Australia has just wrapped up one of its biggest weekends in sport, with the Grand Finals for AFL and NRL held in Melbourne and Sydney respectively.
It would be difficult for any Australian to completely avoid footy fever, as the Broncos and the Cowboys descended on Sydney from Queensland for the NRL Grand Final, and the Eagles headed east from WA to take on the Hawks in Melbourne’s AFL Grand Final.
It is estimated that up to 40,000 fans made the journey to support their teams in both sports, generating income upward of $60 million for the host cities from direct spending on accommodation, transport, food and entertainment.
In addition to the economic impact of increased tourism spending, large sporting events have the immediate impact of adding vibrancy and diversity to cities, influencing the intrinsic experience of residents and visitors. The high demand and huge influx of visitors also provide great exposure to many other parts of the destination – the city’s unique spaces, natural environment, cultural events and activities – that can have a longer-term legacy impact for the city.
A combination of economic, tourism and social impacts explains why cities invest billions of dollars to host Olympic Games, World Cups and other major sporting events. The use of a tool such as Culture Counts to measure the non-monetary intrinsic impact of such investments can give governments and decision-making bodies stronger evidence of the broad benefit of their investment and help with planning for more impactful future events.
Image Source: AFL grand final parade – http://www.theaustralian.com.au
