Football: Very, very good to Poland

Soccer (Football to Europeans) is a really big deal to nations and fans. Hundreds of thousands on the Continent travel to attend Championship matches. But hardly a Polish-American I speak with realized the Euro 2012 Football Championship Games were being hosted in Poland and Ukraine this past June.

When Poland was awarded hosting rights five years ago, they set out with a multi-billion dollar plan to erect new state of the art stadiums, build hundreds of kilometers of super highways, remodel and upgrade airports and take on various and sundry other infrastructure projects. It provided for lots of jobs in construction and related trades. Even the private sector, particularly the hospitality and retail industry also poured money into upgrades and renovations in their hotels and shops.

Although there are many reasons for Poland’s continued economic growth, taking on the task of preparing for the quadrennial Euro Championship Games may have played a small part in the reason Poland was the only EU country to escape having negative growth during the financial crisis and continued outpacing the growth of other EU countries.

I guess you could considerate getting ready for the games as a stimulus package with actual tangible structures and infrastructure improvements to show for it, much like our Main Library, high level bridge, amphitheater at the zoo and Glass Bowl built during the Great Depression by Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration.

Those just completed hefty projects will immediately and in the long-term provide utility and increased quality of life for Poles unlike the stimulus instituted about the same time here in America. In Poland it appears shove-ready means exactly what it means. Poles didn’t hear what Americans did a couple months ago when the President joked, “Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected.”

Even though a tremendous amount of money was spent by Poland’s government in preparations for the games, next year’s budget defect is expected to decrease by nearly half to around three percent of GDP according to Cabinet Ministers.

While normally inexpensive compared to other European countries, hotel room rates did increase significantly for the tournament month as had other tourist services including prostitution, which by the way is legal in Poland, leading to increased profit margins for proprietors of hospitality related businesses and stimulated local economies around the country.

While travel website reviews of vacationing and touring Poland over the years have been very positive, the tourist segment has not been a very large slice of the economic pie. However, the million and a half or more football fanatics many who visited Poland for the first time will give the country more exposure to foreigners who will hopefully come back again and spread the word to their friends on how friendly and enjoyable a stay in Poland can be for sightseers.

Unfortunately, Poland didn’t fair as well as predicted in the tournament. They tied with Russia and Greece and were eliminated by the Czech Republic by the score of one to zero preventing an advance to the quarterfinals.

But, overall football was very, very good to Poland. While the defeat in sport will be soon forgotten, the vast improvements in infrastructure will leave a legacy worth having and give Poland another leg up in attracting even more industrial and business investment to keep their growing economy on the fast track.