An independent study commissioned by The R&A and carried out by sports economists at Sheffield Hallam University forecasts that The Open Championship to be staged at Royal Liverpool later this year will deliver an economic benefit of £75m to the regional economy of Wirral and Liverpool.
The headline figure includes a forecast economic impact of £30m derived mostly from spending in the local economy by an anticipated 200,000 spectators and an estimated destination marketing benefit of £45 million gained through global television exposure of the week-long event.
Researchers at the Sport Industry Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam based their economic impact forecast on the results of more than 10,000 interviews with spectators, players, the media, event staff, sponsors and organisers carried out over the last four Open Championships.
It follows work the team has done in providing economic forecasts for the Ryder Cup, Manchester football and the Ashes test match at Lords this summer.
Sheffield Hallam’s SIRC, led by Professor Simon Shibli, based their economic impact forecast on spending patterns established in 10,000 interviews carried out at The Open Championship over a four-year period from 2010 to 2013. The research methodology employed complies with the eventIMPACTS national event evaluation framework developed by SIRC for UK Sport.
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