The Ryder Cup's Impact On Italy
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Today At A Glance:
Italy has a relatively small golf population. Can the Ryder Cup turn it around? Today’s newsletter breaks down the economic impact of the Ryder Cup in Italy and why golf will grow in Italy as a result of hosting the event.
Read Time: 5 minutes.
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In 96 years of the Ryder Cup being played — continental Europe had only hosted the event two times before last week’s event in Italy. The other two countries? Spain and France.
Continental Europe joined the Ryder Cup in 1979 — Europe has played host eleven times since.
In 2014 — six countries bid for the 2022 (the event was moved back a year due to COVID) Ryder Cup.
Italy
Spain
Austria
Turkey
Portugal
Denmark
Germany
Italy eventually beat out Spain, Germany, and Austria to host the Ryder Cup.
When we think of Italy — golf may not be the first thing that comes to mind. Italy has a population of 59 million — 544,000 of them play golf. A golf participation rate of under 1%.
And according to the R&A Global Participation Report — Italy has 311 golf courses. To put that in perspective — the state of Minnesota has a population of 5.7 million. They have over 400 golf courses.
In terms of total golfers — Italy ranks 9th in Europe.
England — 3.4 million
Germany — 2.1 million
France — 1.5 million
Sweden — 1.1 million
Ireland — 1 million
Scotland — 966k
Netherlands — 832k
Spain — 588k
Italy — 544k
Denmark — 328k
And in terms of participation rate — Italy is 11th. Sweden, Ireland, and Scotland all boast double-digit participation rates with Scotland at 18%.
While the numbers for Italy may not be as good as other European countries — there is a great opportunity to increase the participation rate in Italy.
How do we measure or quantify it?
Let’s start with the economic impact the Ryder Cup will have on Italy.
Around 250,000 fans from 87 countries purchased tickets to the event this year. With the UK, United States, and Italy being the top three countries that purchased tickets. The tourism ministry stated that 58% of hotel rooms available online were booked for the week — the normal rate is 45%.
It is expected the Ryder Cup will have an impact of around $250 million on the Italian economy — nearly double the impact it had in 2021 at Whistling Straits.
The benchmark to look at is France — the most recent Ryder Cup held in Europe prior to last week. France saw an economic impact of $266 million. France had 270,000 fans at the Ryder Cup — a similar number to Italy.
France’s Ryder Cup was a massive success in terms of economic impact. It brought in more than $130 million to its economy than the two previous Ryder Cups in Minnesota and Scotland.
Italy — $250 million
Wisconsin — $135 million
France — $266 million
Minnesota — $130 million
Scotland — $120 million
Alright — to the golf numbers.
The R&A breaks out golfers into two different categories.
Total Golfers
Registered Golfers
A registered golfer is counted as a golfer that has a handicap.
France’s golf numbers are interesting. In 2018 — France had 410,000 registered golfers. And they saw a small increase of 8,000 in 2019. While the number is small — it was their largest increase in a four-year stretch. France took the initiative to build 100 short courses and increase the junior golf population by 17,000.
Taking a look at one of Italy’s most significant golf moments. In 2018 — Italy had 85,750 registered golfers when Francesco Molinari won The Open Championship. The following year — Italy had 91,165 registered golfers — an increase of 6%.
2018 — 85,750
2019 — 91,165
2020 — 90,229
2021 — 87,380
2022 — 94,046
Golf is already on the rise in Italy. Total golfers have increased by more than 100,000 since the 2021 R&A European Participation Report of 430,000 golfers. And they have 94,000 registered golfers — a small increase over 2019 numbers.
Franco Chimenti — the President of the Italian Golf Federation thinks this is the biggest sporting event in Italy since the 1960 Olympics and 1990 World Cup. And if he’s correct — it most definietly has the opportunity to have a larger impact than Francesco Molinari’s Open Championship win.
The Italian Golf Federation is optimistic they will break down barriers to bring new golfers into the game after hosting the Ryder Cup. And it certainly helps that the European Team won the Ryder Cup with relative ease.
There was a positive correlation between Molinari’s win and an increase of golfers in Italy, and France hosting the Ryder Cup to an increase of golfers. Can Italy capitalize on the momentum and see similar or even better results?
There is no question that the Ryder Cup will have an impact on golf in Italy.
Economic impact
Introducing new golfers to the game
How big the impact will be is the question — and we will have to wait a year or two to see any material data.
Have yourself a great Monday. Talk to you next week!
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Interesting info as always, Jared.
I wonder what impact Viktor Hovland's success is having on golf in his native Norway? (Another country we don't readily associate with the game.)
An observation: Maybe golf's growth in Italy is being hindered by the fact that you can't fit a set of clubs inside a Fiat!
Cheers.