At the headquarters of the Lombardy Region, in the suggestive location of the 39th Belvedere floor of Palazzo Lombardia, the presentation of the study “The economic impact of the Milan 2023 Fencing World Championships” was held, carried out by the GREEN Research Center – Bocconi University, with the support of the Romeo and Enrica Invernizzi Foundation. An important step towards the great event scheduled in Milan from 22 to 30 July 2023 at the futuristic Allianz MiCo Fiera Milano Congressi, in an area of over 25 thousand square meters.
Many institutions were present at the press conference: from Andrea Abodi, Minister for Sport and Youth, to the President of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana, from CONI President Giovanni Malagò, to Marco Fichera, President of the Milan 2023 Organizing Committee, from Antonio Rossi, Undersecretary with responsibility for Sport, Major Sporting Events and the 2026 Olympics, to Martina Riva, Councilor for Sport, Tourism and Youth Policies of the Municipality of Milan, to Paolo Azzi, President of the Italian Fencing Federation and, finally, Marco Percoco, Director of the GREEN – Center for Geography, Resources, Environment, Energy and Networks of Bocconi University.
It will be the eighth World Fencing Championship organized in Italy, from the first time in Naples in 1929 to the last in Catania in 2011 and, for the first time, it will be hosted in Milan. Milan 2023 will be the Olympic Qualifying World Cup, with doubled points in the race for passes for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Particular, the latter, which accentuates the expectation for blue fencing, fresh from the eight medals won in the last world championship event in Cairo.
The objective of the study, carried out by the GREEN Research Center – Bocconi University, with the support of the Romeo and Enrica Invernizzi Foundation and presented by Marco Percoco, Director of GREEN – Center for Geography, Resources, Environment, Energy and Networks of Bocconi University , was to estimate the economic impacts of the Absolute World Fencing Championships Milan 2023.
The concept of impact is very broad and refers to a plurality of aspects attributable to quantitative and qualitative dimensions. In fact, the impacts generated by sporting events can be economic, social and environmental. The estimate of the local economic impact of Milan 2023 was defined by analyzing the operating costs for the organization and expenditure of the visitors and the Federations involved. These two expense items total around 11 million euros and contribute to generating over 24 million in additional production and 201 jobs. The professor. Percoco underlined how “Sporting and cultural events often have positive effects for local economies and this result is not surprising for an area like Milan. The real challenge will be to integrate the World Cup into a wider urban development process, in order to make these impacts permanent”.
Furthermore, as underlined by the research, major events represent an opportunity for territorial development and an extraordinary moment of promotion, generating value and assets for various stakeholders: from the city, to the national territory and to the citizens themselves. The collateral events and projects already inaugurated linked to Milan 2023 can generate long-term social impacts such as to potentially constitute a positive legacy.
Furthermore, on the occasion, the partnership with Metro 5 SpA, the Official Metro of the 2023 World Fencing Championships, was presented in the presence of the Chief Executive Officer Serafino Lo Piano. The 2023 World Championships will be a fundamental showcase for showing fencing to the younger generations, passionate about and also outside the world of fencing and, at the same time, to maintain one of the historic Italian traditions.
“This study – declared Andrea Abodi, Minister for Sport and Youth – is the demonstration that a major sporting event is no longer just an event. On this occasion, the Italian Fencing Federation and the Milan 2023 Organizing Committee demonstrate it, who with their stubbornness and competence will guarantee an event of great impact. Italian fencing has accustomed us to great successes and I am sure that it will be able to confirm itself organizationally and sportingly in this world championship event as well. The fascination of this Italian World Cup is consolidated in the promotional project dedicated to the school, the university and the oratories, with such a socially relevant action, which is even more valid in a Region that also looks to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in a promotional key. Milan-Cortina 2026. Against the public contribution that we will make available to the Organizing Committee, I also like to think about its social return.
I am convinced that the added value that this great event will create will be even more significant than the truly significant one calculated by the study presented this morning. The beauty begins later, when on the one hand you ‘reckon the accounts’ and on the other you reap what you have sown: a positive legacy that will not only be financial, but above all social”.
“Major sporting events are a driving force for the promotion and development of the territories that host them, they support and enhance Lombardy’s natural vocation for hospitality and sustainable tourism. The virtuous combination of sport and tourism is a crucial element for the growth of our region and events like this go precisely in this direction, also paving the way towards the huge appointment of the 2026 Winter Olympics – said Attilio Fontana, President of the Lombardy Region. “Milan and Lombardy have a long fencing tradition. A tradition that is renewed every day in the affiliated sports clubs and in the members of our region in the wake of a past that includes many champions, first of all the unattainable Edoardo Mangiarotti, up to the many young promises that make us proud in every competition ”.
“We are here, in the home of all Lombards, to recount a different event as we had dreamed and imagined it for some time. Milan 2023 is an event, not only for fencing, but also for the country, for Lombardy and for the city of Milan. We feel the strong support of all the institutions, led by the Government and the Department of Sport, which support us in this beautiful journey. The Bocconi University impact study is the plastic representation of how much, through targeted and virtuous investments, a World Cup can be organized that will not only represent medals, but also great opportunities for the territory and the country system – said Marco Fichera, President of the Milan 2023 Organizing Committee.
“The study on the economic impact is important and we should also consider aspects that are difficult to quantify, which give added value. When we applied, it was not obvious that we won, Italy obtained the assignment thanks to excellent teamwork, coordinated by Paolo Azzi, Giorgio Scarso and Marco Fichera.Italian fencing is the stronghold of Italian sport, it won 130 Olympic medals, it had its history as its driving force and the strength of Milan, a city with five circles and synonymous with credibility. pre-Olympic has an importance and a different charm from the others and I’m sure it will offer entertainment, emotions and the opportunity to build a successful path towards the Paris 2024 Games” – declared the President of CONI, Giovanni Malagò.
“A major sporting event such as the Fencing World Championship which will take place in Milan for the first time once again makes me think of the great work that the Lombardy Region has been carrying out for years in support of sport.
Investing in sport is also and above all an investment in citizens’ health and major events like this have a considerable economic impact on the local economy. – commented Antonio Rossi, Undersecretary with responsibility for Sport, Major Sporting Events and the 2026 Olympics. “We have seen how these events produce various positive social impacts and contribute to creating a positive legacy, even in the long term. Together with President Fontana we will continue to support sport in all its forms for a Lombardy that is increasingly at the center of the Italian and world sporting world.”
“Major events, starting with international sports competitions, are a powerful driving force and a strategic accelerator of economic and social transformations for the city and the territory that host them – commented the Councilor for Sport, Tourism and Youth Policies of the Municipality of Milan Martina Riva.
The fencing world championship that we have the honor of hosting at the Allianz MiCo next July has all the characteristics to leave a mark on the socio-economic fabric of our city. Quality, experience, competition, professionalism, international resonance, attractiveness, planning, training and sporting culture are values that we will see on the platform and that we will find again in the city translated into numerical terms on the employment and production front, as the research presented today explains. For this reason, in the process of approaching the 2026 Olympics and Paralympics, Milan 2023 is certainly a fundamental stage and a challenging test bench”.
Thus the President of the Italian Fencing Federation, Paolo Azzi: “Such a high-profile study represents a precious element that bears witness to all the value that the World Championship has on the city of Milan that will host it and on our whole country. The Italian World Cup is an event that goes far beyond the sporting meanings, extraordinarily important in itself since it is an Olympic Qualifying edition. The FIS is engaged, alongside the Committee, in this great organizational challenge also to contribute to the sport-tourism binomial, enhancing the virtuous exchange between our sport and the territories that host it, concepts already at the center, just a week ago, of our presence at the BIT. Today, then, we are also happy to announce the launch of a communication project, put in place ad hoc, called “Our world journey – Milan and Terni, the 2023 world champion of Italian fencing”, promoted by Federscherma and Sports Department of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. This initiative, curated by Stefano Pantano, will be online from mid-March on the official channels of our Federation and the Sports Department, proposing a story of some of the protagonists of the two “Italian” World Championships for Olympic and Paralympic athletes. A way to make icons and emerging faces of our sport ever more closely known, enhancing through their stories the integration between the Olympic and Paralympic sectors of which the FIS has made its own banner”.
“Where there is sport there is Europe: the European Commission in Milan welcomes this splendid initiative and reaffirms the importance of sport for psychophysical well-being, quality of life and social inclusion” – declared Massimo Gaudina, Head of the European Commission Representation in Milan.
“For the first time, Lille becomes the official metropolitan area of a world sporting event, the “Fencing Championships”. Line 5 will take visitors to the heart of the event, thanks to the Allianz MiCo Fiera Milano Congressi metro station (Portello) and both by train and in the station it will be possible to experience the World Cup, thanks to the experiential communication initiatives that we will implement to celebrate the fans of fencing. By guaranteeing accessibility and sustainable transport, we are linked to all the sporting events in the city of Milan and reconfirm ourselves as the “sports metro” – says Serafino Lo Piano, CEO of Metro 5.