Celtic Contribute £165million Boost To Scottish Economy Every Year

THE scale of Celtic’s contribution to the Scottish economy every year has been set out for the first time by a new independent report prepared by the Fraser of Allander Institute.

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The economists estimated that the spending of Celtic and their supporters was worth £165MILLION in 2016/17 to the Scottish economy, helping to support the equivalent of 2,820 full-time equivalent jobs in Scotland. Such a boost to Scotland’s economy isn’t just a one off, but occurs annually.

These conclusions emerge from an independent study commissioned by the club from the Fraser of Allander Institute at Strathclyde University which examined spending by the club and spectators at all matches involving Celtic FC during the 2016/17 season. The study also identified Celtic as the 25th strongest brand in world football.

The report found that during the 2016/17 season, matches involving Celtic saw attendances of almost 2million, while more than 40 per cent of Celtic’s day-to-day spending was with Scottish firms.

To illustrate the scale of Celtic’s contribution, other studies have estimated golf tourism’s contribution to Scotland’s GDP is around £155million each year, while the one-off economic impact of the Commonwealth Games in 2014 to Scotland was valued at £125million.

The release of the research findings coincides with research recently commissioned by UEFA that assessed the economic and social contribution of football to the Scottish economy as a whole. This supported the conclusions of the study commissioned by Celtic that football was a valuable contributor to the Scottish economy.