Why the 2010 FIFA World Cup matters so much

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - It will take some time for most of us to wrap our heads around this, but the 2010 FIFA World Cup -- which wrapped last night in Johannesburg with Spain's 1-0 championship win over the Netherlands -- is the most important modern-era global sports event the world has ever witnessed.

Never has a sports event meant as much, either to a host nation domestically, the hosting continent or to the world around it.

I'm not talking about sport business basics such as ticket sales, which saw more than three million spectators take in the 64 matches at 10 venues around South Africa. It's not about revenue generation, which saw FIFA sell a record $3.3 B US in sponsorships, television and other commercial rights on the strength of the tournament. And it's also not about television grandeur, despite the more than 700 million -- or the equivalent of between four and five Super Bowl audiences -- who would have watched Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas set up Andres Iniesta with the winning marker in extra time or the multiple billions in aggregate audiences the month-long event drew in 215 countries.

I'm talking about sheer economic, political and social significance to South Africa and the rest of the world.

Since winning the rights to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup in 2004, South Africa invested more than 39 billion rand or $5.3 billion in stadia and transportation infrastructure, including upgrades to highways, airports and transit systems. The stadium projects alone generated 66,000 jobs. What South Africa now has in terms of Planes, Trains and Automobiles -- or better still, planes, trains and buses -- is a far cry forward from what it had a half-decade ago.

And you simply cannot build an open country or modern economy without them.

The total direct spend on the World Cup hosting will come in at R55 B or almost $8 B. According to Grant Thornton Strategic Solutions, that will mean a contribution of close to R93 B or $13 B to South Africa's Gross Domestic Product. Most analysts believe the World Cup has accounted for almost half of the country's GDP this year and over the past couple of years as the ramp-up to the event gained steam.

With estimates of more than 400,000 tourists visiting South Africa for the World Cup alone -- and twice that overall -- the impact on tourism in South Africa in particular and Africa in general will be felt for years to come. That kind of public relations, in turn, will improve the media negativity the country has endured for decades.

And that is what makes the 2010 FIFA World Cup such a bellweather among global sports events. It is by no means an instant fix for South Africa nor an elixir for the country's complex economic, political and social problems. What it is, however, is a tremendous opportunity for the country -- and the continent -- to improve its lot on the world stage. It provides a marketing platform like never before to attract the kind of foreign investment -- from Europe and North America as well as existing partners in China and India -- that creates employment and stimulates development.

It will take a decade -- or perhaps a generation -- but that investment will lead to new jobs and those new jobs will lead to better lives for millions of South Africans.

It's that differential impact which makes the 2010 World Cup a more significant event than even the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, which were a powerful global showcase for the People's Republic of China. The difference is that China's emergence was already happening and its economic growth was coming anyway.

I'm not so sure the same can be said for a South Africa that is only 16 years removed from apartheid. It is a country that "was not even part of the world less than two decades ago", as a South African here reminded me over the weekend. At so many levels -- public relations, tourism, investment and national, even continental, unity -- the World Cup has changed that forever.

As South Africa in particular and Africa in general gain traction with meaningful investment and development in the decades to come -- and the benefits of hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup go beyond businesses in the major cities and trickle down from the small percentage of South Africans who saw immediate economic impact -- remember what opened the country and the continent to the world.

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Quebec Flyers, BC Blackhawks and Canada Sharks each have their merits, but only Montreal Canadiens register economic impact in Canada

The San Jose Sharks have more Canadians on their roster than any of the four teams remaining in the National Hockey League's 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.


The Chicago Blackhawks have the biggest bevy of British Columbians while the Philadelphia Flyers boast the most Quebeckers.

Yet despite having fewer Canadians than the Canada Sharks and fewer Quebecois than the Quebec Flyers, only the Montreal Canadiens have a macro economic impact on their city, their province and, by extension, their country.

Nine unanswered goals in a 2-0 series lead might suggest the Flyers will limit the number of home games left in Montreal, but the Canadiens will drive box office revenues of more than $5.5 million per game night at the Bell Centre after earning $25 million in ticket receipts from their seven-game series miracles over the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Add a half-million dollars in concession and merchandise sales per game and you have a winfall not only for the Habs, but for their official suppliers, licensees and the federal and provincial tax agencies.

Each televised game fills restaurants, pubs and brasseries in Montreal; each home game moreso. The beer flows and wings fly at sports bars throughout Quebec and across Canada, expanding the economic impact beyond the confines of the second largest city in the country.

The buzz is also economically palpable for CBC and RDS, who are generally doubling their audience numbers on the strength of having a Canadian team in the conference finals. When a combined average audience of more than six million Canadians watch Hockey Night in Canada and RDS -- almost one of every five Canadians -- it's good for those broadcast companies. Radio rights holders glean similar upside.

More eyeballs and ears following a Canadian team in the final four also means -- at least theoretically -- more returns on investment for domestic advertising sponsors such as Scotiabank, Tim Hortons and Golf Town.

So whatever your take is on what makes a local franchise take on national team status or whether the Montreal Canadiens have any right to your spring allegiance, make no mistake that they are the only team left registering an impact on the Canadian economy.

The Sharks, Flyers and the Blackhawks have varying degrees of fan equity in Canada, but love them or hate them, only the success of the Canadiens on and off the ice makes a tangible, financial difference for Canadians, Canadian broadcasters and other Canadian companies.

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