The Chinese soccer world is in a state of flux as it steps into 2023. A string of poor performances have not only revealed many holes in the team's technical and tactical skills, but also exposed corruption in the coaching team, league management, the top management of the Football Association and even higher levels. As we all know, the poor soccer ecosystem has become a huge obstacle to the progress of the national football team.
However, it is not only the fans who are disappointed. The implementation of the neutral name policy has forced many investors to opt for divestment, dealing a considerable blow to teams. 21st Century Business Herald data shows that at least 95 clubs in Chinese soccer have announced their dissolution since the professionalization of the sport in 1994, with 44 of them having disappeared for nearly five years. Regrettably, the implementation of the new policy has led to the exit of at least 25 clubs from the jungle, even including the current season's championship team.
After the previous management team was "swept out of office", criticism of the new policy rose and became the consensus of the industry. Finally, after Song Kai took office, he said he would make adjustments, and the "new policy" was released on January 3rd through an official announcement. Ironically, it has been less than two years since the last new policy was released.
This "new policy" aims to solve three major problems: team naming, relocation and foreign aid registration. Compared to the latter two, team naming has undoubtedly received the most attention. Simply put, the "new policy" requires that the neutral name policy still exists, but companies are allowed to name. The naming format will be based on "club name + title + team", with corporate and brand names as options for the "title". This policy will continue until 2024-2028.
There is no doubt that the "new deal" was introduced because of the shortage of funds, and its purpose is to attract funds. When wage arrears and financial problems become the main keywords of the league, the withdrawal of sponsors and the negative attitude of players are inevitable. In theory, the reform did help solve the problem. According to the National Business Daily, LeTV named the Beijing team for 100 million yuan in 2016, and Swift Auto named the Chongqing team for 200 million yuan over three years in 2018, which is a considerable overall value.
However, compared to the $40 million/team level of the Golden Dollar era, the average split for Chinese Super League teams in the 2023 season has dropped to less than $8 million, posing a huge challenge to the survival of clubs. The CFA has specified a bonus of 3 million RMB per CSL victory, meaning that a split of less than three victories would be deplorable.
The re-entry of sponsors will undoubtedly bring relief. However, the question is, how much relief can we expect and when? It is a well-known fact that soccer is an extremely costly sport. Especially nowadays, when venue costs, labor costs and turnover costs are constantly rising, I am afraid that a "high-priced naming fee" of RMB 100 or 200 million is not very useful. However, it is impossible for companies to offer too high a price, so this cold winter can only be spent with a drop in the bucket; it is estimated that how to survive after the spring is still a problem.
A good competition depends not only on the support of sponsors, but also on its own operation and ability to pay. Not to mention top leagues like EPL and La Liga, the actual situation of the surrounding J. and K leagues is much better than ours. Spectator support, players' brilliance, and good results in intercontinental tournaments all attract sponsors to invest at high prices. The 102nd Japanese high school soccer tournament attracted 10+ top European scouts to watch. Imagine the considerable help even if the success rate is only 10%!
However, this cannot be promoted by a few "policies".
