Benefits of a London Olympics to the UK

Sporting Benefits

Pre-Games Preparation Camps

More than 200 nations will compete in the 2012 Olympic Games, and around 150 nations in the Paralympic games. Some could use the UK as a base for presentation camps in the months leading up to the Games.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) has for many years established multi sport holding camps to prepare their athletes for the Games. Team GB, for example, based itself in Queensland before the Sydney Games delivering up to A$6M to the local economy.

The Australian experience shows that around 125 teams from 39 countries undertook pre-games training in locations across New South Wales. This training is estimated to have injected some A$70 million into the States economy (PWC, 2002). This activity commenced as early as 1997 when the Belgian athletics team trained at Narrabeen.

In addition to attracting investment to the towns where visiting teams choose to train, the prospect of hosting teams for many months before the Games could act as a catalyst for developing and refurbishing existing UK sports facilities.

Hosting Elite Sports Events

An Olympic host nation is obliged by the IOC to stage various large scale "test events" such as world championships 6-18 months prior to them staging the Olympic and Paralympic Games. In addition, International Sports Federations are keen to hold world and European championships and other major events in the Olympic host country to enable their athletes to acclimatise and become familiar with that country.

Such events are likely to be held several years before the Games and can deliver several million pounds to the relevant town/host city. For example Birmingham City Council concluded that its hosting the World Indoor Athletics Championships and World Badminton Championships in 2003 had a positive economic impact of £3.5M and £2.5M respectively.

UK-wide football competition

Our plan is to play the preliminary rounds of the football competition at stadiums across the UK with clear economic benefits for those areas.

Enhanced Sporting Performance

Hosting the Games is likely to improve the performance of domestic athletes. For example:

Korea won 12 golds in Seoul 1988; compared with 6 in LA 1984
Spain won 13 golds in Barcelona 1992; compared to just 1 in Seoul 1988.
Australia won 16 golds in Sydney 2000: compared with 9 in Atlanta 1996.

Increased Sports Funding

Based on the experiences of former host Olympic c

ountries, it is possible that funding for the development of elite athletes in the years running up to the Games will increase. Also, a UK hosted Games is likely to generate unprecedented levels of interest from business and local authorities that could, in turn, open up further channels of funding for sport at all levels.

Boosting participation in sport/physical activity

Hosting the worlds greatest sporting event given the passion, excitement and interest likely to be generated could act as a key catalyst in helping the Government achieve its target to get more of the UK population physically active by 2020.

Non-Sporting Benefits

Procurement Opportunities for UK Companies

Thousands of UK companies could be involved in meeting the needs of the Games, i.e. construction, manufacturing, catering, merchandise, services etc. The experience from Sydney showed that New South Wales business won over A$1Billion in contracts for the Games (PWC report), over A$300M from regional companies with 55,000 people receiving employment related training.

Boost to UK tourism

Tourism will receive a significant boost, not just for the 4 weeks of the Olympic & Paralympics but for months, indeed years, before and after. PWC concluded that the Sydney Games generated A$6.1 Billion worth of international publicity for Brand Australia and over A$6 billion in spending by an additional 1.6M visitors between 1997-2001. During 1993-96, after Sydney was named host of the 2000 Games, Sydneys convention & exhibition sector grew significantly international visitors grew by 78%.

UK-wide Olympic Torch Relay & Cultural programmes

The Olympic Torch tour in 2012 possibly lasting several months is likely to involve every major city and town in the UK. In addition cultural programmes will take place for several years in advance of the Games right across the UK.

Volunteers drawn from across the UK

L2012 estimates that up to 70,000 volunteers would be required to help run the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. This would require the biggest volunteer recruitment drive in UK peacetime, providing a unique boost both to sport specific, and general, volunteering in the UK.