by Domnall Óg
Home >> Business Goals - The World Cup 2006
The television rights alone will accrue €1,000,000,000 and the money made from marketing, €400,000,000, will be double that made on tickets to the game. The governing body of the ‘sport’ FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association—World Football Federation), think that football supporters will buy about €2,000,000 worth of merchandise related with the World Cup. This is an important figure for FIFA as they will be taking a 15 – 20% cut. Not bad for an entity registered in Switzerland as a ‘not-for-profit’ organisation. FIFA pays only 4.25% in business taxes. That makes most people’s Declaracion de la Renta look like a signed confession.
Being a sponsor of an event such as the World Cup is an enormous money spinner. In Germany 2006 there are the usual suspects – the sports equipment manufacturer Adidas, the sweet drink maker Coca Cola and the hamburger seller MacDonalds. I’m not sure how world class sport and the last two sponsors go together but business is, I am told, business.
Sponsors are treated like kings. And why not? They are paying a lot of money for the privilege. Many of the football stadiums have been altered to include special VIP boxes where the sponsors can enjoy their free tickets and entertain clients.
The World Cup is an enormous event for the German economy. Nobody has paid much notice to Germany since the Berlin Wall was demolished some 16 years ago. With unemployment at 12 % and no real growth in the last quarter of the year 2005, Germany needs a world showcase to illustrate its efficiency and seriousness as a business destination.
The German government has launched a ‘Land of Ideas’ campaign to attract foreign investors. It rightly boasts of being a nation of innovation. Germany sells more goods to the world than any other nation. So the World Cup is a tremendous opportunity to stop the recent backslides in other economic indicators.
But is the World Cup euphoria justified? There are some voices of gloom and doom inside Germany who say that the economic benefits of the tournament will not be as high as some have hoped – maybe as little as 0.25% growth!
Whoever raises the World Cup Trophy on July 9th one thing is certain. The business winners will be FIFA. They will have made staggering 25% more money than they did in the last world cup. After all, theirs is business that always gets the goals!
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Posted on http://www.weeklyletter.com at 2006-06-12 11:26:00 +0200
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I would like someone explain me why football has to be connected with sex. These days we can listen and read news about this subject and I think is something very horrible.
I hope someone does explain that perceived relationship to you but I don’t think it will happen here in a BUSINESS ENGLISH forum.
By the way, please remember to REGISTER and LOG IN so we can see who you are!
But what if I would like to know what that was about?!!
Gina,
Well…if you do want to know what that was about…er….bad luck. This forum is about another type of business altogether!
:-)))))
Hey, hey no monkey business here!
I enjoyed your article very much Donal…of course I did want to satisfy your curiosity on your doubt about why Coca Cola and MacDonalds are involved in Sports events. But I figured you already knew, so you really weren’t looking for an answer… you just wanted to take another jab at multinationals for being American and powerful…oh, yeah, by the way, there are a lot of hungry and thirsty fans of your weekly out here with a cup that reads “Coc…something” and a sandwich that looks like it’s round…..keep up the good work!
Paul,
Not at all.
I drink coca-cola and eat at MacDonalds. I have no problem with their nationality. I don’t even mention their nationality!
Some great things have come out of the US. Walt Whitman’s poetry collection Leaves of Grass is a milestone in World literature. George Gershwin was a genius. The US gave us Jazz and the Blues. And thank you!
I was merely pointing to the contrast between an athletic activity such as International Soccer and a sugarey drink and a hambuger. Such food is banned in UK schools as being unfit for children.
And as for them being powerful. What’s wrong with that?
I stand corrected! And yes, you are absolutely right about the “irony” of it all. I got a kick out of “Heineken’s” sponsorship of several tennis tournaments last year…but I most certainly enjoyed the commercials in between sets. But beer definitely has more vitamins and minerals than the carbohydrates packed into hamburgers and Coke, that’s for sure!
I want to see Trinidad and Tobago in the final! Talk about free publicity for a country! Iran also played very well and I was sad to see them lose. I am hoping to see an upset in the game tonight against BRAZIL. Go Croatia! and of course, we wish the home team well – GO SPAIN!
As an Irishman I am supporting every team that plays against England.
GO WHOEVER!
:-))
D
Nowadays sports are synonymous with business. As money is the chief, all the things are permitted. Clubs can invest an exorbitant amount of money to get a player while there are people who don’t have water to drink or food to eat.
Where is the sport spirit?
Nevertheless, I support Trinidad Tobago too.
Hello Dónal,
I agree that football is a business, so is music, and movies, and getting married and I could go on explaining how everything has a business around it or it’s a business itself, so, where is the surprise?
I think this is the way we, somehow, have decided to live. Do we have a choice or are we just victims of this huge business that someone is putting around us?
Best regards and let’s see how Spain does in just a few minutes!!!!!!
Cristina
Hello Cristinad,
Thank you for your comments. Should everything be thought of as a business?
We should marry for love not for economic advantage and we should play sport for the joy of measuring ourselves against noble competitors not to enlarge our wallets.
Hello Donald.
I’m agree with you. I’m married for love not for money. But the problem is that some people said that they are gointg to get married to obtein money to go on honeymoon and to have a lot of presents.
For this reason, Cristina said that to get married is business. We need to recognize that a lot of things are mixed with business.
-When you get married, sometimes you invited your family to have a lunch in a restaurant. (Which is too much expensive).
-When you play sport you need some special clothes.. (Adidas, Nike, Umbro, Reebook, ....)
-When you are watching TV there are commercials that invited us to buy something.
Best regards
Hi all,
I had no idea about all those business figures related with the football WorldCup, so far. At least I’m happy it is not the football players this time who make so much money with this.
I missed one data in that article, the worl audience of this event. All the figures come from that huge number, don’t they?
Hello Dónal (and everyone),
In my previous post I was trying to say that nowadays, almost any activity or thing involving a group of people has a business around it: preparing a wedding, going to a footbal game, going to a concert and so on. There are a lot of people making money around a sport, a celebration, a music band, etc.
I think that I do have a choice.
Let me put it this way: I can be a footbal fan and I don’t have to buy the 60 EUR shirt, I can get married, but I don’t necessarily need to pay 1,000 EUR for the pictures or 400 EUR for the religious ceremony, etc.
But somehow we like being in the wheel…we make all those businesses work, we are reinforcing this system, aren’t we?
By the way Spain was awesome!!!
Regards,
Cristina
Who is Donald?????
Manuel,
The cumulative viewing figure for the 2002 world cup was 28.8 billion viewers.
Congratulations to Spain on a job well done! Now it’s Tunisia’s turn..(on June 19th at 21:00) to experience the Spanish wrath!
Let me tell you about the latest business I am involved in called “Family and Married Life”... it’s amazing…you don’t make any money with itYou spend any money you may have made along the way, but you are still the happiest man on earth…when will we ever learn…
Paul
Christina,
The problem you identify is, I think, a question of education and vakour. We need to have the wisdom to see how we are manipulated and the courage to say no to the unacceptable face of capitalism.
Dónal
(not Donald, not Dónald, not anything connected with a Walt Disney duck)
Hello Dónal,
Sorry for misspelling your name. I have already corrected the spelling in the previous post
Until now the only Donal I knew was Donald duck, I think that is why I wrote your name wrong.
Regards,
Cristina
No problem Cristina!
Donald is Scottish but my name is Irish. A small but important difference!
And, by the way, thank you for so many wise comments!!!
Donal,
I find your opinions reminiscent of lenin-marxism which tried to brainwash the peoples of various nations into believing that life came down to a fight between oppressed and oppressors. This is a very narrow vision of our human existence, and at best, a complete disregard for one of your own beliefs: in the goodness of human nature.
Capitalism does have many evils. Socialism and Communism even more. No human structure or organization is exempt from mistakes and evils, but to make such a vast generalisation and especially introduce this philosophy regarding the World Cup Football competition seems uncalled for. I do however respect your position, and just wanted to offer an opinion which differs a bit from your own. So I guess I would have to “agree to disagree.” Ha ha!
Paul
What are you talking about?
Who mentioned Marx or Lenin? Can you give us one example so we can all understand you? Where do I mention oppressed and oppressors? Evidence please!
The article contains two opinions. One is that FIFA’s category as a ‘not for profit’ organisation is questionable. The other is that..oops…no there is only ONE opinion in the piece. The rest is factual information.
Maybe you were thinking about Groucho not Karl!
LOL
—NOTE to STUDENTS
LOL means Laughing Out Loud. It’s an abbreviation used in chatrooms, forums and SMS messages.
Others inlcude
AFAIK As Far As I Know
AFAIR As Far As I Remember
BFN Bye For Now
JAM Just A Minute
JFI Just For Information
JIC Just In Case
JK Just Kidding
JMO Just My Opinion
JTLYK Just To Let You Know
KHYF Know How You Feel
KISS Keep It Simple, Stupid
LLTA Lots and Lots of Thunderous Applause
LMHO Laughing My Head Off
ROFL Rolling On Floor Laughing
RTWT Read The Whole Thing (blog term)
TYVM Thank You Very Much
YAOTM Yet Another Off-Topic Message
Donal,
You forgot WTF.
Did we mean Marx-Engels? Ah, great memories of Pol. Sc. classes…
Donal,
I think the comment “say no to the “unacceptable” face of capitalism” breathes airs of marx-leninist theory against capitalism. The fact of the matter is that (if I understand your position correctly) that you are basically opposed to anyone making lots of money because there are poor people in the world…since when does money make a person truly rich?
As far as the evidence I have, need I cite your constant referrals to the “big, bad businesses” that sponsor these world events? As far as the World Football Association or however it’s called, there is no doubt – of course they make big fat profits! They are involved in a current scandal. If I would begin to tell you about the number of football-related businessmen in Madrid that approached me with business propositions to cover up their profits it would make your head spin. To those who wish to hide their business, I concur with you! Wow, there’s a big surprise!
Anyway, the oppressed are everyone who is not making that money and the oppressors are the ones who have organised the biggest world even. Sounds to me pretty viable…
In any event, this is meant to be a viewpoint, not a discourse, and once again, congratulations on a great article!
Paul
Say no to the bad face of anything, and yes to the good face of that something. That’s what Dónal means.
You ask ‘need I cite your constant referrals to the “big, bad businessesâ€?...?’
Yes. Cite them. Back up your opinions. Go on. Try it.
The expression ‘unacceptable face of capitalism’ was coined by Sir Edward Heath. A British Conservative Prime Minister (1916-2005). The Conservatives are the British equivalent to the Partido Popular.
——More for the list of acronyms: ASAP (= as soon as possible)
Also ALF.
And it’s good to have read BOTH Simone de Beauvoir and Ayn Rand. I owe a lot to BOTH.