According to a new survey from npower, with the England football team making an early return from South Africa, disappointed bosses are keeping their fingers crossed for a successful campaign to bring the 2018 World Cup to England.
More than 82% of the bosses polled believe a World Cup would be great for business, with 55% saying it will deliver major financial benefit, while 63% said it would boost morale.
npower, Official England 2018 FIFA World Cup(TM) Bid Supporter, is now calling on people to pledge their support for a World Cup in England in 2018, to help give a boost for business. FIFA makes its decision on the host nation for 2018 in December 2010.
In the CBI's June survey of retailers, shops reported buoyant sales of food, drinks and television sets, as households got ready for the tournament in South Africa, but England's failure to reach the latter stages have seen sales plummet. Retailers and pubs were hopeful that footie fever would carry on into July.
A successful 2018 World Cup bid would go some way to make up the shortfall with FA calculations suggesting it could bring as much as £3.2 billion to the economy.
"Whilst people may be disappointed that England didn't make it further in the tournament, we now need for everyone to get behind the 2018 bid and show their support to host the World Cup in England in eight year's time. There isn't much time left to pledge support as the host nation will be decided this December, so it's important businesses back the bid now, rather than later." said npower's marketing director, Kevin Peake.
"The opportunity to bring the tournament to England would be fantastic. Businesses of all sizes across the country would benefit and many of these will be the small businesses located around the host grounds - the food stalls, pubs, cafes and suppliers to the grounds.
"As the Official Supporters of the 2018 FIFA World Cup(TM) Bid, we are already working with small businesses in the host cities to highlight the important role they will play and also support them with energy efficiency advice. We hope this will help them reduce their carbon footprint and energy costs."
The npower survey also showed that Wayne Rooney is the favourite of England's current young players to captain the 2018 squad - 67% believe he will be captain. Theo Walcott was backed by 17%, James Milner 10% and Aaron Lennon 6%.
England 2018 Chief Executive Andy Anson said: "Businesses small and large are essential in staging a successful event and we hope the business community will get behind us and back the bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018."
ENDS
About npower:
npower is one of the top energy suppliers to the UK business market, serving over 238,000 small to medium sized enterprise sites and around 17,000 industrial and commercial customers, with over 100,000 sites
npower is dedicated to helping UK businesses use energy more efficiently and therefore spend less money on their bills. npower aims to have a positive impact on the communities it serves and reduce customers' carbon footprint whilst always improving the service to customers.
npower supplies green energy to Wembley Stadium and the Liberty Stadium in Swansea.
npower customers include BT, Wembley Stadium plc, AstraZeneca and Sainsbury's.
Nick McHugh, npower press office, npower, Oak House, Bridgwater Road, Worcester, WR4 9FP, 0845 070 2807, www.npower.com
