Canceled football matches could cost Norwegian Football Association 40 million kroner

The Norwegian Football (NFF) Association is faced with a challenging economic future.

The NFF will probably lose more than NOK 40 million due to the empty Ullevaal stands this autumn.

Lars Lagerbäck’s national team will play three home matches (Serbia, Romania, and Northern Ireland) in just eight days in October.

The matches will take place without an audience. That was also the case in September when Austria beat Norway 2-1 in Oslo.

Hit hard by the pandemic

The pandemic hit many organizations hard, and the NFF was no exception. In the budget for 2020, the Football Association has assumed total ticket sales of almost NOK 35 million, between 11.5 million for the cup final and 23.5 million for A-national matches.

The amount also includes a possible European Championship replay final (November 12).

“Unfortunately, we do not expect an audience in the stands this year,” NFF’s assistant general secretary Kai-Erik Arstad told news bureau NTB.

Conservative estimate

He considers the estimates of NOK 2.5 million per match in ticket revenues for three matches in the UEFA National League as “conservative.”

Each match in the European Championship rematch is estimated to generate NOK 8 million in ticket sales.

In addition to lost spectator income, large amounts of money are lost on arena sales at Ullevaal Stadium in connection with the matches. That means that the total loss will be well over NOK 40 million.

Counting on compensation

“We can apply for compensation for lost income (with deductions for saved costs) through the public compensation scheme for volunteering,” Arstad said.

“For the period between March 12 and August 31, the NFF has applied for – and expects compensation – of NOK 1.2 million. This relates to the Norway – Slovakia match that should have been played at Ullevaal on June 6.

NFF will of course apply for compensation for the home matches that have been played / will be played in the period between September 1 and December 31, but the exact level of compensation is currently difficult to calculate,” Arstad said.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today