Sports enthusiasts have had plenty to look forward to this year. The European Handball Championship took place in January, followed by the Six Nations 2024 (the European Rugby Championship) in February/March, and then the Ice Hockey World Championship in May. The UEFA European Football Championship begins today, and the Olympic Games are not far off.

While the crowds cheer on the elite athletes at these events, more and more people are becoming active themselves. The average German spends 34 minutes a day doing sport, which is 5 minutes more than ten years ago. The fact that men do more sport on average (36 minutes a day) than women (32 minutes) is –unfortunately – certainly due to the fact that women still do most of the housework and childcare.

If you do more sport, you also need more equipment. Sales of sporting and camping goods increased by 41.5% in real terms, adjusted for price, between 2013 and 2023, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). In contrast, the entire over the counter retail sector only increased its revenue by 9.1% during this period. Domestic production of sports equipment such as treadmills, skis and tennis rackets, on the other hand, increased by 35.3% in terms of value over this ten-year period. This was also disproportionately high. Over the same period the Wiesbaden based statisticians report an increase of 21.5% in the value of production intended for sale in the manufacturing industry as a whole.

In many respects, sport is an economic factor that should not be underestimated. The 71 German companies with 20 or more employees that primarily manufacture sports equipment had turnover of over 845.6 million euros last year, more than two thirds of which was generated in Germany. Ten years earlier, the 64 companies at that time had sales of just under 726.2 million euros. The most important cross border markets in 2023 were Austria (12.8%), France (11.1%) and Switzerland (9.6%).

Just under half of the sports equipment imported to Germany came from China, with a further 5% each coming from the Czech Republic and the USA. Destatis also reports a disproportionately large jump in the service sector. While the total number of people in employment has increased by 8.8% since 2013, the number of sports services providers, such as trainers or operators of sports facilities, has risen by 19.3%.

However anyone who believes that organising a major sporting event will bring the same kind of boost to the economy as a whole is likely to be disappointed when looking at past evidence. The main factor, as analyses from economists show, is the performance of the German team. „Winning the European Championship is worth more than organising it," says Deutsche Bank.

Major sporting events do generate added turnover for tourism, the hospitality industry and the electronics trade, an analysis by ING chief economist Carsten Brzeski shows. But after the big event, domestic consumption tends to slumps. "In retrospect, there are hardly any lasting macroeconomic consequences,“ Brzeski concludes. Successful participation in tournaments only temporarily opens consumers' wallets wide, but on the other hand, a poor performance does not push them into a deep depression.

During the 2006 summer fairytale, for example, 700,000 additional overnight stays were registered in Germany, and additional income in tourism totalling a good half a billion euros. „Not insignificant, but small in macroeconomic terms,“ says Brzeski. The retail association HDE expects additional revenue of 3.8 billion euros – primarily from food and fan merchandise.

„Organising the tournament itself is worth perhaps 0.1% of quarterly GDP as a temporary boost," says Deutsche Bank. This is hardly a catalyst for an economic upturn. But it takes the view that there could perhaps be a bigger and more sustainable impact if Germany were to repeat something like the summer fairytale of the 2006 World Cup.“

The Ifo Institute's assessment is less positive. According to Munich based Ifo, the mood in the German economy barely improves during major tournaments. „At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, there was initially a sense of anticipation in the Ifo economic surveys," reports Ifo expert Klaus Wohlrabe. In the six months before the sporting event, the expecation of the probability of „better business" in the coming months rose by 1.1%. After the World Cup, companies actually felt their business situation was slightly better, with the probability of „good" rising by 1.1%.

"During the World Cup and afterwards, however, there were no more effects on expectations,“ says Wohlrabe: "We suspect something similar now for the European Championships.“ In the catering industry, for example hotels and restaurants, as well as the food and beverage sector, the economic researchers found "no significant effects whatsoever“ during the 2006 World Cup..

Germans intend to spend between 21 and 50 euros on fan merchandise, according to a survey by the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. Although around 58% of the 1,000 respondents would still not buy any fan merchandise at all, this figure was almost 73% for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, explains study director Markus Voeth. The most popular item was the German national team jersey, which almost one in five wanted to buy, followed by the scarf and German flag with around 12% each. Incidentally, with 65% in favour of buying one, this year's DFB home shirt is the second most popular of the past 20 years.

In an ING survey, fans said that they were prepared to spend an average of 23.60 euros on merchandise. Converted to around 70 million adults in Germany, that would still be almost 1.7 billion euros, Brzeski notes. The respondents plan to spend 28.90 euros more than in a normal month on food orders for delivery or takeaway. If the European Championship is watched outside the home, the average budget is 59.90 euros. However, 37% would prefer to watch the games at home, while a further 19% would prefer to do so in the homes of friends and/or relatives.

According to the ING analysis, employers need not be overly hopeful or worried about the productivity of their employees. More than half of the working respondents stated that they occasionally watch a Germany game during working hours. „However, as the German team's group matches and all of the knockout games start at 6 p.m. or 9 p.m., any negative effect on the economy is likely to be very limited," says Brzeski reassuringly. On the other hand, 16% expect that a German victory would increase their productivity on the following day, while 7% would not be so productive. An increase in productivity could be necessary to compensate for the lost working time spent talking to colleagues about the game.

The survey also brings some unpleasant news for the sponsors. Whether the financial commitment is really worthwhile is more questionable than ever. „It hardly triggers any direct purchasing effects,“ emphasises Voeth. Only around 12% of people would primarily look for brands that sponsor the European Championship when purchasing products or services. On the other hand, a third of those surveyed believe that the European Championship will have a positive impact on the image of sponsors.