According to the Senate, Berlin generated a so-called city return of 1.017 billion euros from the European Football Championship. This comes from a current report from the Senate to the House of Representatives, which is available to the rbb. This means that the tournament significantly exceeds the forecast of the Berlin Senate, which had expected a city return of around 600 million.
The basis is figures that the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) had collected for the whole of Germany. Accordingly, the ten host cities together achieved added value of around seven billion euros. However, the Senate Department of the Interior points out in its report that these figures are preliminary and that a complete analysis will not be available until 2025.
Berlin had invested around 84 million euros in hosting the European Championship, including in the fan mile at the Brandenburg Gate. Before the tournament, experts had feared that the European Football Championship would not generate any significant additional income, among other things because football tourists could displace other tourists.
In the past, the term “city return” was used primarily in connection with public housing companies, but it is now also used in other policy areas. This refers to the short- and long-term added value of a public investment, for example when promoting events or purchasing real estate.
The calculation includes, for example, income from hotels, restaurants and retailers, as well as measured image and advertising values and investments in the city’s infrastructure. Overall, the term “city return” is used as an argument to justify investments in and costs of major events and to increase their acceptance among the population.
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, October 1st, 2024, 7 a.m
