BRINGING many of the world’s best players to local soil before hoops-crazy Filipino fans entails an enormous budget—P3.7 billion to be close to being exact—and the host Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) expressed the need for government support.
The SBP joined on Monday a Senate Committee on Sports and Finance hearing to secure a P1.5-billion financial assistance from government for the country’s primary hosting of the Fiba 2023 World Cup from August 25 to September 10.
The Philippines is the main host with Japan and Indonesia as co-host. As main host, the SBP would be catering to 16 of the 32 countries in the World Cup and would be staging group matches as well as the knockout, semifinals and final stages.
The SBP’s pitch, executive director Renauld “Sonny” Barrios told BusinessMirror, is on the return-on-investment the World Cup would bring to the country, principally in terms of tourism.
“Hosting is more of a great investment for the country,” Barrios said. “The returns in our economy will be three to four times better than that those of previous hosts Spain (2014) and China (2019),” Barrios said.
A Sports Business Journal report in 2014, Barrios said, showed that Spain generated an economic impact of 408 million euros—more than P23 billion—after hosting the spectacle in Seville, Madrid, Granada and Barcelona.
Barrios, however, didn’t provide data for China’s hosting.
Barrios said that P1.5 billion represents 40 percent of their targeted overall budget. He said that the other 60 percent or P2.2 billion would be culled from the private sector.
“We don’t want to get embarrassed because we took the responsibility [to host] and we’re thankful to our Senators that they support the hosting,” Barrios said. “If we want an unforgettable and beautiful hosting, we must raise that amount.”
Barrios said that the SBP has already spent P1.2 billion from private sponsors for the World Cup hosting preparation this year—mostly for operations.
Indonesia, he said, has its national government’s 100 percent while co-host Japan would be drawing funding from the city of Okinawa. They, however, would be hosting only eight teams each in the group stages.
The SBP has already received P65 million from the government but Barrios said these were spent for the qualifiers and not for hosting chores.
More than 3,000 athletes, coaches, FIBA officials and guests are expected during the World Cup, according to a latest count by the local organizing committee.
The hosting would also include the FIBA World Congress that will be attended by leaders from the federation’s 212 member countries.