This tendency was soon overtaken by Russia’s belligerent aggression, as a result of which Europe had to deal with an energy crisis, a deteriorating economic environment, and inflation. This quickly affected the Hungarian budget, and the government’s spraying of funds for sporting events came to an abrupt end.
Since the summer, the local sports department has not applied for a single global event, which is a big change compared to previous years.
the people talk Summarize what taxpayer money has been spent on in the past year.
In the first eight months alone, Hungary hosted the European Men’s Handball Championship, the European Wrestling Championship, some stages of the Giro d’Italia, the World Water Championships and the traditional Formula 1 race in Mogyorod.
According to the paper, the costs of the arrangement consist of two parts: the administration part and the infrastructure part. We do not include the latter in the costs of the organization, because, for example, the halls erected for the European Handball Championship remained after the tournament, but they are not accidental because they are an exponentially large amount: the MVM Dome with a capacity of 20,000 seats in Budapest was built for 116 billion dollars. 40 billion for the 8,000-seat Pick Arena in Szeged; 24 billion for a 6,200-person arena in Tatabánya (it was just a spare hall in the European Championships); Főnix Csarnok in Debrecen has been renovated with an investment of around 1 billion. This is 181 billion HUF in total.
However, the unprecedented sporting development program was not matched by results, the men finished the European Championships in 15th place after their weakest performance ever. The MVM dome rang empty for several months afterward, and no sporting or cultural events could be held in the concert hall. By the end of the year, the show’s offer had improved somewhat, but it tells us that the state budget had already had to help the operator with HUF 1.3 billion (€3.4 million) in the summer, which suggests there wasn’t much point in building one of the largest halls. in Europe. Men’s handball in January cost between 10 and 15 billion forints, based on the announcement made in the summer of 2019 by President Mate Ip Cochise.
The European wrestling championship had a smaller field, so the costs were also lower: 1.9 billion were taken up, while the Giro d’Italia took 7.8 billion out of the budget. But the wet World Cup has reached a level in terms of costs: according to the official. For advertising, 31.5 billion HUF were arranged. The budget was about HUF 27 billion net, plus legal and financial fees to be paid to FINA, the international organization that brings together water sports, which took up HUF 4.5 billion net.
Formula 1 has been the most expensive sporting event for decades: it can never be profitable because of the outrageous royalties, but at least the track can sustain itself. There are two hundred events on the circuit annually, making it profitable to operate and maintain. Development will also be a state task and imperative. This year, the peak of the race reached more than 100,000 spectators, and a large part of the spectators came to the capital from abroad directly to participate in the race. It is almost the only sporting event that has marketing value beyond itself.
The World Championships in Athletics is coming next year, and the construction of the Sibyl Stadium alone costs 230 billion, then the country will host the European Handball Championship in 2024 and the Swimming Championship in 2027. Because of inflation, it makes no sense to fantasize about expected costs. One thing is for sure: every event will be more expensive than ever.
