Sport’s contribution to the English economy was revealed to be £20.3B ($31B) a year, with grassroots sport responsible for well over half of this total. The study, which was commissioned by Sport England, shows that the growth in sport has outstripped the English economy as a whole -- and the sector was resilient when the recession struck. The research puts sport within the top 15 industry sectors in England, having a bigger impact on the economy than telecom services, car sales and repairs, insurance and accounting. Of sport's contribution, £11.78B ($18B) comes from people playing sport and related expenditure such as sports equipment and coaching, while £8.5B ($13B) comes from people’s consumption of sport such as watching elite sport live or on TV, sports-related TV subscriptions and sports gambling. More than 440,000 people have sport-related jobs, accounting for 2.3% of all employment. Sport England Chair Nick Bitel said, "This report show that as well as improving the lives of millions of people grassroots sport is also having a huge impact on our economy. Put alongside the enormous value of the health benefits that sport delivers, it’s hard to overstate the sector’s contribution to our country" (Sport England).
