World Sailing, Sport Event Denmark (SED) and Aarhus Events have commissioned Sportcal to conduct a GSI Event Study on the Hempel Sailing World Championships Aarhus 2018.

A one-year agreement has been signed with Sportcal to undertake a GSI Event Study on World Sailing’s flagship competition, the Sailing World Championships, taking place in Aarhus, Denmark from 30 July – 12 August 2018.

Aarhus Bay will not only host world championships in 10 Olympic sailing classes and kitesurfing, but also a Maritime Festival, making it one of the largest events ever to take place in Denmark.

The event is expected to attract 1,500 participants from 90 nations throughout the 14 days of competition.

The Hempel Sailing World Championships Aarhus 2018 will be the fifth edition of the event and will be free to attend, with organisers anticipating 400,000 visitors in total.

World Sailing, Sport Event Denmark and Aarhus Events are keen to obtain a holistic view of the various impacts the Sailing World Championships can generate for host cities and commercial partners.

Sportcal will undertake a detailed analysis across eight pillars of impact, as established by the GSI Project. These comprise: Economic, Tourism, Media, Social Media, Sponsorship, Sporting, Social and Sustainability.

Kim Andersen, World Sailing President, said:

 “The Hempel Sailing World Championships Aarhus 2018 is the single largest gathering of Olympic sailors’, attracting the leading names within the sport, thousands of spectators and increased multi-platform media coverage.

“Sportcal’s GSI Event Studies Programme will allow us to discover the true impact the event has locally and internationally so we can make strategic, informed decisions on the evolution of the event and to present potential host cities with tangible data on the benefits of hosting World Sailing events.”

Lars Lundov, CEO, Sport Event Denmark, said:

“We are excited that the world's largest Sailing World Championships is now being professionally analysed by Sportcal, thanks to a great collaboration and support from World Sailing and Aarhus Events. The 2018 World Championships is very important for Sport Event Denmark, for Danish sailing and for Denmark as a whole, due to our proud traditions in the field of great sailing achievements and events.”

Jørn Sønderkjær Christensen, Aarhus Events Director, said:

“The City of Aarhus have gone ‘all in’ with the Sailing World Championships 2018 in a way not seen before. Not only financially but also the way we use the city for a major sport event and through strong collaborations with partners, companies and institutions. We look forward to receiving solid knowledge and documentation of the effects of the event, both for the city and for Denmark.”

Sportcal will work in collaboration with key stakeholders involved in staging the event, including World Sailing, Sport Event Denmark, Aarhus Events, the Danish Sailing Association, Sailing Aarhus, sponsors, broadcasters and third-party organisations to gather, assimilate, analyse and compare the data and narrative around the event.

Mike Laflin, CEO and Founder of Sportcal and the GSI Project, stated:

“We are extremely pleased that World Sailing, Aarhus Events and Sport Event Denmark have chosen to partner with Sportcal to conduct a detailed GSI Event Study on the Sailing World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, this summer. The Sailing World Championships promises to deliver a wide range of impacts for Aarhus and Denmark and the GSI Event Study will help capture the key narrative and data around what promises to be one of the biggest events of the year in Denmark.”

"Sport Event Denmark is 10 years old this year and the study will help it show some of the benefits that sports events bring to Denmark through its hosting programme. Denmark is one of the leading sports nations in terms of hosting major international sports events and this is the second time that Sportcal will have conducted a GSI Event study in the country.”

“Similarly, Sportcal worked closely with World Sailing in 2017 to demonstrate some of the impacts coming from its World Cup Series and Youth Sailing World Championships, so we are delighted to be working with them on their flagship event in 2018."

Sportcal, the world's leading provider of sports market intelligence, will conduct the study in conjunction with its GSI Event Studies Programme which runs from 2017 through to 2020.

REQUEST FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE GSI EVENT STUDIES PROGRAMME

ABOUT THE GSI EVENT STUDIES PROGRAMME 2017 – 2020:

In January 2017 Sportcal launched a four-year programme to bring federations, rights holders, host cities, governments, academic institutions and key stakeholders together to work with Sportcal and engage in the Global Sports Impact (GSI) Project.

The programme involves the analysis of world championships, series and multisport games from a diverse range of sports and events, to help event owners and hosts understand the true impact of their events across a wide range of sectors, and to support them in the further development of their event strategies.

Over 30 international federations have already engaged in the programme, including a four-year agreement signed between ASOIF and Sportcal, to support ASOIF members via the studies programme throughout the 2017-2020 Olympic cycle.

For further information about the GSI project and how to join the GSI Event Studies Programme, contact gsi@sportcal.com or call +44 (0) 20 8944 8786