Sports Big Business No. 2781, welcome to pay attention to the leading sports industry information platform
Wen | Zhuang Tour
Sports big business reporter
On January 9, 2022, Chengdu Phoenix Mountain Stadium, the FINAL OF THE FA CUP, Shandong Taishan won the double for the third time in the history of the team with a 1-0 victory over Shanghai Harbor. With the help of wonderful matches, Phoenix Mountain Stadium, a professional football stadium that will host the 2023 Asian Cup, also ushered in its "debut".
Following the official unveiling of the Shanghai Pudong Football Stadium, the first professional football stadium to be used as the venue for the Asian Cup in October 2021, another professional football stadium with exquisite design and complete supporting facilities has been presented to the fans. Taking advantage of the opportunity of the Asian Cup, the trend of professional football stadium construction is sweeping across the country.
Exterior view of Chengdu Phoenix Mountain Football Stadium
Although known as the "infrastructure maniac", China has not been ahead of the world in terms of building professional football stadiums. To this day, the coverage of professional football stadiums in China is still insufficient, and most of the venues used in the league are still comprehensive stadiums or older professional football stadiums.
Taking advantage of the opportunity of the 2023 Asian Cup, a number of professional football stadiums in China are under construction/transformation, which is expected to quickly make up for this historical weakness and even achieve overtaking of the football powerhouse.
In addition to chengdu phoenix mountain football stadium, Shanghai Pudong football stadium, which has been completed and unveiled before, there are also 8 professional football stadiums in Beijing Workers Stadium, Qingdao Youth Football Stadium, Kunshan Professional Football Stadium, Xi'an International Sports Center, Chongqing Liangjiang Football Event Center, Tianjin Teda Football Stadium, Dalian Barracuda Bay Professional Football Stadium and Xiamen Bailu Stadium.
In terms of the venue's commercial potential to stimulate the event, the future will leave us with a huge imagination space.
Professional soccer stadium experience all-round upgrades
Chinese mainland's first professional football stadium, shanghai Hongkou football stadium, which was officially opened in 1999, is also the home of Shanghai Shenhua team.
Hongkou Football Stadium is the first professional football stadium in China
Since the beginning of the new century, there have been professional football stadiums such as Tianjin TEDA Football Stadium, Tianjin Tuanbo Football Stadium, Chengdu Longquanyi Football Stadium, and Shanghai Jinshan Football Stadium. But ultimately the number is limited. Among them, Chengdu Longquanyi Football Stadium and Shanghai Jinshan Football Stadium did not host top leagues in most years.
In addition to the overall environment of the league, the lack of venue conditions has always been one of the factors plaguing the commercialization of professional football in China. Guangzhou Evergrande once had one of the best influences in Asia, and even after it was widely known in Europe, it planned the construction of a new stadium for further development.
In April 2020, guangzhou evergrande football stadium held a groundbreaking ceremony. At that time, the total investment was expected to reach 12 billion, and the new venue could accommodate 100,000 people. With the influence of Guangzhou Evergrande at that time, if the league environment was steadily improved to the international level, "Lotus" did have the potential to cash in on investment returns.
Not only in China, but in recent years around the world, the benefits of modern professional football venues have been widely recognized. The completion and use of new venues can often not only keep up with the trend in the use of science and technology, provide better broadcast services, but also improve better commercial activation services and revitalize commercial development. Large football stadiums are often used as landmark buildings, and they can also use the event to promote cultural tourism, further driving the tertiary economy.
Since entering the 21st century, European football has gradually ushered in a wave of new stadium construction. Among the five major leagues, the stadium construction of the Premier League and the Bundesliga, ahead of the three Italian and Spanish leagues, has also attracted the attention of Chinese fans at the earliest. For the Premier League in particular, modern venues are one of the cornerstones of today's huge commercial advantage.
Arsenal Emirates Stadium
For fans of football venue services, the scoring of the experience mainly comes from several aspects: the quality of the game itself, the viewing angle, and the surrounding supporting service experience.
Before the construction of a "professional football stadium with modern supporting facilities", the first thing that can bring great improvement to the fan viewing experience is the transition from a comprehensive stadium to a professional football stadium - first remove the track that "isolates" the audience and the players.
Some of the major European league courses, although the facilities are old, are equally excellent due to the appropriate distance between the stands and the venue. However, compared with the new stadium, there is a significant gap in the surrounding supporting commercial services.
Milan San Siro Stadium
Such a situation also appears in some famous "football temples" - although it has always been a professional football stadium, due to the imperfect surrounding supporting facilities, there is still room for improvement in the viewing experience, such as the lack of camp nou on three sides and the lack of peripheral supporting San Siro.
In 2019, Real Madrid announced plans for the renovation of the new Bernabeu, hoping to build "the best stadium in the world", in addition to more technological modern venue facilities, surrounding commercial facilities, the new Bernabeu stadium will also seek more "cross-border", hosting concerts and other large-scale events. Marca had expected that the completion of the new Bernabeu would bring real Madrid an additional revenue of 150 million euros per year.
New Bernabeu
In terms of the new stadium, Real Madrid's city rival Atletico Madrid tasted the sweetness earlier. Since the Wanda Metropolitano opened in 2017, atletico's revenue figure has directly doubled. In addition to football events, the Wanda Metropolitano also hosts major events such as concerts, generating more than 100 million euros in revenue each year.
Wanda Metropolitano Stadium
Coincidentally, the Juventus Arena (later named allianz Stadium), the first to complete the construction of a new stadium in Italy, has also become a benchmark for Serie A teams to emulate for a long time. In addition to the substantial increase in matchday revenue and merchandise sales revenue, due to the more modern facilities of the stadium, it has also brought better supporting sponsorship activation programs to the team, which has increased the value of sponsorship. The success of Juve's new stadium directly provided Juve with a self-sufficient economic foundation during the 9 consecutive championships.
In the capital injection agreement finally signed by La Liga and the private equity fund CVC at the end of 2021, although the financing cost is extremely high according to the amortization time of up to 40-50 years, one of the things that attracts the small and medium-sized teams in La Liga is that the CVC injection has largely helped solve the problem of new stadium construction for small and medium-sized teams. The completion and use of new stadiums in various places will inevitably bring a significant increase in commercial value, and will also make La Liga teams gain a lot.
At the same time, Real Madrid and Barcelona, which are not involved in the CVC agreement, have also recently carried out plans for new stadiums. The transformation of the Bernabeu and Camp Nou became an iconic event for europe's new stadium. Barca, in particular, are determined to complete the renovation of Camp Nou with the help of loans, even in the face of debt, which shows that in their judgment of future potential, the expected ability of the new stadium to absorb money is considered to be much higher than the cost of construction.
At present, camp Nou lacks roofs on three sides, and there is still room for experience upgrades
Portugal, which is one step ahead in the construction of venues, has also tasted the sweetness earlier. Due to the superior venue conditions and excellent supporting services, not only did Lisbon host the Champions League final in 2020, but UEFA also arranged the difficult to coordinate the home games during the epidemic in Portugal for many times, including the Champions League knockout round after the resumption of the 2020 match system.
Lisbon Stadium of Light
Taking advantage of the East Wind of the Asian Cup, many places in China have built a "new landmark" of professional football stadiums
On 7 January 2021, the AFC and the AFC China Organizing Committee announced that the 2023 AFC China Asian Cup will be held in 10 cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi'an, Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen and Suzhou from 16 June 2023 to 16 July 2023.
As the first professional football stadium to be completed in the Asian Cup, Shanghai Pudong Football Stadium was officially unveiled on October 22, 2021. At present, Chengdu Phoenix Mountain Stadium has also been completed, and the remaining 8 newly reconstructed Asian Cup professional football stadiums have completed the main structure construction, and will be completed by the end of 2022.
Shanghai Pudong Football Stadium
In July 2020, chongqing, Xi'an, Xiamen, Suzhou and other four 2023 Asian Cup host cities of professional football stadiums began construction. Before the end of 2020, the construction of professional football stadiums in Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao and other cities will also start.
The 10 professional football stadiums built by China are not only in preparation for the 2023 Asian Cup, but also mean that the hardware facilities of Chinese football are about to be fully upgraded. As of the end of December 2021, the 7 professional football stadiums of the 2023 Asian Cup have completed the main structure capping.
Renderings of the infield after the transformation of the Beijing Workers' Stadium
In addition to the seats being closer to the venue, which can bring a better viewing perspective and a close-up on-site viewing experience, new venues such as Beijing Workers' Stadium are also working on the application of 5G technology, which will have the ability to provide 5G+8K broadcasting, become 5G smart venues, and provide better services for event broadcasting.
China is not the only example of hosting large-scale events to rapidly drive the upgrading of local football venues. For example, Spain, which recently accepted the CVC injection in La Liga, may jointly bid with Portugal for the 2030 World Cup. In the CVC's capital injection agreement, a considerable proportion of the funds need to be used for infrastructure construction, and if the World Cup can be successfully bid, it will play a positive role in the construction/renovation of new stadiums in many places in Spain.
The 2022 Qatar World Cup has attracted much attention, and the construction/renovation of Qatar's football stadiums has also been upgraded in all directions in just a few years with the opportunity of the World Cup.
Venue for the 2022 Qatar World Cup
In the construction of the eight venues of the Qatar World Cup, in addition to the presentation of elements such as intelligence, low carbon and green, it is also the focus of Qatar's work to re-enter the community after the game and bring diversified benefits.
After the competition, the venues were diversified
According to the plan, after the completion of the renovation project, Beijing Workers' Stadium will not only bring a better experience in the event, but also reserve enough space for tourism and leisure business on non-competition days. An urban sports park covering an area of about 130,000 square meters will be built around the workers' stadium, and a lake area of 30,000 square meters in the south, making the workers' stadium an open urban sports park with a football field as the core.
Renderings of the field after the transformation of the Beijing workers' body
The advantage of being located in the bustling commercial area of Beijing will also bring bonuses. In the future, Xingong sports will create a number of themed commercial spaces in the form of TOD+ block + mall, gathering rich content such as brand flagship stores, first stores, new retail, events, and performing arts. Not only will there be multiple formats such as retail, catering, and entertainment, but also curatorial, immersive experience activities and digital interactive entertainment activities will be introduced.
Compared with the beijing workers' stadium in the prime location, the shanghai pudong football stadium, chengdu phoenix mountain football stadium, Qingdao youth football stadium and other professional football stadiums are located in the suburbs. The location of venues such as Chongqing Longxing Sports Center and Xi'an International Sports Center is farther away from the bustling area. After the end of the competition, the surrounding supporting commercial activation may require more efforts.
After two consecutive years of tournament competition, multiple factors have led to the withdrawal of a large number of investors, and Chinese football has been in the coldest winter. But even if the status quo is embarrassing, the Chinese Super League is still firmly in the largest league in China. The commercial value after the great discount is still higher than that of other leagues.
Compared with comprehensive stadiums, professional football stadiums are more likely to recover their operating costs through commercial income under the premise of match protection. In terms of the commercial added value that can be achieved in daily life, there are also many successful cases in the world, which can be used as a reference for Chinese football. In addition to the diversion of commercial centers in the surrounding areas, the hosting of large-scale events and events other than football can also maintain the popularity of the venues.
The 2020 League of Legends S10 Final was held at the Pudong Football Stadium in Shanghai
From the perspective of professional clubs, another major benefit that a modern professional stadium can bring is a better VIP area - not only to provide more perfect high-end customized services, to drive high-end spectator tourism, but also to become a club's advantage in the replacement of sponsors' rights.
At the same time, the mainstream new stadiums in Europe are excellent places to carry out sports business activities, providing a space for managers, agents, sponsors and business partners to communicate, and playing a role in promoting the development of professional sports.
VIP area at Wembley Stadium
Because of this, many teams prioritize expanding the vip area and improving the facilities when renovating the stadium. The "nature of the exhibition" reflected in the football game is also getting stronger and stronger.
The VIP area of the Allianz Stadium in Turin
All along, the commercial rights activation of the Chinese Super League has lacked bright spots. In the future, with the blessing of the new venue, the Chinese Super League is expected to provide sponsors with more high-quality stadium services and activation solutions, so that the commercial value can be further released.
For localities, it is also expected that through the sports events supported by the new venues, high-end tourism, local brand display, and local cultural publicity will be promoted, so that new venues and new landmarks will become local business cards, and bring continuous positive feedback to the society.
With the east wind of the Asian Cup, Chinese football will have a stronger infrastructure support on the road of catching up with the international level.
Note: The images used in this article are from the Internet