Economic

The measurement of the sport sector’s economic contribution to the economy is multi-layered, including direct, indirect, and induced economic activities, increased workforce productivity, and the value of volunteers. ^{1, 18, 27}

Outside of standard economic value categories there can also be a notional sense of ‘value’ related to personal and community wellbeing and national pride derived from sport participation or perceived affiliation with sport. ^{18, 19}

Economic activity

Spending in sport comes from a variety of sources: ^{1, 25}

• User pay (including sports related fees, equipment, clothing, training)
• The private sector (including sponsorship and marketing spend)
• Local government (mostly infrastructure spending)
• State government (including sports participation, high performance pathways, infrastructure)
• Australian Government (including grants and programs from the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) and other Federal departments)

Community sport infrastructure in Australia helps generate an estimated $6.3 billion worth of economic benefits. This is based on the construction, maintenance and operation of facilities and the increased productivity of those who are physically active as a result of such infrastructure. ⁹

The Australian sports sector is estimated to generate $32.2 billion in annual sales, resulting in a contribution to GDP of approximately $14.4 billion. ¹⁰

Employment and education

The Australian sports industry is estimated to support 128,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs, around 1.5% of the FTE workforce in Australia. ¹⁰

The education benefits that result from children playing sport are worth an estimated $5 billion annually. These benefits are from: ¹

• improved cognitive development, learning, and retaining information
• building critical life skills
• staying in school longer
• higher lifetime earnings (through better grades and staying in school longer).

The sector employs more than 220,000 people, with volunteers donating around 158 million hours to sport each year – equivalent to nearly 90,000 additional full-time jobs and $3 billion in economic value. ¹

Employers and university students agree that engagement in sport, especially in voluntary leadership or management roles, provides ‘added value’ beyond standard academic qualifications. ¹¹

Research suggests that participation in sport across the age course can contribute to improved labour market outcomes, such as employability and higher average incomes compared to those who do not participate. The mechanisms and impact for different population groups may vary. ^{12, 20, 29, 30}

Health and wellbeing

Sport creates an estimated $29 billion of net health benefits each year through reduced healthcare costs and early mortality. ¹

Community sport infrastructure helps generate: ⁹

• $4.9 billion worth of health benefits
• $5.1 billion worth of social benefits

The estimated cost of treating acute physical activity related injuries was $1.2 billion, while managing health conditions due to physical inactivity (such as coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes) cost the health system $2.4 billion (2018-19). Overall, sport and physical activity have a net positive impact on the Australian health system. ¹⁴

The social benefits of playing community club-based sport once per week are estimated to be worth $5,932 per participant, per year. ²

Events and tourism

Australia has been successful in attracting many of the world’s biggest sporting events. These events can stimulate economic activity, encourage domestic and international tourism, provide international exposure through broadcast and media, and generate other potential economic and social benefits. ¹³

The 2015 Asian Cup event created $128 million in direct expenditure and a 6% increase in club registrations affiliated with Football Australia. ¹⁶

The Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games helped create an estimated: ¹⁵

• $2.5 billion increase in Gross State Product (GSP) over 9 years; including 21,000 jobs.
• 1.3 million visitors leading up to, during, and after the Games. Spending more than $1.1 billion in the region.
• 100 national and international events secured in Queensland.