Talk about sports bringing people together! Despite having an endless list of differences, North and South Korea have come together this Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang to compete as one unit- “Republic of Korea”. This story has stolen the off-competition spotlight as South Korea allocated $2.5 million to sponsor over 400 North Koreans. Here comes the best part- only 22 of them are athletes competing in the Olympic games! Out of the remaining vast majority of North Koreans, 140 of them are members of an orchestra which includes vocalists and dancers. There is also a cheering squad of 229 members along with a Tae Kwon Do team. This merge has been one of the most unifying moments in Olympic history as delegates from North Korea expressed their gratitude about this unification. The joint Korean team has not only won the hearts of the local crowd, but it has also created joy in the hearts of viewers worldwide. The study finds that trading volume in S&P 500 firms was down almost three percent in the U.S on days following a gold medal win for the United States. The effect was even more dramatic for Germany and South Korea, with decreases of 6.7 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively.

Well, excluding the United States apparently.

As a proud American, that was still pretty hilarious to me. All jokes aside, the emergence of North and South Korea as one team has also put political tensions between the two nations on hold. South Korea has spent a total of $13 billion this Winter Olympics on a number of stadiums, lodging facilities, entertainment venues, event spaces, etc. This includes the astonishing $109 million (116 billion Korean Won), 35,000 capacity Pyeongchang stadium which hosted the 2018 Winter Olympics opening and closing ceremony. This is not the first time North and South Korea have marched together for a sporting event. In 1991, a joint Korean table tennis team attended the World Table Tennis Championships in Chiba, Japan. The Koreans have also walked under one flag in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, 2004 Athens Olympics, 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, 2007 Asian Games, and now the 2018 Winter Olympics. Before the 1988 Olympic games in Seoul, 2 agents of the regime placed a bomb on a Korean airplane killing 115 people. Despite this tragedy, diplomacy outlasted terror as the games were a historic success for South Korea. From a political, sporting, and humanitarian perspective, this is exactly what we are hoping for as an attempt to unite the two foes.

On the financial side of things for the 2018 Winter Olympics, a study displayed that anticipation of a country’s gold medal run was correlated to stock market volatility. According to Forbes, “The study finds that trading volume in S&P 500 firms was down almost three percent in the U.S. on days following a gold medal win for the United States. The effect was even more dramatic for Germany and South Korea, with decreases of 6.7 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively.” As South Korea remains the cheapest economy in Asia, corporate earnings grew 50% in 2017 and are expected to grow 14% in 2018 largely due to the Winter Olympics and signs of eased tension between North and South Korea. Not only have these Olympics put South Korea on the global sporting radar, they have tremendously helped the economy prosper by increasing tourism in the short term.

In order to make the 2018 Winter Olympics a revenue generator, sponsors shelled out huge amounts of money to promote their product(s) on the global stage. Listed below are the 13 top sponsors for the Winter Olympics-

1. Coca-Cola

2. Alibaba Group

3. Atos

4. Bridgestone

5. Dow

6. General Electric

7. Intel

8. Panasonic

9. Omega

10. Procter & Gamble

11. Samsung

12. Toyota

13. Visa

According to Fox Business, each ‘Worldwide Olympic Partner’ pays roughly $100 million per four-year Olympic cycle, though some sponsors pay more than others. During the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, broadcasts drew an average of more than 21 million viewers in primetime. For example, Intel, which signed a sponsorship deal with the IOC in 2017, said it would provide 5G wireless technology, drones, artificial intelligence platforms and other gear for use during Olympic events. Listed below is a Samsung commercial from from the Winter Olympics which resulted in top ROI (returns on investment)-

Samsung

What is the moral of this Olympic story, you ask? When the world comes together as one, athletes win, nations win, sponsors win, the stock market wins, everybody wins! The beauty of the sports industry lies in its (in)direct ability to unite people and nations on a global scale. Regardless of who you are and where you’re from, I truly hope that you either laughed or learned something new from this article. At the end of the day, I would much rather have you utilize your time criticizing/appreciating content that impacts the world compared to retweeting every Kim Kardashian tweet. So please like, share, and comment!