WC to cost Britain billions
2006-06-05 08:44
London - English football fans watching World Cup matches on their office computer screens could cost their employers billions of pounds, according to a report published on Monday.
The BBC has said its policy of making matches available live on the Internet "will allow people to do their job and keep up with the very latest action", but analysts at Brabners Chaffe Street are not so sure about the "doing their job" part of that.
Their study reckons that if half of all British workers spend just one hour a day watching footie online, the British economy could find itself £4bn out of pocket.
That is without factoring in the number of days lost through workers calling in sick when they are hungover - though 80% of managers have said, in another survey, that they are not going to tolerate such behaviour this year.
On the other hand, some businesses stand to make a tidy profit from English football mania - not least pubs.
Nearly one in four English people have said they plan to watch the games pint in hand.
According to a study by Mastercard, also published on Monday, fans in England - not including the ones who are actually travelling to Germany for the tournament - are likely to spend an average of £60 each every time England play.
Twenty-six of those pounds are set to go on gambling, but that still leaves 34, which break down as 13 on food and drink, five on transportation, and 12 on boozy celebration or sorrows-drowning, depending on the result.
On top of that, the survey says, the average supporter will spend £55 on the various bits of paraphernalia needed to demonstrate their allegiance to the team: from huge St. George Cross flags to commemorative T-shirts, not forgetting stickers and other souvenir products, including stamps from the Post Office's world cup commemorative range.
- SAPA