World Cup: Italy’s defeat costly to economy too

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Italy’s surprisingly early exit from the World Cup will prove costly to more than just the players. Italian restaurants and bars could have made as much as $82 million in extra sales had the team advanced, said an e-mailed report from the Chamber of Commerce of Monza, northern Italy, Bloomberg News reported. It was estimated that another $86 million may have been spent by public institutions and private associations to rent and set up outdoor screens in squares and parks, the report added, bringing the potential blow to the sagging Italian economy to nearly $170 million.

The defending World Cup champion, Italy was eliminated from the tournament Thursday having gone winless in group play.
Italy’s soccer defeat ‘won’t hopefully damage the economy,’ Marco Tronchetti Provera, chairman of tire producer Pirelli & C. S.p.A. told Turin-based newspaper La Stampa. ‘It’s just a psychological damage’ in the short term, he said.

-- Kevin Baxter in Pretoria, South Africa