Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance  – The latest Global Sports Event Index ranks two Canadian-hosted 2015 international events in the top four for overall economic, sporting, media and social impact. The index is produced by Sportcal, a UK-based sport market intelligence agency which analyzed each of the 83 world championships and multi-sport games in 2015 across a series of indicators.

 

While the hosting of the Rugby World Cup 2015 in England and Wales was ranked first overall, the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015, hosted in six cities across Canada, held down second spot in the rankings. More than 1.3 million spectators attended the 52 matches which were broadcast in 124 nations and territories around the world. The event is estimated to have generated $249 million CDN in GDP across the country and an estimated $493.6 million in overall economic activity.

 

The 2015 Pan American Games hosted in Toronto, ranked in fourth spot, behind the ICC Cricket World Cup hosted in Australia and New Zealand. Rounding out the top five was the FINA World Championships hosted in Kazan, Russia.

 

“Our ability to bid for events is recognized regularly, but this index reinforces that our capacity for hosting and staging major international sport events is truly world class,” said Rick Traer, CEO of the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA). “Having two events ranked in the top four really confirms  the work being done to promote the alignment of federal, provincial/territorial and municipal hosting programs, and we’re seeing the dividends in both our reputation as a leading host nation, and in the legacies in our host communities.”

 

Sportcal’s Global Sports Event Index is calculated using data attributed to economic, sporting, media and social impacts using the methodology developed by the Global Sports Impact (GSI) Project. The full index is available in the recently published Global Sports Impact (GSI) Report 2016.

 

Barb MacDonald

Communications Consultant |Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA)

116 Lisgar Street, Suite 600 |Ottawa, ON, K2P 0C2

t. 613.521.7314

c. 613.894.1769

e. bmacdonald@canadiansporttourism.com

@barbmacd