Badminton is getting more and more expensive, and some golfers are considering "changing careers"

"The workmanship of badminton is getting worse and worse, and the price is rising more and more!" Lao Li of the Guangzhou Senior Badminton Team is over 70 years old this year, and in the face of the reality of the rising quality of badminton, he talked with several teammates about whether to change to goalball. What is the reason for this change in badminton? How should badminton lovers respond?

The price increase of badminton makes players mutter

In 2004, there was a round of badminton price hikes in China. In 2024, the situation of "balls" in short supply will appear again.

In the first half of 2024, several major domestic ball dealers will be the first to announce the price increase of badminton, with an average price increase of more than 20% compared with last year, and the price increase of some models will reach 50%, such as the competition-level high-end duck feather ball of a head ball dealer, which has jumped directly from 130 yuan last year to 195 yuan today, and then the high-end goose feather ball often used in the world series, the market price of each tube has jumped from more than 300 yuan last year to nearly 400 yuan today.

"At first, our old people didn't know that the big ball dealers had a big price increase in badminton together, because our team had been playing some small brands with better cost performance for so many years, but the small ball dealers slowly disappeared last year, and their cheap small brand balls were not available, so we had to go to the market to find the ball ourselves, and we were shocked when we saw the price!" Lao Li's team, which previously played balls ranging from 35 yuan to 45 yuan per tube, is now trying to find a mid-range ball with similar quality and price on the market, but he can't find it at all. "After a few days, there are only two big brands of mid-range balls, which are similar to the quality of our previous small brand balls of thirty or forty yuan a tube, but the price has risen from more than 60 yuan last year to nearly 100 yuan today, which is completely beyond our expectations."

"Are there any balls for forty or fifty yuan a tube? Yes! There are even 'high-end balls' for twenty or thirty yuan a tube, but when we try to play, they are all garbage balls! The package of the ball tube says that it is a mid-range or even high-end badminton, but the actual quality is the quality of the low-end ball, for those of us who are used to playing mid-range ball in the indoor court, this low-quality ball is completely garbage and cannot be played! Lao Li has retired, before taking out 100 yuan per month from the middle pension to pay the team fee to play ball fitness, and now because of the sharp increase in the price of badminton, the team fee is ready to rise to 200 yuan per month, which makes some players like Lao Li muttered in their hearts, and began to consider "retiring" (not playing badminton) or "changing careers" (changing to other sports).

Multiple factors influence price changes

Mr. Yu, who has been a badminton brand, smiled wryly when he saw the reporter: "My brand of badminton stopped two years ago, and I can't do it, but you asked me the right person, and I remember the changes in the badminton industry chain over the years." ”

"The core of the production cost of badminton is to use duck feathers and goose feathers as raw materials, so domestic duck and goose production is the most upstream of the badminton industry chain." As far as Mr. Yu knows, the domestic duck and goose production is close to its peak in 2019, with the number of ducks slaughtered reaching 4.878 billion, and the number of geese slaughtered reaching 634 million, "It should be said that the domestic duck and goose production before 2020 is steadily rising, so the supply of feathers is sufficient, so the badminton becomes of high quality and low price, and there are more and more people who like to play.

However, after 2020, the domestic production of ducks and geese fell, according to the official statistics of 2023 released in February this year, the number of ducks slaughtered was 4.218 billion, and the number of geese slaughtered was 515 million, compared with the data of 2019, the supply of wool sheets also fell accordingly. "The pricing power of the entire domestic industrial chain is controlled by the four head big ball dealers, and the wool pieces of farmers are also given priority to supply to the big ball dealers, so the output of ducks and geese falls, and the supply of wool pieces decreases.

Before the discontinuation of production, Mr. Yu actually tried to adjust the price - to buy wool at a price higher than the market, in order not to lose money, the balls made were also sold at a higher price, but this struggle proved to be of little significance. "There is no shortage of wool for big ball dealers, and their balls have not increased the price, which in turn shows that our (small ball dealers) ball is less cost-effective, many customers choose big brands instead of small brands, and my balls cannot be sold after the price increase." Mr. Yu said.

Since last year, the badminton market has re-shifted to the supply of "balls". On the demand side, the number of players has rebounded, and the demand for the ball has also rebounded; On the supply side, badminton production has declined, and duck and goose production has not recovered. Mr. Yu analyzed: "After the small ball dealers withdrew, not only did they give up 30% of the market, but the pricing power of the big ball dealers was further strengthened, and no matter how much the ball price rose, you couldn't do anything about it." ”

Reporter's observation: downshift to "ball"? It's difficult!

"The price has risen so much, let's lower it when we buy balls and save the money back, okay?" There is a group of badminton enthusiasts who have discussed this issue, but the conclusion of the discussion is often "no".

According to the standards published by the Badminton World Federation, the balls used in badminton can be divided into three gears: high-end balls, the shuttlecock remains stable during flight, without any shaking, the flight path presents a straight line (from a bird's-eye view), and the rotation speed reaches 350 revolutions per minute, even in the free fall phase, the feather part of the shuttlecock is difficult to be clearly seen; In the mid-range ball, the shuttlecock only has a slight shaking when flying, the flight trajectory is basically a straight line, the rotation speed of the shuttlecock is close to 350 revolutions per minute, and it is difficult to see the feather part clearly in the free fall stage; In the low-grade ball, the shuttlecock sways slightly when flying, the flight trajectory is basically straight, the rotation speed is about 300 revolutions per minute, and in the free fall phase, the feather shaft part is barely visible.

At present, the actual situation of badminton is that only beginners will play low-grade ball, most badminton enthusiasts will play mid-range ball after entry, and players who pursue or even reach professional standards will play high-end ball.

According to the guidelines of the BWF, professional balls must be stable enough in flight to ensure that professional players play at a normal level, so the organizers of world-class badminton tournaments should not only choose high-end balls, but also prepare slow, medium and fast balls for the temperature, air humidity and altitude of the venue. After the temperature rises and the humidity drops at noon, choose a ball with a slightly slower speed; From the afternoon to the evening, the ball is played at a medium speed, and the actual speed of the ball throughout the day is kept in line with the BWF speed requirement (between 77 and 82 km/h).

According to the reporter's understanding, there are individual professional tournaments that do not strictly follow the guidelines of the World Badminton Federation in the game ball, and try to downshift the use of a ball with slightly poor stability, but the result is that the master can not find the sense of the ball and make frequent low-level mistakes, and the level of competition declines. Therefore, it is difficult to imagine that a high-level player will switch to mid-range after he is used to playing high-end balls, and badminton fans of other levels will also realize that it will be difficult to play once they downshift.

Do you feel the price increase in badminton?

Source: Yangcheng Evening News (Reporter: Liang Jinsong)