BEIJING (Xinhua) – Sports industry is now one of China’s most dynamic sectors and has experienced double-digit growth in recent years.
Chinese investors have frequented world media headlines for their big spendings on sports stars and soccer clubs in 2015.
For example, Chinese clubs spent the most on the global transfer market during winter window; China’s Wanda Group became new FIFA partner; China’s Hisense Group signed as UEFA Euro 2016 global sponsor.
In 2013, sports and relevant industries in China reached a total scale of 1.09 trillion yuan (168.5 billion US dollars) and realised an added value of 356.4 billion yuan (55 billion dollars), accounting for 0.63 per cent of GDP in the year, up by 10.8 per cent compared to that of 2012, obviously higher than GDP growth in the same period.
In stark contrast to huge overcapacity in industries like steel, sports industry is in constant short supply.
File photo shows (L-R) FIFA Marketing Director Thierry Weil, FIFA Vice President David Chung, Wanda Group Chairman Wang Jianlin and vice-Chairman of Chinese Football Association Zhang Jian, during a press conference pertaining to the strategic partnership between FIFA and Wanda Group in Beijing, China, March 21. EPA
“As I understand it, industries like sports and culture can only develop when people have more spare time and income at their disposal. Now China has just reached the right place and people are in need of leisure activities in sports and culture,” said Wang Jianlin, chairman of Wanda Group, China’s largest commercial property company and world’s largest cinema chain operator.
In developed countries, sports industry makes considerable contributions to their economies, contributing one to three per cent of the GDP generally, and plays an important role in creating jobs. In comparison, China’s sports industry is still in infancy and has huge room to grow.
“The scale of China’s sports industry and relevant industries, including the sportswear manufacture, amounted to just 50 billion dollars in 2014. America’s sports industry turned out 500 billion dollars that year and has been growing, even with only sports games and sports activities being counted,” said Wang.
On September 2, 2014, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang mapped out the plan of speeding up the sports industry development, boosting sports consumption and promoting public fitness in the State Council executive meeting. On October 20, the State Council unveiled a guideline, named “Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Sports Industry and Promoting Sports Consumption”. As a result, China’s General Administration of Sports loosened its hold on administrative examination and approval of commercial and mass sports events.
In 2015, the General Administration granted the subsidy of 870 million yuan (135 million dollars) for 1,212 large sports venues to open for free or at a low charge. The administration also named seven national sports industry bases and 12 sports industry demonstration units around China.
Meanwhile, local administrations are eager to set up local sports industry bases. By far, nine provinces have constructed sports industry bases and 12 provinces and regions are about to join them.
Sports industry has been on the speedway since 2105 as investors are optimistic for its future.
Wanda Group has purchased world top sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media at the price of 1.2 billion dollars and World Triathlon Corporatino at 650 million dollars.
China’s leading e-commerce company Alibaba established Ali Sports Group, while Tencent, China’s top internet service portal, has purchased online broadcasting right of a large number of sports events.
Ti’ao Dongli (also known as China Sports Media), a Beijing-based company specialising in sports broadcast, acquired broadcasting rights last May for the Chinese Super League (CSL) for eight billion yuan (1.3 billion dollars) over five years covering 2016-2020.
Then LeSports, China’s leading internet-based sports company, announced a wide-ranging strategic partnership with Ti’ao Dongli recently, obtaining online multimedia rights of the CSL in a deal worth 2.7 billion yuan (420 million dollars), headlined by exclusive global broadcast rights covering five seasons.
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