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A blockbuster British summer of sport, including the 2026 World Cup, could see up to £400m flow through the economy, according to new modelling.
Deep runs in the tournament for home nations and successful medal hauls for GB’s athletics team at major championships are projected by Novuna to trigger an upturn in consumer confidence of up to £14 per UK household.
This summer’s packed track and field calendar includes the Novuna UK Athletics Indoor and Outdoor Championships, the European Championships in Birmingham and Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Analysis based on previous championships alongside data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), suggest that a strong medal haul could generate an additional £50m to £100m of gross discretionary sales around celebratory periods.
“When British athletes win medals, the feel-good factor reaches far beyond the track,” said UK Athletics president Dame Denise Lewis DBE.
“It leaves a connection, inspiring fans, communities and the next generation long after the medals have been handed out.”
The focus will also turn to football, with England currently priced by bookmakers as second favourites to lift the World Cup. A fresh hope among supporters is building that this could finally be the summer that “football comes home”, following successive European Championship finals.
How sport affects consumer spending
Forecasts based on the previous two major tournaments suggest that England reaching the knockout stages can be linked with anywhere between £75m and £150m in consumer spending, rising towards around £250m in a best-case run to the semi-final or final, according to Novuna.
The economic effects could be further amplified by recent announcements by the Institute of Licensing that pubs will be allowed to stay open in the knockout rounds until the early hours of the morning, as many matches will take place late at night.
Novuna’s chief marketing officer Theresa Lindsay said: “When home teams do well, the tills ring more often in pubs, supermarkets and sports retailers, that can add up to hundreds of millions of pounds of match linked sales.”
Meanwhile, Scotland will play at a World Cup for the first time in 28 years and hope that the tournament’s new expanded format will boost their chances of progressing beyond the group stage for the first time in their history.
These figures could potentially rise if the additional two home nations, Wales and Northern Ireland, were to qualify following the play-off route taking place at the end of the month, making it the first ever World Cup where all four British nations qualify.
