World Cup hosts to reap economic benefit

Over the next six weeks more than two billion people, many of them bleary-eyed, are expected to watch the 2015 Cricket World Cup unfold in Australia and New Zealand.
The multi-million dollar global showcase will be a sporting marathon, not just for TV viewers facing the tyranny of far eastern time zones, but for players and officials.
Fourteen teams will play 49 matches across the two countries before the tournament wraps up in late March at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Spectators at the World Cup are the ICC's biggest source of revenue. But there will be other economic dividends too.
"Tourism Australia sees it as a great benefit to the country," says Tim Harcourt from the University of New South Wales Business School. "The other thing that is good, too, is that for the most part cricket fans have a lot of cash."
As part of its sports diplomacy programme, the Australian government's trade commission will hold a series of business events during the World Cup that will focus on investment, education and tourism.
Mr Harcourt believes that as co-hosts, Australia has the experience to deliver an impressive tournament.
Although event organisers won't speculate on how much money the event will make, press reports suggest it will generate profits of more than $200m (£130m), compared to about $320m from the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup hosted by India.
Vast amounts come from sponsorship and TV deals, and some of the proceeds from previous competitions have been used to help the game grow beyond its traditional powerbases.
Cricket in Ireland, for example, has blossomed since the country first participated in the tournament eight years ago.
Wicketkeeper Gary Wilson says a good performance this time around will boost the game's finances back home.
Money is, however, also threatening to destabilise the international game.
Last October, the West Indies pulled out of a tour of India because of a pay dispute between the board and the players. Authorities in India appear intent on recouping lost revenue, possibly through the courts, and there are those who fear that West Indies cricket could be mortally wounded.
While money has soured their off-field relations, George Dobell, a senior correspondent at the ESPN CricInfo website, says the game as a whole needs to reassess its priorities. He believes the World Cup goes on for far too long and has made money, and not entertainment, its main goal.
"Creating money isn't a bad thing and I don't want to suggest it is, but we are actually a sport, and it should be about propagating the sport not propagating the wealth," he says.
    — BBC