Using data to clarify the impact of football
PwC data analysts have for the first time identified clearly how football contributes to society and the economy.
What was the problem?
The Royal Dutch Football Association KNVB, the More than Football Foundation, the Eredivisie Partnership, and the First Division Cooperative (CED) needed a better understanding of the economic and social impact that football has and can have. Just as in the business sector, football needs to fully demonstrate the impact of social measures and projects in such areas as sustainability.
After all, football is more than just a game. It is in fact the biggest social network in the country and it makes a major contribution to Dutch society, in terms of health, connecting people, education, and the economy. Football is able to get people involved and bring them together. The organisations mentioned above realise that we can do more in this regard than we often realise.
So what was the solution?
PwC’s data analysts developed both a measuring tool and a control tool. Besides understanding the strength of football in the broadest sense, the organisations wanted to know how it can be strengthened at regional level.
Based on these objectives, we have developed a new measuring tool that breaks down the impact of football into four components:
- its contribution to the economy;
- its contribution to connecting people;
- its contribution to health; and
- its contribution to education and development.
The measurement method developed during the project builds on existing studies and methods, including those of the Working Group on the Evaluation of Sports Events (WESP). In order to quantify the strength of football, we have compiled the known elements and expanded them into a tool that, for the first time, identifies football’s financial and non-financial value.
For the regional component of the survey, we interviewed directors of four professional football organisations: Feyenoord, Heracles Almelo, FC Eindhoven and SC Telstar.
What was the result?
The study identified clearly, for the first time, how football contributes to society and the economy. It also gives professional football organisations, in particular, an insight into how they can further increase the contribution that football makes to society. The economic strength of football derives mainly from professional football, whereas its strength as regards the other three themes (connecting people, health, and education) is mainly generated by amateur football.
The study also made it clear that, because of the intrinsic values of football, professional football organisations can be used to a greater extent as a platform for implementing social projects. In that context, collaboration with amateur football clubs is an obvious step. The professional organisations can use the control tool to read off the social benefits from that kind of investment.
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