the nation will have enhanced international pride.
Besides this, another great intangible benefit would be increased sence of pride and enhancement of relations within the state since such a global event will unite the local people together as they are well aware that they are working towards a common goal as a city and not as individual cities (Clark, 2008).
Hosting such an event in a city in the US may lead to increased crime rate. The argument behind this is that during the event, so many wealthy tourists get into the country; this gives a good target to the thieves and others who are involved in social crime. Potential of attacks by terrorists at such a time cannot be overlooked.
Considering the large number of that would be coming in, even with very high and tight security, it might be impossible to ensure 100% security. Terrorists may take advantage of this opportunity ant attack using nuclear weapons such as bomb blasts. This would have very adverse effects both socially, economically and politically.
The emotional loss that would be suffered by those who lose their loved ones would be unforgettable and unforgivable. Prostitution might also be on the rise and the vast majority of singles both internal and external try to get company and money.
This might lead to high prevalence HIV and AIDS as well as other sexually transmitted diseases that would rob the nation valuable and productive labor force. Another social misgiving would be drug abuse especially by the young people who might be introduced to such social vices by the foreigners.
FIFA World Cup: Positive and Negative Effects on the Environment
It is undisputable that holding an event such as the World Cup would have both some negative and positive impacts. It would call for the government and those concerned with environmental issues to come with a plan and programme to ensure that environmental resources will be utilized in the best way possible and protect exploitation of resources and especially the natural resources.
Such a policy may not be useful only in the short-term but also in the long-term since once laid down and implemented, there are high chances that it would be of use even after the world cup. For example, during the 2010 world cup in South Africa, the government came up with a programme known as the Green Goal Program to protect the environmental from exploitation and pollution.
Some of the adverse environmental impacts that would arise include pollution of the environmental, as many developments would be ongoing in preparation of the stadium and especially noise pollution. Other risks might include use of materials whose quality and quantity has not been ascertained in a rush to get everything in place.
Such materials could eventually lead to emission of gases and substances that would do a lot of harm to the environment. In connection to that, there would be a lot of movement involving vehicles and the possibility of air pollution by exhaust fumes would be very. This therefore requires that measures be put in place to mitigate the effect of air pollution by such emissions.
Other environmental issues of concern would be increased use and misuse of water. For example, while celebrating victory, fans can pour water on each other and considering water is a very valuable resource, it should be used in the best way possible.
There could also be increased use of energy such as electricity, land pollution, and waste production. It is worth noting that the waste should be properly managed and disposed since if not taken care of, epidemics and outbreak of diseases might arise that would be detrimental to health (Green Goal Programme, 2010).
Conclusion: Advantages and Disadvantages of Hosting the World Cup
The FIFA World Cup is an international event that attracts attention from all over the world irrespective of where it is held. It is an event that has a large number of funs with billions of people watching it globally. However, it is an event that requires considerable investment by the hosting company.
If the US were to bid to host the event in one of the cities, it would not be an exception to this huge investment that comes with pros and cons. There are varied benefits and shortfalls of hosting the event. It generous contribution to the economic growth and development is something to praise and appreciate it for.
The growth does not just come automatically and therefore requires hefty investment as well as careful planning and budgeting to ensure that everything stays within limit. The social and environmental should also be looked into keenly before embarking on such an expensive investment.
References
AECOM. (2009). AECOM Studies Economic Impact of Hosting FIFA World Cup in US. Web.
Clark, G. (2008). Local development benefits from staging global events. CA, OECD Publishing.
Cooper, C. and Hall, C. M. (2008). Contemporary tourism: an international approach. MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Green Goal Programme. (2010). Green Goal Programme. Web.
Khong, A. (2010). Benefits of Hosting World Cup Soccer. Web.
Wolfe, M. (2010). The Disadvantages of Hosting a 2010 World Cup. Web.
World Cup kick for SA economy. (2004). SouthAfrica.info. Web.