In recent years, under the guidance and encouragement of policies, Shenzhen’s sports industry, especially the competition and performance industry, has developed rapidly. In 2019, more than 500 competitions covering “sea, land and air” and spring, summer, autumn and winter have been held.
Xinhua News Agency, Shenzhen, December 26 (reporter Wang Haoming) in recent years, under the guidance and encouragement of policies, the sports industry in Shenzhen, especially the competition and performance industry, has developed rapidly. In 2019, shenzhen has held more than 500 international and domestic competitions covering “sea, land and air” and the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter.
How to form a competition system with local characteristics? What is the “chemical reaction” between sports events and cities “? How can Sports help build a “happy city”? Samples from Shenzhen are worth analyzing.
Sea, land and air cover all weather in spring, summer, autumn and winter
as a city with mountains and sea, Shenzhen has formed a “sea, land and air” and a full coverage of all seasons in spring, summer, autumn and winter, relying on natural and climatic resource endowment. As of press release, Shenzhen held more than 500 sports events in 2019, and formed three levels: international high-end sports events, high-level professional club events and local independent brand events.
In international high-end sports events, Shenzhen held the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) year-end finals and the French Football Super Cup; The sequence of professional club events, the Chinese Super League and the CBA league are regularly staged; in the local independent brand competition, the “12 people on the surface” and the “China Cup” sailing competition, which are all played by the elites of table tennis players, have already had strong international and domestic influence.
Take tennis as an example. From the WTA Shenzhen Open in January to the end of the WTA Shenzhen year-end finals in November, the beginning and end of the WTA season are all in Shenzhen, which is unique in the world; under the top of the pyramid of high-end events, there are more developed youth and amateur competition systems, as well as personnel training systems as Taki. Some insiders believe that Shenzhen may even become the world tennis capital comparable to Florida in the future.
Wang Zhiqiang, deputy inspector of Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports, said that Shenzhen has always adhered to the competition mode of “government guidance, enterprise undertaking, market-oriented operation and social participation.
It is understood that in recent years, Shenzhen has spent about 0.2 billion yuan each year to support the development of the sports industry, and sports events are the key support objects. In order to ensure the fairness and efficiency of the use of funds, relevant departments have issued detailed rules and formulated a series of scoring standards according to competitions at all levels, participating teams, sponsors and communication effects.
A “chemical reaction” between an event and the City
the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports released a data in 2018. Every output of Shenzhen sports industry is 1 yuan, it will drive the output of other related industries to increase by 6.02 yuan. Sports industry can drive the development of surrounding industries, which is the market logic that many cities strongly support the development of sports industry. However, a successful event brought more than just an economic account to a city.
The “12 people with the strongest surface” held in Shenzhen since 2017 may be an example. As an independent IP event, this competition developed from the national championship team was founded in 2006 with the theme of “straight-through”, aiming at the form of open trials, to decide part of the list of the annual World competition of the national competition, which will be presented to the audience through broadcast. The strongest national player of the national championship is the foundation of the competition, and whether it can be directly connected to international competitions such as the World Table Tennis Championships and the Olympic Games is the core suspense.
After the event was settled in Shenzhen, the core connotation, competition system and communication system of IP were fixed, and Shenzhen also injected Internet and technology genes into the event. For example, the data service of the competition has been extended to 35 items, and a large number of technical items describing the personal habits of athletes have been added, which provides accurate reference for the training of the national competition. In addition, the integration of 3D models and real-time data on the page will present users with 360 degrees of data visualization experience from any perspective, greatly improving the experience of TV and network watching, it also increases people’s willingness to share.
According to statistics, in 2019, the “12 people with the strongest surface” created a total of 0.8 billion discussions on social media topics, and related topics were hot searched on Weibo for 15 times. The traditional national ball beat out new vitality, shenzhen has also become the most concerned city for table tennis lovers in the world.
The outbreak of the event online has made a breakthrough in commercial operation. In 2019, as the co-organizer of the event, Tencent Sports provided 5 million bonuses, making the event one of the highest prize table tennis competitions in the world. Liu Guoliang, chairman of China Table Tennis Association, commented that this move took the first step in the market-oriented development of table tennis.
Shenzhen has young sports consumer groups and more advanced Internet, technology and commerce, thus forming the soil for IP innovation and growth of sports events. With the help of events, the organizers can also open up the entire sports industry chain and activate upstream and downstream businesses such as venue operation, sports brokerage, sports training and relay services.
The close connection and deep integration between the competition and the city have produced “chemical reaction”-the city provides the soil for survival, development and innovation for the competition, and the competition improves the influence and reputation of the city.
In the future, Shenzhen will further strengthen the introduction, service and incubation of events. Zhang Heyun, director of Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports, said that Shenzhen would deepen the reform of the examination and approval system for sports events, explore the establishment of an evaluation index system for sports events, and optimize the organization and management of sports events, actively introduce new large-scale events.
“City of happiness” on the way
on August this year, the opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on supporting Shenzhen to build a leading demonstration zone of socialism with Chinese characteristics was officially released, which pointed out that, “Support Shenzhen to hold large-scale international sports events and cultural exchange activities, build a national team training base, and host major home diplomatic activities.”
Shenzhen’s products have gone to the world, and talents from the world are gathering in Shenzhen. Every day, they walk out of the laboratory, conference room and trading room, scattered in every corner of the city. They have the need to watch top-level events and participate in sports more personally.
Therefore, sports events not only need to form international influence aim high, but also need to “get down to earth” so that ordinary people can have more “sense of Acquisition”. In recent years, many high-end events held in Shenzhen have actually entered the campus and community, emphasizing the connection with ordinary citizens.
The reporter also found a phenomenon in the interviews of WTA’s year-end finals, “12 people on the surface” and other events: in the audience, he just finished playing the ball, wearing sneakers, audiences with ball bag behind their backs are everywhere. The reason behind this is that there are venues for people to exercise around the competition venues, which can bring enthusiasts to participate in and watch the “one-stop” experience.
In addition to the “high-end” events, in recent years, under the condition of scarce land, Shenzhen’s per capita sports field area has achieved a relatively large increase, but it is still in a state of lack in general, it cannot fully meet the sports needs of the people. The latest plan shows that Shenzhen will build sports venues in multiple parks in the city center, and it will be open to citizens free of charge or at a discount in the future……
In Shenzhen, the development of the competition industry has made it no longer “hard to find one ticket”. In the future, when citizens bid farewell to the “hard to find” of sports, sports will become a way of life and even become the belief of more and more people, we may see a “happy city.