While hosting major sporting events usually brings significant additional revenue to the host country, Zurich, which organized the Road Cycling World Championships last year, had to face a substantial loss.
The association established to organize the championships announced a deficit of 4.66 million euros and is requesting additional support from the Zurich city council and the canton. The World Championships were overshadowed by the death of local cyclist Muriel Furrer during the women's junior race, but this was not the main reason for the budget deficit. Unforeseen costs reportedly arose due to extensive rainfall during the championships.
Running a deficit from hosting a major event is rather the exception; in the cycling world, this also happened at the 2014 World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain, which resulted in a multi-million euro deficit. In comparison, the Glasgow World Championships (2023) generated £205 million in revenue against expenses of £60 million.
According to an analysis by Ernst & Young, the Yorkshire World Championships (2019) were profitable with a surplus of €28.2 million, the Wollongong World Championships (2022) boosted the local economy by 35.6 million Australian dollars, and the Innsbruck World Championships (2018) had a surplus of €40 million.
The US Open tennis tournament is estimated to generate $200-450 million in revenue, and the Super Bowl brings in approximately half a billion dollars.
