In the soccer world, famous clubs have their own famous stadiums. Just like the Bernabeu to Real Madrid, Camp Nou to Barcelona, and Old Trafford to Manchester United, the home stadium is the carrier of the club's spiritual legacy and the totem of the fans' culture. In Beijing, Workers Stadium is the same for Beijing Guoan FC.
After more than two years of renovation and reconstruction, the "New Sports" has recently completed its construction, becoming the first international standard professional soccer stadium in Beijing. What's even more noteworthy is that Beijing Guoan has gone from being a "tenant" to an owner of the stadium, as its parent company, Sino Group, has been granted the right to operate the new stadium for the next 40 years. The deep bond between the music department and the stadium could be a new model for the professional development of the music department in Chinese soccer.
The "New Industrial Stadium" has become the first international standard professional soccer stadium in Beijing.
How important is the stadium to the club?
The story of Premier League side Arsenal building a stadium is widely known in international football. Arsenal were a top Champions League finalist until 2006, but their record plummeted after moving into the Emirates Stadium. This was due to the fact that they raised a whopping £400 million in debt to build a new stadium, and were then forced to cut back on spending to pay off "mortgages", sell Henry, Vieira, Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and other stars, and also let them "sell the captain", The names "Four Crazy Men" and "Failure Specialists" have become increasingly louder in the media.
However, Arsenal's new stadium has also paid them handsomely. Premier League teams' revenue streams are broadly divided into three parts: broadcasting fees, commercial sponsorships, and matchday income, which depends on the size of the stadium, ticket prices, and sales of drinks and snack souvenirs. The new stadium has brought Arsenal a more lucrative regular income for each match since its completion, and healthy finances have allowed the team to gradually return to the ranks of the top teams.
In addition to match day revenue, sales of peripheral products should not be overlooked. Almost every European club with the right to operate stadiums has opened a stadium tour service, and well-known stadiums have become a tourist destination for many international tourists. Data show that in Madrid, the Bernabeu is the third largest museum, receiving more than 1 million tourists each year and earning about 17 million euros. Most of the last stops on stadium tours are directly through fan stores. According to Western media estimates, the Bernabeu and Camp Nou can generate up to 5 or 60 million euros in annual ticket revenues and related souvenir sales.
What can the new industrial stadium bring to the fans?
The Beijing Workers' Stadium, built in 1959, was one of the "Top Ten Buildings" for the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and in 1996 the Beijing Guoan soccer team settled in the stadium, which has been a crowded soccer palace every weekend for more than 20 years. Because it is owned by the National Federation of Trade Unions, Beijing Guoan pays about 1 million yuan in rent and security fees for each home game.
According to media reports, in 2020, in the Beijing Workers Stadium renovation and reconstruction of government and social capital cooperation (ppp) in the project public bidding, Zhonghe Group, together with Beijing Construction Engineering Group and Huasi Group won. The three companies will be responsible for the investment, construction and operation of the project during the three-year construction and activity service period, as well as the 40-year (2023-2062) operation period.
The craftsmanship that went into giving fans a better viewing experience is revealed everywhere in the renovation of the New Industrial Stadium. The sight lines of the .80,000 seats have been increased by 60-120 mm, greatly optimizing the sight lines of spectators watching the game live. The first row of seats in the East and West stands are only 8.5 meters from the turf. During a match, spectators can hear the players speak, see their subtle expressions and even sweat. In addition, the new system of work in the "loyal fans" stands set up, box reception, food and beverage and merchandising area, accessible viewing area, the proportion of the bathroom set up and other aspects of a comprehensive standard with the world's first-class standards.
Boxes have been added to the New Works.
In the 2019 season prior to the outbreak, Beijing Guoan had an average home attendance of over 40,000 and ticket revenues of approximately 45 million RMB. With the improved viewing experience in all aspects of the new sport, it is foreseeable that matchday revenue will be much higher when Beijing Guoan returns for the new season.
For many Beijing fans, Shanghai Shenhua, once the only Chinese Super League team with a professional soccer stadium, is particularly enviable. Larger physical stores and a more convenient purchasing experience have made Shanghai Shenhua's derivatives sales the best in the Chinese Super League for a long time, with sales of licensed jerseys a distant second.
Xu Yunlong, the team's former captain, once told the media that the original Gongti store was only about 100 square meters. If the store was too small and too crowded with fans, sales on home match days could reach nearly 300,000 yuan. Every match day, the north road of Gongti is alive with the economy of stalls selling all kinds of derivatives. I wonder if authentic jerseys, scarves, and stickers sell well here. It is foreseeable that the sales of derivatives of the New Industrial Stadium will also increase in the future.
The new project will become a new landmark for urban commerce in Beijing.
East-West Gongtibei Road apart, north of the road, the night Sanlitun commercial street colorful; in the south of the road, the noisy Workers Stadium crowded with people. Every night, a large number of people gathered here, driving the surrounding restaurants, bars, night market lights, like a prosperous night city.
While creating a clean ground space, the renovated new building complex has massively expanded the underground space of the building complex for commercial supporting facilities. According to reports, of the total planned construction area of 385,000 square meters in the first phase of the project, only 107,000 square meters are above ground and about 278,000 square meters are underground.
The under-construction subway lines 3 and 17 will also connect with the commercial support area of Workers' Stadium to form a complementary cultural and sports consumption flow line, forming an event, a comprehensive consumption carrier, a sports park and a subway public transportation system.
Some analysts have suggested that the Building Lot stores may be more valuable compared to Sanlitun. The large fan base, thousands of match day visitors, well-designed subway and parking spaces, stronger willingness of fans to spend money before and after attending matches, and high exposure to the possibility of hosting major matches in the future make the value of the building site stores incalculable.
The look of the new IWT.
Centennial clubs don't happen overnight, and the development of soccer requires one step at a time. Looking forward to the deep binding between Beijing Guoan FC and Workers Stadium, exploring a new path for the development of Chinese soccer clubs.
