The 2023 season marks a turning point in China's professional leagues as they move from chaos. But the reality is that the level of player commitment, fan enthusiasm, investor enthusiasm and commercial development are in marked contrast.
After the epidemic, the pace and intensity of Super League matches have increased dramatically, as has the commitment of the teams. Matches have become more intense and brutal, which is gratifying on a competitive level. Meanwhile, fan enthusiasm continues to grow and more professional stadiums are being put into use. Earth markets such as Chengdu, Beijing, Tianjin, Jinan, Shanghai and Qingdao are booming and exciting.
But the embarrassment continues, as many clubs are struggling because of financial problems, and commercial development across the league and clubs is equally difficult.
A few days ago, a fan left a message to the reporter: this year's Chinese Super League is very similar to the first year of the professional league in 1994. Players play simple, fans love simple, everything is so pure. From the point of view of the level of competition and the enthusiasm of the fans, this is true.
So far in the season, half of the clubs have had a pleasing attendance - Guoan with a maximum of 50,312, Jinmen Tigers with a maximum of 40,731, Rongcheng with a maximum of 39,988, Taishan with a maximum of 36,673, Sancheng with a maximum of 35,868, Haixu with a maximum of 33,582, Shenhua with a maximum of 28,879, and Dalian with a maximum of 23028 people. It should be noted that due to the high number of new and renovated stadiums, some stadiums have not yet reached their maximum attendance due to relevant restrictions. In addition, some clubs had only a small number of fans attending the matches due to safety concerns (security costs and others).
This season, professional stadiums including Guoan Industrial Stadium, Rongcheng Phoenix Hill Soccer Stadium, Hainiu Youth Soccer Stadium, Seaport SAIC Pudong Soccer Stadium, Shenhua 80,000 people stadium (semi-professional) are fully opened. In the second half of the year, the TEDA soccer stadium of the Jinmen Tigers has been confirmed, and the Barracuda Bay soccer stadium of the Dalian people is likely to be put into use. 2025, the Yellow River soccer stadium, which was then initiated by Taishan with a high probability, will be completed. In addition, Guangzhou professional soccer stadium will be rebuilt soon, Hangzhou professional soccer stadium has been completed.
A top-notch viewing experience will naturally attract more fans. A simple example:Before relegation in 2013, Hainiu (then known as Zhongneng) was the worst market in the Chinese Super League, but returned this season very popular.
Fans, naturally, are the driving force behind the commercial development of the Super League.
Let's take a look at the Chinese Super League. In the first 12 rounds, CPL running distance and high intensity running distance increased dramatically, and almost all of the matches were very close. 96 matches were played in 12 rounds, 34 matches ended in draws, 62 matches were won or lost, with only 18 of them netting more than 2 goals, and the rest of the 44 matches were one-goal matches. In other words, as many as 78 matches were in doubt until the last minute. The reason for this is simple: every team showed a desperate attitude.
An interesting contrast is that at Port, who are first in the table, second in the table and four points ahead, head coach Javier was attacked by the media and the fans, while the bottom two Manatees, after four consecutive losses, had fans chanting "it's OK" and "heads up". The reason for the comparison is simple. If the opponent meets Port, he will play hard. 12 games only 3 games, 2 goals or more. Except for 2 draws and 1 loss, the other 5 matches were all narrow victories. Port fans feel there is no "champion". Although Manatee lost 4 games in a row, they fought until the end of each game, but just lacked the ability.
It must be admitted that the tactical level of the Premier League has declined due to the departure of high level foreigners. But the confrontation and tempo have not declined, and there is a clear improvement from the last three years, more pure, which is also attractive, as the performance of the ball market proves.
For China's three-tier professional leagues, including the Chinese Super League, the most critical and central challenge is one word: money.
At present, the Chinese Super League club funds are still in a state of tension, the depth of the situation is quite bad. Taishan, Henan, Zhejiang, Cangzhou have to deepen the share reform, completely solve the irrational shareholding structure, the phenomenon of "tug of war" between shareholders. In addition, Guoan, sea cow, Dalian people, Meizhou and other clubs also need to make a breakthrough in the financial level in order to stabilize.
One of those facts is that Premier League clubs still owe wages for the new season.
Against the backdrop of "money embarrassment", clubs are placing more emphasis on commercial development. Take Manatees for example. One of the sponsors John's Farm is popular among fans. Their slogan in the stadium is "John's Farm carries 100,000 rutabaga hens to cheer for Qingdao Sea Cow!" It is reported that John's Farm's sponsorship is in the form of "Eggs + Cash". In the golden dollar era, the club would probably disdain it, but at this stage it is very valuable. Of course, with the hot market for manatees and the highly visible slogan, John's Farm is actually doing a good business.
"Everyone now knows that the 2023 Premier League season was played with great intensity and fan enthusiasm. But before the season started, sponsors were severely lacking in enthusiasm at the time due to the inertia of the past three years, as well as the impact of the anti-gambling and anti-blackmail campaign and the league's postponement of matches. Although the market is hot after the game and the game is intense, the support of sponsors is still a bit lagging behind." A Chinese Super League club head told reporters, which also led to many clubs chest advertising "naked".
At the beginning of the season, the CFA preparatory team was also at a loss for words. Some sponsors drastically reduced the amount of sponsorship, and some even stopped sponsoring. There are no beer sponsors in the Chinese Super League this season.
"At the beginning of the season, we had negotiations with our sponsors. Their attitude was to wait. This wait-and-see attitude greatly reduced our investment for 2023." A source from the CFL's preparatory team told reporters.
However, operations have dawned. The CFL preparatory team is currently negotiating a new sponsor. Sponsors have taken a keen interest in the Chinese Super League due to the fierce competition and hot market. "Everyone is very pleased with the current situation, but most of the companies' advertising plans were made years ago, and it's hard to sponsor during the season. At the same time, the preparatory group of the Chinese Football League also needs to maintain the overall investment pattern of the league, but there is light at the end of the tunnel for now. We hope that the next 18 rounds of the Chinese Super League will be as intense and exciting as ever, and that more fans will return to the stadium. In this case, investment is expected to rebound in the new season." The CFL said.
Looking at the funding problem of the Chinese Super League and the Chinese professional leagues from a higher level, one can see that there are actually many solutions to the problem.
First, the recognized and once-and-for-all way of issuing China's soccer lottery, while clearly giving the distribution model of China's professional soccer league; second, the state's clear support for soccer from the policy, including long-term share reform policy support, such as the introduction of a white list of central enterprises investing in soccer, club share reform policy, and encouragement of the local government to give stable financial support and policy support (lower venue fees, security fees, etc.). . ; Thirdly, there is overall, emergency, short-term financial support.
All these cannot be separated from one question, that is, why should the Government support them? The reason is very simple. It is natural for the Government to support what ordinary people like, and this is the core logic. At present, soccer remains the common man's favorite sport because of the passion of the Chinese Super League fans, supplemented by simpler and more intense matches.
At the same time, we also need to focus on the two cores of league maps, soccer industry and employment. The current league map may be only 1/10 or even less of the future Chinese soccer league map. Theoretically, the map should be "top league (18) + secondary league (20) + tertiary league (40 or more) + national regional league (80 or more) + provincial league + municipal league + community league + village league". In addition, there should be separate regional professional leagues (similar to the Brazilian state league, which can be piloted in the future in the Greater Bay Area, Yangtze River Delta, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Henan and Hubei). In addition, the soccer industry is an important group.
Starting from these two core elements, the enthusiasm of society as a whole, especially private capital, is the foundation. It is gratifying to see that the enthusiasm of Chinese Super League fans is high, and grass-roots "village super" grows like a weed, so that we can see the light of day.
However, to do all this well, the evaluation mechanism oriented to the league, youth and fans is the key, stable league management system and effective operation mechanism is the foundation, strict industry supervision and normal judicial supervision is the guarantee. Doing all this, Chinese soccer will naturally and gradually recover, fan enthusiasm comes from the business funds come from the national team at all levels in the competitive level of performance will naturally come.
