55 years worth of self-marketing fit into one night for Istanbul

The massive undertaking of hosting the final match of the European Championship League Cup looks to have paid off in a big way for Istanbul. Carried live in 200 countries, the final between Milan and Liverpool is estimated to have drawn around 3 billion viewers in total, all of whom were exposed to images of Istanbul. With an advertising budget of 100 million dollars a year, Turkey in this way fit about 55 years of self-advertising into the space of one night.The Ataturk Olympic Stadium was draped in banners covered with Istanbul logos on the night of the match, and with the broadcast of these images to countries all over the world, experts estimate an ad campaign which would have normally cost around 5.5 billion dollars was carried out for virtually nothing.  In the end, Turkish Football Federation breaks even Turkish Football Federation President Levent Bicakci said that they had spent around 5 million Euros in preparations for the European Cup final match. He explained however, that in the end, this was all earned back, saying "We didn't actually profit on this match. But we will get back half of the 5 million Euros we spent from the UEFA. What's left from that, the UEFA had already given us in revenues for the stadium. With that, we met all of our expenses for the match. In the end, 5 kurus won't even come out of our pockets for what wound up being a magnificent introduction of Istanbul to the world." They came, they went, they spent 50 million dollars The Championship League match also had a positive effect on tourism in Istanbul. It is estimated that around 45 thousand people flowed into Istanbul to see the game, spending around 50 million dollars while here. Hotels in the city were completely booked up, and many who came for the match wound up having to stay outside Istanbul.  Lobsters and champagne An interesting gastronomical match note: Vedat Basaran, General Manager of the Feriye Lokantalari firm in charge of catering at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium said that on the night of the match, they started serving food to the 2,100 VIP guests at the stadium three hours before the start of the game. "The VIP guests ate 22 kilos of caviar, 600 lobsters, and popped 150 bottles of champagne" said Basaran. "This is the first time we catered a football match, and we are very pleased." Â