Argument: Benefits spread across the country

The benefits of these events, unlike hosting an event such as an Olympic Games (which would be outside the reach of Gabon or Equatorial Guinea, especially with the increasing trend of the IOC to select major world cities in medium or high income countries), is that more than one site in a country can host different parts of the tournament. This provides a platform for a focus on broad based development across the entire nation, rather than one-sideded development focused on one city. In Gabon’s case there was both construction of the Stade de l’Amitié-Sino-Gabonaise in the Capital and a rebuild of a stadium in Franceville for €76.2 million [1] .

[1] Ballong, Stéphane, ‘Gabon’s 2012 CAN effect’, theafricareport, 7 December 2011, http://www.theafricareport.com/News-Analysis/the-2012-can-effect.html

Candidate 1: "Aside from the cost issues, the event is short-lived, a few weeks. An event such as the African Cup of Nations will only be remembered for a while, and then it will just be a footnote in history, fading from the memory quicker than an event like a World Cup. The ACN is focused largely within Africa, when all the PR benefits are best focused towards Europe and higher income countries.

The economic effects are not always beneficial and are only temporary; even the massive building projects have failed to solve the problem with unemployment which is at 27%."
Candidate 2: "There were only two host cities in each country, however. This is understandable: the African Cup of Nations does not use as large a number of venues as other tournaments. The 2013 edition in South Africa used a larger, fifth, venue for three matches only, and the 2015 event will revert to four venues."
Candidate 3: "Empty seats

Organizers in Gabon had to hand out free tickets to fill stadia [1] . This not only makes the tournament appear unpopular to TV viewers, it reduces the revenues of the event.

It would be better for the sport if the Africa Cup of Nations was held in countries that are likely to sell out more of the matches; this means countries with bigger populations than Gabon and Equatorial Guinea that can pull in a domestic audience.

[1] Sport24, “Empty seats plague AFCON”, Sport 24, 2012, http://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/AFCON/Empty-seats-plague-AFCON-20120203"
Candidate 4: "Cost could be spent on other things

Gabon’s government invested €370 million in the games. [1] Even though it is one of the more stable West African countries, there are still many people living in grinding poverty – nearly 20% of the population, according to the World Bank [2] . While infrastructure development is welcome, it is a better use of money to lift people out of poverty rather than for three weeks of football.

It can also have other negative effects on the day to day lives of individuals, for example in South Africa when it hosted the world cup tolls were increase [3] .

[1] Ndenguino-Mpira, Hermanno, “The African Cup of Nations 2012 – China’s goals”, Centre for Chinese Studies, 23 January 2012, http://www.ccs.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/China-in-Gabon-23-Jan-12-Hermanno.pdf

[2] World Bank, “World Development Indicators”, World Bank Databank, http://databank.worldbank.org/ddp/home.do

[3] Sands, Darren, “In South Africa, the African Cup of Nations is big business”, Black Enterprise, 2013, http://www.blackenterprise.com/money/afcon-soccer-big-business-south-afr..."
Candidate 5: "The African Cup of Nations brings very few tourists with it; Ghana vs Guinea had only 4,000 fans while the Zambia vs Sudan Quarter final only had a few hundred spectators. [1] Numbers like this are clearly not going to boost local shops and bars much. Even the investment does not boost local small businesses; the contracts went to big foreign firms. Those firms then make contracts with companies they already know not local ones and often employ foreign workers; the construction of the Stade de l’Amitié-Sino-Gabonaise employed a thousand workers, but only a quarter were Gabonese. [2]

[1] Reuters, ‘Fans go it alone at Africa Cup of Nations’, AlJazeera, 6 February 2012, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/2012/02/201226204133460408.html

[2] Ballong, Stéphane, ‘Gabon’s 2012 CAN effect’, theafricareport, 7 December 2011, http://www.theafricareport.com/News-Analysis/the-2012-can-effect.html"
Candidate 6: "Showcasing countries with poor human rights records

Allowing a country to host a major sporting event gives them a big boost in international prestige. Repressive regimes to not deserve this.

Equatorial Guinea, a dictatorship run by Teoodoro Obiang, is one of the world’s worst human rights offenders, with the worst possible scores for civil liberties and political rights according to Freedom House [1] .

Gabon, while rated by Freedom House as better than Equatorial Guinea, also has a bad human rights record, with “harsh prison conditions, lengthy pretrial detention, ritual killings, police use of excessive force, … widespread government corruption … and forced child labor [sic]” [2] .

[1] Freedom House, “Equatorial Guinea”, Freedom House http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2013/equatorial-guinea#...

[2] US State Department, Gabon 2012 Human Rights Report, http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/204333.pdf"
Candidate 7: "This infrastructure still costs money, whatever event it is around: a state could launch an infrastructure drive without a football tournament that would be much more focused on the real needs of the people. Foreign investment can have significant costs, such as preferential access to natural resources. The work can often wind up being done by foreign contractors so that it creates no local jobs, as happened when Angola hosted the tournament [1] . In the case of the Stade de l’Amitié-Sino-Gabonaise China does not just get the benefit of the name; the finance provided was a loan, and the construction was done by the Shanghai Construction Group meaning much of the benefit went to China. [2]

[1] Capstick, Alex, “Angola uses football to showcase economy”, BBC News, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8463972.stm

[2] Ndenguino-Mpira, Hermanno, “The African Cup of Nations 2012 – China’s goals”, Centre for Chinese Studies, 23 January 2012, http://www.ccs.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/China-in-Gabon-23-Jan-12-Hermanno.pdf"

There were only two host cities in each country, however. This is understandable: the African Cup of Nations does not use as large a number of venues as other tournaments. The 2013 edition in South Africa used a larger, fifth, venue for three matches only, and the 2015 event will revert to four venues.
