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Go U.S.!
The debate always continues for the countries that decide to host major sporting events, such as the Olympics or World Cup, as to overall long-term value to the country. For countries such as Chile, who qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1998, the spending on jerseys, televisions and other products present an immediate boost to the economy.
In terms of advertising, the final numbers will be very interesting, and estimates have companies spending more than a billion dollars to promote their products at the World Cup. In the U.S., we are already seeing some excellent ads from the retail side (Nike, Puma, Adidas).
However, there is an economic downside to the World Cup that will be seen on a global level- that of the loss of worker productivity. While in the U.S. the effect will most likely be less than that of NCAA Basketball’s March Madness, you can certainly expect a significant loss of productivity from the fans of all teams involved in the World Cup who will be setting up their brackets at ESPN, or who may be just a little less focused than usual when their team is playing.
According to a recent article in U.S. News and World Report, the World Cup will likely cost American companies 10 minutes of productivity a day for 21 days, which is estimated to be about $121.7 million in lost productivity in the U.S. In other countries, the figures are much higher, with the British economy forecasts estimating a cost of $7.36 billion. While I haven’t yet seen calculations for countries such as Brazil, Italy, Mexico and Chile, I’m sure the costs will be staggering as well.
From a business perspective, it is just good business to know the World Cup schedule, so that if you need to call on a company in Mexico on game day, you’ll know to wait until after the game is over before calling. If you are happy about a U.S. win over England (hopefully), you may want to keep the gloating to a minimum when speaking with a client who is English.
So check your local World Cup viewing guides such as this one for San Francisco, download the appropriate app for your phone, pick up your team’s jersey at Nike Online, set up your office pool, work on your fake cough, and of course get to bed early as the games are at odd hours (all South Africa time). For those who are even a bit more daring there is of course numerous online gaming options such as this one
