Source of this article: Time Weekly Author: Ma Huan
In the early morning of June 12, Beijing time, the Euro 2020 Cup, which was postponed for a year due to the new crown pneumonia epidemic, finally kicked off.
The opening ceremony took place at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy, where Italian blind tenor Bocelli sang "Nobody Sleeps Tonight", a tribute to the 1990 World Cup in Italy, and fireworks rendered the night sky of Rome. U2 lead singer Bono collaborated with guitarist Eggie and DJ Martin Garys on the theme song "We Are The People" for this European Championship.
The opener was played by Italy against Turkey, and for epidemic prevention reasons, only 16,000 fans watched the game live, and italy won 3-0.
The opening ceremony was filled with excitement from the Italian fans outside the stadium
As a feast for world football, this European Cup is particularly special: to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the European Championship (1960-2020), this European Cup is still named "Euro 2020" and is held in 11 cities in 11 countries in Europe without a host country.
At the same time, as the first huge test in the field of sports events after the new crown pneumonia epidemic, how to achieve profitability and how to deal with the new competition format of this European Cup will also become the focus of attention from all walks of life.
UEFA President Alexander Chefrin has previously admitted that the COVID-19 pandemic has posed great challenges to the hosting and finances of this European Championship, but he is optimistic about the prospects: "This will be a great opportunity to show the world that Europe is adjusting and adapting." Europe is vibrant and celebrates life. Europe is back. ”
First "Big European Championship"
According to Agence France-Presse, for the first time, the European Championship will adopt the "Greater European Cup" model jointly organized by many European countries, and the competition will be played in 11 stadiums in 11 cities in 11 countries in Italy, Azerbaijan, Denmark, Russia, the Netherlands, Romania, England, Scotland, Hungary, Germany and Spain. The competition will limit the number of people on site and strict sanitary and safety restrictions will be adopted.
The belated "Euro 2020"
Most of the stadiums are kept at around 25 percent, while Germany is even more restrictive, allowing only 14,000 fans to watch live, about 22 percent of the capacity of Munich's Allianz Arena, the lowest of any stadium.
The pandemic has also had an impact on the participation of players from all over the world.
Fearing an epidemic among the 26 players on the big roster, teams from all over the world had to form a "parallel squad" of 17 substitutes to keep up with the momentum.
From June 1 to June 12, Spain captain Busquets and defender Diego Llorente, Scotland midfielder John Fleck, Swedish striker Kulusevsky and midfielder Swanberg, Dutch goalkeeper Illessen and Russian winger Mostovoy tested positive, casting a shadow over the European Championship.
These players were forced out of the Big Squad for the European Championship, and substitutes were quickly filled.
Of course, there is also comforting news: the COVID-19 pandemic has not affected the excitement of the European Championship. According to the statistics of a number of data companies, the running speed and intensity of European football this season are higher than before the epidemic, and the injuries of football players are actually decreasing.
How to make money
The European Cup, also known as the "World Cup without Brazil and Argentina", is recognized as the highest level of intercontinental football league in the world and one of the most profitable sporting events in the world.
For UEFA, the revenue of the European Cup is mainly divided into: commercial sponsorship, television broadcasts, tickets and reception fees. The most significant increase in revenue from broadcasting and commercial sponsorship has been the most significant, with revenue growth since 2004 largely attributable to this.
In 2008, the total revenue of the European Championships jointly organized by Austria and Switzerland was 1.3 billion euros (about 10.1 billion yuan). In 2012, in the financial context of the European debt crisis, the European Cup jointly organized by Poland and Ukraine still received 1.391 billion euros (about 10.8 billion yuan) in revenue.
The opening and closing ceremonies were also sponsored for the first time
According to the report from UEFA, the expansion from 16 teams to 24 teams in the last European Championship brought more than 30% revenue growth to UEFA compared with the 2012 European Championships co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine. Total revenue amounted to €1.93 billion ,149 billion , of which €480 million came from sponsorship and licensing fees, €1.05 billion from television rights, and €400 million from ticketing and hospitality.
Meanwhile, during Euro 2016, the average number of visitors worldwide was 284.4 million, including 25.7 million in Brazil, 8 million in China and 5.3 million in the United States. Portugal's final victory over France reached 600 million viewers worldwide.
Not only that, but the marginal income brought by the European Cup is also very impressive, creating extraordinary effects in football derivatives, tourism, sports lottery and so on.
At this European Championship, UEFA had placed its expectations on its total revenue estimate of more than 2.5 billion euros (about 19.4 billion yuan).
However, the arrival of covid-19 has shattered everything.
According to the Associated Press, the postponement of the event alone has caused more than 300 million euros in cost losses.
Although it continues to be held, due to the impact of the epidemic, the attendance rate of this European Championship will be strictly limited, and most of the stadiums will not exceed 25%, which will also greatly affect the revenue of tickets and hospitality. UEFA also needs to allocate more than 235 million euros to help its 55 member associations respond to the outbreak.
At present, the European and American media predict that the revenue of this tournament will reach about 2 billion euros (about 15.5 billion yuan), of which the income of sponsors is roughly the same as that of the previous European Championship.
In order to motivate players to go all out, UEFA has significantly raised the prize money standard for this European Championship to a record 371 million euros, an increase of 23% compared to the previous edition, and all participating teams will receive a participation fee of 9.25 million euros. The final champion team will receive a total prize fund of up to 34 million euros (about 260 million yuan).
Winning the trophy is equivalent to winning a prize of 260 million yuan
Chinese sponsors set a record
This year's European Championship has a number of new sponsors, plus long-term partners in UEFA national team competitions, with a total of 12 sponsors participating as of the start of the tournament.
According to UEFA's official website, official sponsors include Alipay, Booking, Coca-Cola, FedEx, Gazprom, Heineken, Hisense, Qatar Airways, Takeaway, Tik Tok, vivo and Volkswagen.
It is worth noting that 4 of the 12 sponsors are from China, accounting for a third, the largest ever.
As early as 2016, Hisense became the first global sponsor from Chinese mainland in UEFA history, and then became the official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup. In 2020, Hisense continued to finalize its cooperation with UEFA.
Another Chinese company, Vivo, announced in October 2020 that it would become an official global partner for Euro 2020 and 2024. At this year's European Championship, Vivo will become the title partner of the first opening and closing ceremonies in history, and the Vivo mobile phone will also become the official mobile phone of Euro 2020.
In 2018, Alipay announced that it would launch an eight-year global partnership with UEFA for national team competitions, including sponsorship of Euro 2020 and 2024. This cooperation is also the first time in UEFA's history that ticket sales channels have been opened outside the official website.
ByteDance's TikTok is the latest entrant. It was only in February that TikTok was announced as the latest sponsor of the European Championship. It is also the first ever sponsor of the European Championship's technology and entertainment media platform. The development of the mobile Internet has brought new opportunities to the new medium form of short video, after all, during the 2016 European Championship, TikTok did not even exist.
James Roswell, head of marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at TikTok, said: "The pandemic has opened the door for us to come in as sponsors, in Europe, if it's not related to football, you can't (become the most talked about brand on the internet), it's the lifeblood of European culture." ”
In the face of this year's sponsorship of European football, Andy Westlake, president of the European Sponsorship Association, is very optimistic, saying: "We have seen some positive signals, and in many European countries, the rapid promotion of vaccines means that live sports and entertainment will be put back on the agenda this summer." We're also seeing real innovation in some of the sports sponsorship categories, which means the industry is better prepared than ever. ”