THE VITALITY Netball World Cup, which took place at the M&S Bank Arena Liverpool, delivered an £8.18m economic boost to the city’s economy according to new research from UK Sport. Overall 6.07 million people in Britain attended, watched or followed the tournament which took place in July 2019.

In addition to the economic gains, the research also outlines the benefits of hosting the World Cup across the other four Sporting Future government outcomes – physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing, individual development and social & community development.

The research, conducted by the Sport Industry Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University, calculated the additional expenditure in Liverpool as a result of hosting the tournament from non-local, event specific attendees and event organisers.

The £8.18m boost was generated by the influx of fans (£6.04m), other attendee groups such as the media and event personnel (£1.32m) and the organisers (£0.82m).

The tournament was worth significantly more to Liverpool than either the UCI Track Cycling World Championships of 2016 (£3.41m) or the European Aquatics Championships of 2016 (£4.74m) were to London and is on a par with the 2018 Women’s Hockey World Cup in London (£8.31m).