The construction and revamping of the stadiums where Euro 2004 will be played (all of which have been completed inside their deadlines) demanded a dìrect State investment in the order of 180 million euros (75 million for the ten stadiums and 105 million for accesses). More than 200 kilometres of stands were built in less than 24 months, to seat something like one million, 200 thousand spectators at the 31 games which make up the Competition.

If seats are sold out at each of the games - and it looks as though that is what is going to happen - the direct income produced will reach about 9.1 million euros. But it is not in this way that Portugal will benefit most from the event. ICEP has calculated that the country will welcome no fewer than one million Spanish visitors durìng the competition and another 500 thousand tourists from the North and Centre of Europe, who will leave between 179 and 357 million euros here, whilst generating additional business totalling many more millions indirectly. It should be said, at four months away, that the total number of hotel beds in Portugal, almost 250 thousand, is already virtually booked up for that period. And again, there is the question of the country's visibility: A promotional campaign as intensive as that of the Euro would cost the public coffers far more than what was spent on the stadiums and respective accesses. It is worth remembering that there will be something like 60 television stations in Portugal (which will be broadcasting live worldwide) and the spectacle (and Portugal) will be seen by about seven thousand million spectators.

The accredited journalists should be about ten thousand, and they will certainly not only be targeting football. As in every case of the kind, the additional interest the country will carry on for long after the competition itself has finished. And it would last even longer if the Olympic Games were not about to start in Athens right afterwards...
The sixteen teams competing will also be entitled to a "prize". UEFA has destined 128 million euros for distribution between the federations represented in accordance with their respective classiflcation in the competition, and the winning side will win something like 17.6 million euros.