SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Hosting the soccer World Cup finals in 2018 or 2022 could contribute more than A$5 billion ($4.07 billion) to the country’s economy, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said yesterday.
Rudd was officially launching the country’s bid to host the finals at a slick ceremony, which was also broadcast live on television, at Parliament House in Canberra.
“Even if you have no passion for this great game, look simply at the economics of it,” Rudd said. “Look at the extraordinary opportunity for Australia.
“The total revenue to be derived, when you take into account visitations … and from the additional opportunites for business we stand to earn some A$5 billion from this single event.
“It’s not to be sneezed at.”
Rudd added the television exposure generated from hosting the finals would be invaluable to Australia’s global recognition.
“This is much bigger than economics. This is an extraordianry opportunity for us to showcase Australia to the world,” he added.
“The cumulative viewing audience for the 2006 World Cup (in Germany) was 26 billion … it is projected the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will rise to 40 billion.
“The rugby World Cup we hosted in 2003 had a total audience of 3.2 billion.”
Australia is bidding against England, Russia, Indonesia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, the United States, Mexico and joint bids from Portugal and Spain and the Netherlands and Belgium for rights to host either the 2018 or 2022 finals.
A decision on the successful bids will be made by world governing body FIFA in December 2010.
The Australian government pledged A$45 million to help the bid campaign, which would also highlight Australia’s expertise at organising large scale sporting events, Rudd said.
“We are good at doing these things and it is the combination of that expertise that will underpin our prospects in realising this bid,” he added.
“We have done it with the Olympics in Melbourne. We did it again in Sydney. We have done it with three Commonwealth Games, and we did it for the rugby World Cup.
“The challenges are great, but the prize is much greater.”