At 9 p.m. on Friday, June 14, host Germany and Scotland will take the field at Munich Football Arena in Munich, kicking off EURO 2024. After the touring formula of 2020, postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic, the top soccer tournament organized by UEFA is returning to a single country, in ten German cities.
Inen-US Tradotto addition to the exploits of Europe's best players, which will be consigned to the buzzing squares and, once the cup is hoisted into the air, to the annals of soccer, sporting events such as EURO 2024 mobilize significant volumes of investment designed to achieve economic returns, image and global positioning. A major sporting event, in short, is never just a chance to see some good play.
Together with Alan Quaglieri and Alessandro Siviero, professional lecturer and senior lecturer of SUPSI's Bachelor in Leisure Management, we shift the spotlight from the playing rectangle and the packed stands to the promotional machine set in motion, with two complementary points of view on the opportunities and contradictions behind a major event like the upcoming European Championship.
“These big events have, among their main objectives, to promote a positive image of the country and host cities,” Alan Quaglieri began. This image can be spent on various levels and in various areas, as part of medium- to long-term nation branding and city branding strategies. Among these, there is certainly tourism. Indeed, for destinations with little presence in the international tourist imagination, major events offer a formidable showcase to give broad visibility to the area with an appealing image. But even for destinations that are already well-known and established, the organization of an Olympics or a World Cup are an opportunity to refresh and enrich the territory's image, thus strengthening their competitiveness in the tourism market.
An event such as EURO 2024 also provides an opportunity to test the organizational capacity of Germany and the host cities. In the case of a positive outcome, there would be a demonstration of know-how and an efficient governance system that would favor the awarding of other major events in the future and, at the same time, of a system-country dynamism that would refresh the ability to attract investors.
Finally, there are soft power strategies, with the attempt to project an alluring image of a country on international public opinion. Cultural industries and sports have always, over at least the past century, had an important political dimension. It should come as no surprise, then, that associating one's image prominently with soccer, the most global sport is followed in the world, can help strengthen one's diplomatic capacity on the various international theaters.”
Expectations about possible positive returns are paralleled by the same auspices of companies that see an attractive business opportunity around a major event.
“An event like EURO 2024 increases the possibilities of marketing products and services related to the host country and, in some cases, to the participating countries,” adds Alessandro Siviero. Often even companies that are not involved in the event activate promotions and take advantage of the communication wave related to soccer. These events generate a movement that companies can exploit to generate profits.”
A major event under the banner of sustainability?
One of the main themes accompanying communication today is the concept of sustainability. EURO 2024 is no exception, and indeed, it promises to be an event that is respectful of the environment, the territory and the host population. Germany and UEFA have invested millions to achieve this, but in the wake of the promises made by the World Cup in Qatar, and the less-than-sustainable concept of the previous traveling European Championship, it is legitimate to ask how sustainable EURO 2024 will actually be.
“In major events, the issue of sustainability is very strong for several reasons,” Siviero continued. We hope that the first of them is a conviction of values: it is important not only to talk, but above all to act from a sustainable perspective. Having said that, we need to think about other aspects: sustainability is also a communication issue, a trending topic, which affects the qualitative perception of a major event. Second, sponsors who support the event with significant economic investments try to transfer the concept of sustainability into their activities and tie it to their brand. This generates a particular interest in events that talk about sustainability and pose as sustainable. The theme has importance on many levels.”
However, these attempts, if unsupported by concrete actions, are jumping out more and more. The public is alert and sensitive to attempts at green washing and does not remain impassive to those who boast of being sustainable in words but not in deeds.
For Alan Quaglieri:"In recent times, within public opinion, above all, in the West there has been growing perplexity about the actual ability of these major events to produce a positive and fair balance in terms of the impacts generated on the land. In fact, more and more initiatives to organize major events have foundered due to lack of support from the citizenry. In recent decades, the promises and hopes of making an Olympics or a World Cup a driver for socio-economic development have often been dashed by editions blamed for too unfair a distribution of costs and benefits both economically and socially among the various stakeholders.
For this EURO 2024, however, the organizers have promised an edition that is economically viable and sustainable, above all, from an environmental point of view. In this sense, Germany intends to make the event part of its “green” agenda while also making the event a showcase for strengthening its international reputation for environmental sustainability.
Tell me who sponsors you and I will tell you who you are
The declarations of intent followed by sustainable initiatives and the attempt to profile itself through an official narrative that insists on accountability for this major event, creaks a bit, or at least raises contradictions, when one focuses on the list of global sponsors supporting EURO 2024.
“Looking at the sponsors of major events you can understand the new global balances, there is an evolution of the global economic environment. In the past we found big U.S. and European brands, today we find online players in tourism, artificial intelligence companies, and companies from the East. The list of sponsors also gives an indication of where the cash needed to be able to support these kinds of sponsorships is concentrated; it tells us a lot about how global product production and marketing arrangements are shaping up. Having said that, there are elements of value coherence that, when analyzed, do not add up: a large Middle Eastern airline is a sponsor of a European Championship where teams and staff could comfortably travel by train; among the sponsors are companies from the East of the world that do massive distribution of low-cost products; there is a betting platform. Inconsistencies in values are unfortunately easily offset by communication activities. It is a jarring element if the analysis of communication is deeper,” Siviero concludes.
“The contradictions around sponsorships are increasingly denounced by the public opinion - adds Quaglieri. In addition to those already mentioned, EURO 2024 sees the sponsorship of a Chinese electric car brand. In the heart of the European automotive industry, in a country that has made major investments in the transition to electric mobility, this sponsorship has raised concerns. On the one hand, one might think that not using this showcase to promote European production in this strategic sector is a missed opportunity; on the other, some might say, 'It's globalization beauty!'”