European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 – Positive summary: European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 gave strong impulses to sports, tourism and other industries in Switzerland

The Zürich 2014 promoters offer a very positive summary of the European Athletics Championships in their final report. Various analyses and surveys showed that the mega sports event not only enthused visitors and athletes, but also provided sports, tourism, and other industries in Switzerland with valuable impulses.

Immediately after being awarded the honour of hosting the 2014 European Athletics Championships, the promoters formulated nine primary goals they wanted to achieve and three premises they intended to adhere to. “We largely achieved our set of goals, and even exceeded most them,” said Patrick K. Magyar, CEO of Leichtathletik EM 2014 AG, when taking stock at a media conference at Letzigrund Stadium.

He explained that the outstanding championships served location marketing purposes and provided sports with strong valuable impulses both at grassroots and at elite level. Financial problems, which arose due to unexpectedly low revenue from ticket sales, could be solved with the help of private and public authority support. “From an overall perspective, the many positive aspects and effects by far outweighed these difficulties and helped create a sustainable Zürich 2014 legacy,“ Patrick K. Magyar concluded.

City Councillor Gerold Lauber, Head of the Department of School and Sport, agreed with him: “All positive expectations by the city were fulfilled: Hundreds of millions of TV viewers followed the competitions and saw fascinating images of our beautiful city. That in itself was an outstanding location marketing success. In addition, local trades benefitted from the value added, sports from various promotion projects, and residents from a week-long City Festival on Sechseläutenplatz.“

Mario Fehr, Governing Councillor and Head of the canton’s Department of Security, added: "The championships were an exciting athletics experience with a fantastic audience, a marathon in marvellous weather, and outstanding competitions at the stadium. We were able to prove our abilities as host for major international sport events again."

Hansjörg Wirz, President of European Athletics praised the 2014 edition of the championships: “We received excellent feedbacks from everyone involved, including member federations, TV broadcasters, and the audience. The City Festival turned Zurich into a genuine championship city, and various initiatives linked to the championships gave a boost to athletics in Switzerland.“

This last aspect was also stressed by Hansruedi Müller, President of the Board of Directors of Leichtathletik EM 2014 AG and of Swiss Athletics: “It had been one of our main goals to give a new impetus to our sport. In this respect, our expectations were exceeded by far: Over the course of the last five years, there was a double-digit increase in the area of licensed athletes, more than 120 000 children participated at a UBS Kids Cup event, and a new generation of talents with wonderful personalities has emerged. Everyone who helped make Zürich 2014 happen can be truly proud of this achievement.”

The promoters illustrated their assessment with numerous analyses and statistics. Below please find summaries of the most important findings.

Gross value added of 65.7 million Swiss francs; 7.9 million Swiss francs in tax revenue
Rütter-Soceco and the Institute of Tourism of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts examined the economic effects of the European Athletics Championships. The study revealed that Zürich 2014 triggered turnovers of 146 million Swiss francs in all of Switzerland. 95 million Swiss francs or 65% of the overall amount were generated in the canton of Zurich. The gross value added, which quantifies the share of the turnover influencing the country’s GDP, amounted to 65.7 million Swiss francs (40 million Swiss francs for the canton of Zurich). The overall tax revenues generated by Zürich 2014 amounted to 7.9 million Swiss francs.

More than 60 000 overnight stays in the Zurich area
Local tourism benefitted significantly from the championships. The various groups of visitors of Zürich 2014 generated more than 60 000 overnight stays. This number equals one eighth of all overnight stays in Zurich in August and represents a vital revenue stream to the industry during a rainy summer. The Rütter-Soceco study also showed that the championships caused no cut-throat competition effects.

Added value for location marketing: 358 million TV viewers
All in all, 358 million viewers watched the competitions on TV. Zurich and Switzerland enjoyed huge exposure created by 33 broadcasters which covered the championships during 1 677 hours.

Team leader rated the championships as “very good“
34 representatives of national federations, usually team leaders, participated in a survey providing the promoters with feedback on various aspects of the event. The overall organisation scored 8.59 on a scale of 1 to 10, thereby receiving a “very good“ rating. The same mark was awarded to the competition procedures, and the service at hotels was even considered “excellent“. The top grade of 9.59 was awarded to the Zürich 2014 volunteers.
 
Happy spectators, wonderful atmosphere
More than 2 000 stadium visitors were asked to participate in a survey to determine if and to what extent they were happy with the event. A sweeping majority provided Zürich 2014 with a positive feedback: 49.9% were “very happy“, and 44.6% were “happy“. 91% of all respondents rated the atmosphere at Letzigrund Stadium as either “very good“ (54.6%) or “good“ (36.4%).

148 498 stadium visitors, some 100 000 spectators during road races, and 220 000 visitors at the City Festival
The numbers with regard to stadium visitors are impressive, even though the goal of having a sold-out stadium was not quite achieved: 148 498 visitors attended the competitions. During evening and afternoon sessions, the stadium’s average occupancy rate was 81%, and 65% of the seats were occupied during the four morning sessions. The 220 000 visitors of the City Festival on Sechseläutenplatz, however, surpassed all expectations. The House of Switzerland welcomed more than 78 000 guests, and the 3D mapping shows on the façade of the Zurich Opera House drew more than 40 000 spectators. The athletes competing in the championship’s road races were cheered by an estimated 100 000 spectators.

Impetus to young and elite athletes
The championships made a great impact on athletics in all language regions of the country. After years of decline, the number of licensed athletes increased by 12% (from 10 217 to 11 470) between 2010 and 2014. A new generation of promising athletes emerged, led by the new 400m h European champion Kariem Hussein and record sprinter Mujinga Kambundji. While 21 athletes qualified for the championships in 2010 (based on 2014 standards), more than twice as many – 50 athletes – managed to qualify for Zürich 2014.

Equally impressive are the figures registered for the various UBS Kids Cup events, a platform for young athletes. The three-discipline competitions drew 120 973 participants this year. The project also helped athletics return to schools. 489 UBS Kids Cup events were staged on school sports grounds in 2014. When the UBS Kids Cup was launched in 2011, 54 400 participants had signed up for the events. This already impressive figure has more than doubled until 2014.

Adherence to budget, but insufficient revenue from ticket sales
The premise to adhere to the budget was achieved with respect to costs and to sponsoring agreements. However, the target with regard to revenue from ticket sales was clearly missed. There were a number of reasons for this. Lower ticket prices might have led to a higher occupancy rate of the stadium. However, the income from ticket sales would have been even lower.

Taking into account of the budgeted contributions by the City and the Canton of Zurich and the Swiss Confederation of 10 million Swiss francs, the lack of revenue from ticket sales led to a deficit of 3.161 million Swiss francs. 2.021 million Swiss francs were covered by shareholders‘ funds. The additional funding gap will be equally shared by individuals and public authorities (City and Canton of Zurich, Swiss Confederation).

Roland Hirsbrunner