Ifis Sport and a Milan Cortina 2026 beyond expectations

Ifis Sport is the commercial division of Banca Ifis dedicated to strengthening support for the world of Italian sports, designed to support the growth and sustainability of the entire sports ecosystem, offering tailor-made services for clubs, institutions, professional athletes, sponsors and industry stakeholders.

Banca Ifis’s support to sport is embodied in an articulated range of products in which the Bank, on the strength of more than a decade of experience in the sector – particularly in soccer – has developed vertical expertise and a deep knowledge of the dynamics and financial mechanisms that characterize professional sport. In parallel, Ifis Sport is also expanding its reach to other disciplines, such as volleyball, cycling, and basketball, with a flexible offering designed to support both traditional and emerging disciplines.
Specifically, Ifis Sport’s commercial offering consists of:

Credit advance solutions, including advance revenues from TV rights, sponsorships, player trading and tag enhancement for football clubs, structured finance instruments such as the provision of surety bonds, credit lines and confirming for domestic and international operations, leasing and operating rental of vehicles, sports equipment, technology, infrastructure and photovoltaic panels.

The starting basin is Italy, but Banca Ifis, through Ifis Sport, also increasingly operates internationally, with operations in place in the Spanish, English, French and Portuguese leagues.

Launched in 2025, Ifis Sport further strengthens Banca Ifis’s vocation as a specialized bank, providing the Italian sports system with concrete financial tools to meet the challenges of sustainable growth that now involve all players in the sector.

Banca Ifis’s commitment to sports also extends to the area of research and data analysis.
In order to offer decision makers, both public and private, useful data and information for the implementation of strategic projects in favor of the sector, Banca Ifis has been publishing since 2022 the Observatory on the Italian Sport System, which delves into phenomena and trends that characterize the sector. As part of this activity, the Bank quantified for the first time the economic value of the Giro d’Italia and carried out several studies dedicated to other major events, including the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics. On this very topic, it recently presented the study “When sport moves the economy: the Milan-Cortina effect and the power of the media.”

The ECONOMIC IMPACT OF MILAN-CORTINA 2026: NUMBERS BEYOND EXPECTATIONS

According to the study “When sport moves the economy: the Milan-Cortina effect and the power of the media” prepared by the Banca Ifis Study Office, the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics (MICO 2026) represented a widespread event over an area of 22,000 square kilometers, involving 3,565 athletes from 93 countries in 16 Olympic and 6 Paralympic disciplines. The recalculation on the first final figures showed a total economic value of 6.6 billion euros, marking a marked increase over the 5.3 billion estimated ex ante. This leap forward was generated mainly by strong infrastructure upgrading (with long-term works rising from 3.0 to 3.7 billion euros) and a 0.6 billion euro increase in direct spending on the ground.

The increase in direct spending was driven by two key dynamics:
– Seventy percent of this increase can be attributed to demand pressure. In fact, the incidence of foreigners on the 2.5 million visitors stood at 45 percent, up from 32 percent of initial estimates.
– Thirty percent of the increase in spending was driven by extended stays. Tourists stayed for an average of 3.5 nights, registering a +14% increase over the length initially assumed.

A key role is also played by the Paralympics: with over 400 thousand on-site spectators and 1.4 million in attendance, they generate an estimated economic value of 250 million euros. They have proven to be a huge “booster” for inclusion, catalyzing investments in accessibility of 471 million euros in Lombardy (trains and metro) and 41 million in Veneto (mountain tourism and Arena di Verona). Finally, crucial is the support of the 55 corporate sponsors (revenue target at 500 million euros), 42 percent of whom demonstrate a genuine passion for sports and social impact.

The PROPULSIVE VALUE OF MEDIATIC EXPOSURE

The media exposure of the major sporting event has proven to be a strategic asset that can increase brand value and amplify the country’s Soft Power. Reaching an estimated global audience of 3 billion people in more than 100 countries, supported by 24 official broadcasters and more than 80 sub-licensees, the Games have established themselves as a colossal “video phenomenon.” During the Olympic month alone, some 28 million pieces of content were posted, generating as many as 23 billion views on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, as well as 1 billion interactions. This media attention has been driven by athletes, who have acted as true brand ambassadors.

Two emblematic case studies confirm this trend: U.S. skater Alysa Liu went from 300 thousand to more than 5 million followers on Instagram, while skier Lindsey Vonn totaled more than 55 million views by posting only four reels from the Treviso hospital where she was hospitalized. The impact of digital media is borne out by overall data from the European Sport System, where engagement on social networks is steadily growing at an even faster rate than the already positive rate of TV viewers.