The decision by UEFA to award host status to Dublin for four matches in the European Championship Finals of 2020 will have a dramatic positive impact for Dublin and Irish soccer.
Estimates of the financial value range from a low of €50 million to a high of double that and there is good reason for believing that, depending on the teams who are drawn to play here, it will be the upper figure that is closest to the mark.
Today we take a look at six areas where the impact will most keenly be felt.
1. New Focus on the Aviva Stadium
The Aviva Stadium has taken time to grow into people’s affections. Much of the commentary it generates surrounds either the financial burden its development placed on the IRFU and the FAI or on the quieter atmosphere that it has generated.
On Friday it stepped up as a sporting stadium that can stand among Europe’s finest. It has the same construction, the same facilities and the same access as it has done since its opening but a shift in perception can be powerful in how a place is viewed.
2. Dublin’s place in the sporting world
Among the cities that lost out in the UEFA vote was Stockholm, proud host of a FIFA World Cup in 1958 and an Olympics in 1912. It has also brought European Athletics Championships and a host of World Championships in different sports to Sweden and is was an underbidder for the 2004 Summer Olympics.
That Ireland and Dublin have the confidence to bid and win the right to host a major event like the 2020 European Championships should fire the enthusiasm to pitch for more events in a structured fashion and deliver many times a multiple over time of what will come in six years.
3. The kids of Italia ’90
The Kids of 1990 and 1994 will be the parents of those whose imagination is inspired by hosting the Championships, hopefully with an Irish team at their heart.
30 years after the first real awakening of Ireland as a soccer nation on a world stage, memories of Italia ’90 and USA ’94 can form the backdrop to a generational link that few things other than sport can ever provide. There will be more parents willing to stand on the sidelines, to coach at the training sessions and get their sons and daughters involved in soccer than might have ever been the case.
To have waited another ten or twelve years might have been too long but this is perfectly timed.
4. Dublin City Council
The Council, like any administrative body gets more flack when things go wrong than praise when they go right. Dublin City Council is the biggest provider of sport in the city and was an integral part of the bid team behind this victory.
It will play a critical role in ensuring that everything works as it should and that the city as a whole gets behind what will be happening on a patch of a pitch 100 metres in length.
Last week Dublin was voted the second friendliest city in the world. It has though generally stood as being part of the overall ‘Ireland’ tourism presentation. Now, like Paris, London, Barcelona and New York, it can use the power of sport as a springboard to becoming a destination in and of itself.
The next phase of the tourism strategy for Dublin is about to be revealed and while sport has played less of a starring role in the work to date than we might have hoped, that is another element that will change through UEFA’s decision.
5. Expert Knowledge
Dublin put together a bid that was rated among the best by UEFA. Now it has the opportunity to put on an event that will be likewise.
That will of course demand a significant input of expertise from across a wide variety of disciplines. The learning that will come from a massive collaborative approach to getting things right on the day will have long term benefit for those involved from sport, from government and from the business community which will want to be involved.
6. The FAI
Dublin 2020 is a party that everyone will want to be at. In order to secure the best tickets for matches that could involve England, Italy, Germany and France, none of whom will host group stage games, fans and corporate hosts will need an inside track and that is most likely to be gained through being a season ticket holder or Club Ireland member.
The former group set a new record in the latest round of sales for the current season with over 10,000 tickets or 20% of the stadium capacity on long term hold. The Club Ireland initiative selling ten year seats for less than €5,000 will also receive a major boost from this and that in turn will place the FAI’s long term finances in a place which was certainly envisioned at the outset of the Aviva Stadium development but which has hit a few bumps along the way.
