5.3 billion euros in added worth: Why sport is so essential for Hamburg | EUROtoday

Hamburg desires the Olympics, a minimum of the economic system and the ruling red-green Senate need it. For the second time because the failed referendum on the finish of 2015, the folks of Elbe are at present getting ready an Olympic bid, for the Summer Games in 2036, 2040 or 2044. There continues to be an extended strategy to go till then, and the following intermediate step is a brand new referendum organized by the Senate by the folks of Hamburg on May thirty first about whether or not they even need to apply this time. There can be clear resistance to a brand new Olympic marketing campaign in Hamburg, particularly from environmental associations.

In this context you need to learn the brand new examine by the Hamburg World Economic Institute (HWWI), which was offered on Monday by the Chamber of Commerce and Interior Senator Andy Grote (SPD). Grote can be answerable for sports activities.

Essence of the examine: Around 15,000 jobs in Hamburg are immediately or not directly associated to sport, leading to general financial worth creation of round 5.3 billion euros per yr. “Every euro generated in the sports sector triggers additional economic activity and leads to a total of 2.4 euros of additional added value in the city,” says the examine. “Every job in the narrow sports sector secures an average of 2.3 additional jobs along the value chain – for example in event organization, media production, tourism, retail or health services.” According to the examine, sport within the narrower sense is the subject of round 1,400 corporations in Hamburg with a complete of round 6,000 workers.

Economic worth creation by sport happens not solely in each health studio, however particularly when round 250,000 folks come to the Hanseatic metropolis to look at the triathlon, like final yr. Hamburg additionally earns cash when its sports activities arenas are used for main concert events, for instance by US celebrity Taylor Swift in 2024. This is how broadly the HWWI examine interprets the financial framework of “sport”.

“Sport strengthens Hamburg economically, socially and internationally. It creates added value, attracts talent, increases the quality of life and makes the city visible,” mentioned Chamber of Commerce President Norbert Aust. “The results show: Sport is a future field that is worth investing in. We should see sport much more as a driver of urban development – with modern infrastructure, clear support for sporting events and an active stance towards international formats.” So far, sport has not been thought of an impartial financial sector in Hamburg statistics, which is why solely the HWWI examine creates an impression of the financial dimension of sport within the metropolis.

The Chamber of Commerce is strongly dedicated to a renewed try by Hamburg to bid for the Olympics. “I am firmly convinced that Germany will host the Summer Olympics in 2036, 2040 or 2044,” mentioned Aust, “and there is no better place for that than Hamburg and the north.” Munich, North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin, together with a number of different federal states, additionally need to apply to host the Olympic Games within the coming decade or the last decade after.

The folks of Munich clearly voted in favor of a brand new software for the Olympic Games in a referendum in October 2025. The Bavarian capital hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics, with Kiel as a companion for the crusing competitions. Schleswig-Holstein would once more be concerned as a companion nation in a future German Olympic bid, together with within the Hamburg marketing campaign.

Interior Senator Andy Grote additionally made the connection to the Olympic Games with a view to the HWWI examine. “Every euro spent on sport brings Hamburg many times more added value. Everyone can calculate for themselves what opportunity and power lies in the Olympics,” he mentioned, additionally referring to the financial results of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris for the French capital.

A lot of massive infrastructure initiatives in Hamburg may solely be realized within the coming years and a long time with monetary assist from the federal authorities, mentioned Grote, from the renovation of the Elbe bridges to the brand new U5 subway line and the development of a brand new Köhlbrand Bridge: “An application for the Olympic Games and especially when hosting them is about being the showcase of a modern Germany. We want to help ensure that the necessary federal funds go to the north and not to the south.”

Hamburg has one argument from the HWWI examine on its aspect, whatever the economic system: Sport is anchored in Hamburg in any respect ranges, from leisure and fashionable sports activities to skilled and high-performance sports activities with the Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein Olympic base. And the proportion of people that train for greater than an hour every single day is considerably increased within the 5 coastal international locations, at 45 %, than in southern Germany. “Hamburg is a real sports city,” mentioned Professor Michael Berlemann from HWWI. In the Hanseatic metropolis, with a complete inhabitants of round 1.9 million folks, there are round 692,000 newbie athletes and round 800 sports activities golf equipment with a complete of round 583,000 members.

Katharina von Kodolitsch, President of the Hamburg Sports Association, mentioned that with a purpose to make sure the long-term broad influence of sport within the Hanseatic metropolis, “reliable investments in the sports infrastructure as well as long-term financial and planning security for the clubs are needed. This is the only way Hamburg can sustainably strengthen its position as an active and dynamic sports metropolis.”

Olaf Preuß is a enterprise reporter for WELT and WELT AM SONNTAG for Hamburg and northern Germany.