by Hinsley Njila
Sports economists are always interested in what the lasting economic benefits are for a country or city that hosts a major tournament like the African Nations cup, World cup or European competition. Almost all of them agree that because of the costs involved in running these competitions (security, logistics, payroll etc), it is almost impossible to breakeven or turn any kind of profit.
In fact many are plunged into debts that sometimes take decades to pay off. Case in point, Canada just serviced its last note from the last Olympics it hosted in the 80s a few months ago. Because hosting these games are so expensive, many developed countries often opt for high quality durably designed world class facilities that long after the competition would still generate some revenue to service bonds taken out by local governments. That is why London has already in place, adequate plans for how its new Olympics venues would generate money well after 2012, so did Atlanta, Athens, Rio, Madrid and so on. In case you’re wondering, Austria and Switzerland do, and Ghana doesn’t, Burkina Faso didn’t and so on.
So why do poor countries bid to host these competitions you ask, and how have they faired in the past, how did they secure bonds for previous competitions?
All great questions, why you’re so smart. Sadly, poor countries have never been honest with their people about the costs involved in hosting a competition as such. For one, some of the huge amount of debt they currently carry also includes that for sports competitions for countries that have hosted in the past. In the past, they have refused paying their players and coaches’ salaries as a way to offset payroll costs (sort of), and worse of all they have always opted for the worst facilities that never even last till the end of the competition. None of the countries (including Ghana and Cameroon) that have won these competitions multiple times have any decent sports facilities to show for it. Corruption and debt servicing have eclipsed all potential economic gains.
After the competition, poor people especially those around competition venues are often left with inflated prices, scarcity for basic goods, no lasting employment as most jobs are event based, and of course the all too familiar forgotten promises. What a disgrace to humanity. In the first day of the current competition, the Ghanaian players and coaches thought the stadium they played Guinea on was the worst any of them had ever seen (I rest my case).
Competitions are also supposed to spur the development of young talent, like players and coaches. For as long as I can remember (and that’s a long time), African teams have always been coached by foreign coaches. That’s just disgusting in 2008 I can tell you, especially with the abundance of ex-African stars like Abedi Pele, Roger Miller, George Weah, Daniel Amocachi etc who are more than qualified to coach even some of the best teams in Europe. Develop your own coaches, referees and players people; get yourself in a position to truly address the causes and effects of poverty in your communities.
Lastly, log on to the web sites of the two soccer competitions taking place this year [euro 2008 (http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/index.html) and Ghana 2008 (http://www.ghanacan2008.com/) ], and you’ll get my point.
Ghana 2008 has a laughable website with almost no commercial support, while on the Euro 2008 website, there’s almost no more space available for a new advertiser. The competition is being supported by some of the world’s biggest companies in terms of revenue. Of course some reasons for that are too lengthy for this article, but it shows you clearly why these competitions are not to be hosted by poor countries. You’d expect MTN, Orange, Renault, Carrefour and others that have exploited the African consumer to be advertising on a website as such.
Develop your human capital by educating your people and get them out of poverty before you start hosting competitions, and create committees that can get the kind of corporate sponsors needed to offset some of the massive costs. 2008 results are as follows:
Winner = Euro 2008
Clear loser = Ghana 2008
Disclaimer: Ghana 2008, Euro 2008 and all others mentioned are respective trademarks of their owners.
So why do poor countries bid to host these competitions you ask, and how have they faired in the past, how did they secure bonds for previous competitions?
All great questions, why you’re so smart. Sadly, poor countries have never been honest with their people about the costs involved in hosting a competition as such. For one, some of the huge amount of debt they currently carry also includes that for sports competitions for countries that have hosted in the past. In the past, they have refused paying their players and coaches’ salaries as a way to offset payroll costs (sort of), and worse of all they have always opted for the worst facilities that never even last till the end of the competition. None of the countries (including Ghana and Cameroon) that have won these competitions multiple times have any decent sports facilities to show for it. Corruption and debt servicing have eclipsed all potential economic gains.
After the competition, poor people especially those around competition venues are often left with inflated prices, scarcity for basic goods, no lasting employment as most jobs are event based, and of course the all too familiar forgotten promises. What a disgrace to humanity. In the first day of the current competition, the Ghanaian players and coaches thought the stadium they played Guinea on was the worst any of them had ever seen (I rest my case).
Competitions are also supposed to spur the development of young talent, like players and coaches. For as long as I can remember (and that’s a long time), African teams have always been coached by foreign coaches. That’s just disgusting in 2008 I can tell you, especially with the abundance of ex-African stars like Abedi Pele, Roger Miller, George Weah, Daniel Amocachi etc who are more than qualified to coach even some of the best teams in Europe. Develop your own coaches, referees and players people; get yourself in a position to truly address the causes and effects of poverty in your communities.
Lastly, log on to the web sites of the two soccer competitions taking place this year [euro 2008 (http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/index.html) and Ghana 2008 (http://www.ghanacan2008.com/) ], and you’ll get my point.
Ghana 2008 has a laughable website with almost no commercial support, while on the Euro 2008 website, there’s almost no more space available for a new advertiser. The competition is being supported by some of the world’s biggest companies in terms of revenue. Of course some reasons for that are too lengthy for this article, but it shows you clearly why these competitions are not to be hosted by poor countries. You’d expect MTN, Orange, Renault, Carrefour and others that have exploited the African consumer to be advertising on a website as such.
Develop your human capital by educating your people and get them out of poverty before you start hosting competitions, and create committees that can get the kind of corporate sponsors needed to offset some of the massive costs. 2008 results are as follows:
Winner = Euro 2008
Clear loser = Ghana 2008
Disclaimer: Ghana 2008, Euro 2008 and all others mentioned are respective trademarks of their owners.
Hinsley Njila is a PrinceReport special correspondent
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