The Economic Impact of Sport
The Rugby World Cup is in full flow with the quarter finals taking place over the weekend. Even with the host nation, England exiting at the group stage, the economic impact of the event on the English economy has been almost as regular a theme in the media, as the injuries hitting the home nation teams.
I want to share a slightly different perspective on the economic impact of sport, not looking at a single event, even one as big as the Rugby World Cup! Instead, I want to give you a view of a geographical area of England, and the contribution sport is making to its Economy.
The West of England, in government ‘speak’ covers the four Unitary Authorities of Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, once known as the county of Avon. It has a population of over 1.1 m, and is a mix of rural countryside, cities and towns, with Bristol, Bath and Weston Super Mare being the biggest.
In terms of sport, the West of England is above the national average in terms of regular participation in sport, and is home to a number of professional teams including Bath Rugby, Bristol Rugby, Bristol City Football and Gloucestershire Cricket.
Working with the University of the West of England’s Business School, Wesport commissioned a report into the economic impact of sport in the West of England. What did we find?
The sport sector contributes to the economy in many ways, including:
Supporting employment
Adding to the economic output through commercial activities
Contributing towards increasing expected life span of the population
Facilitating better lifestyles that can also lead to increased income levels
Helping to avoid healthcare costs
A number of other social benefits
The economic value of the sport sector is comprised of a number of monetary and non-monetary elements.
Taking this into account, we have looked to establish a value for economic impact by dividing the economic impact of sport into 3 main sectors:
Participation
Non-participation
Wider impacts.
Participation includes such things as sports services, equipment and education. Non-participation includes spectator sports and their associated broadcasting and gambling activities. Wider impacts include the value of health benefits of sport, the contribution of volunteers and the wider spending of sports spectators and participants.
So what is the value of sport to the economy of the West of England in a single financial year?
£876.7 million
This is no small number and is made up of the above elements, laid out in the infographic accompanying this post.
To put this into context, employment in sport is 50% greater than employment in the combined water, gas, electricity and waste management sectors. The gross value added is well over 50% of that generated by the entire food and accommodation sectors of the local economy. Health benefits offset some 25% of total health and social work spending.
Our researchers highlighted that every £1m of additional investment will lead to a total benefit of £2.82m to the local economy. Few, if any, other sectors can demonstrate such an impressive rate of return on support expenditure.
So there is a clear case to invest in sport, which goes way beyond the direct economic benefit in terms of gross value added and jobs created. Volunteering, and the health benefits / savings bring further benefits to our communities.
Of course, we are biased – we have known instinctively that sport is of value – this report we hope will influence those in control of finance and budgets locally, to continue investing in making the West of England a great place to live, work, and importantly to play and watch sport.
In the coming weeks, we will delve into each of the key areas identified by our research, highlighting specific areas of impact, direct and indirect.
Please share with us your thoughts and examples of the impact of sport, financial and non-financial, to help us continue to make the case for sport investment locally, nationally and internationally!
Steve Nelson
CEO, Wesport