Swiss media reported on Friday that the 2024 UCI Road World Championships organisers in Zurich have ended up with a deficit of CHF 4.5 million (€4.66 million), and have been forced to restructure their debt.
According to reports, the Zurich city council is preparing to bail out the organisation and the canton has waived repayment of a short-term contribution.
Zurich's championships were heavily marred by the death of Muriel Furrer in the junior women's road race.
It's not the first world championships that has put organisers deep into debt - Ponferrada's organisers (2014) suffered multi-million Euro losses, but organisers usually report economic benefits that far exceed the losses. Glasgow Worlds cost over £60 million but delivered more than £205 million in business for Scotland.
According to analyses by Ernst & Young, Yorkshire (2019) brought in €28.2 million, Wollongong (2022) reportedly brought in $35.6 million AUD, while Innsbruck organisers (2018) claimed to have €40 million in economic impact.
Those numbers are just a drop in the bucket compared with other major international sporting events, however. The US Open generates between $200 million and $450 million of impact, while Superbowl hosts enjoy impacts of half a billion US dollars.
