The Contingent Valuation Method in assessing the value of sport’s stadium in developing nations. The case of Poland

The European Football Championship (Euro 2012) organized in Poland became the pretext for a number of infrastructural changes at a total cost of 100 billion PLN2012. Such high expenditure makes the Polish event the most expensive among events of this magnitude. The fact that these changes were 100% financed by public means raises the question whether these funds were used in a substantiated way. Therefore, the aim of this study is to estimate the willingness-to-pay (WTP) among the community of the Pomeranian region, in connection with intangible benefits and costs stemming from hosting the Euro 2012 in Gdansk. A survey conducted among 407 respondents was the source of information. The results of the study show that the average value of WTPbenefit for the whole sample was 45,72 PLN2012 and WTPcost was 3,86 PLN2012. The aggregate values for the whole region was in terms of benefits and costs 396,6 million PLN2012 and 33,49 million PLN2012 respectively. The results thus confirm the existence of both intangible benefits and costs associated with the event. However, it should be noted that the importance of the net benefits is insignificant and does not compensate for the massive expenditure from public sources