Reporter Chen Yong reveals that the Chinese Super League is still in a transitional period on its economic path, and survival and growth have become especially critical, which will be the central theme for the next two to three years. At the competitive level, the Chinese Super League is showing an upward trend, with more intense matches and more concentrated player input. However, the level of restoration of the game is constrained by financial investment, youth training and other elements, and there is an urgent need to gradually improve.
The road ahead is long, but the light is beginning to dawn. The enthusiasm of Chinese Super League fans is evident: in the 2023 season, more than 4.76 million fans were on hand. In the club market, Beijing Guoan and Chengdu Rongcheng were in high demand, mirroring each other; Tianjin Jinmen Tiger, Shandong Taishan and Shanghai Shenhua were hot, mirroring each other; Qingdao Hainiu and Dalian Ren were also bright, with 13 out of the 16 Chinese Super League clubs averaging more than 15,000 spectators.
The return of fans heralds the rise of the Chinese Super League. Obviously, more fans need more attention and support from the government, which cannot be ignored.
Beijing Guoan and Chengdu Rongcheng contributed 24.7% of the nearly 4.76 million spectators, with Beijing Guoan attracting 656,531 for its 15 home matches and Chengdu Rongcheng attracting 520,590 for its 15 matches. It should be noted that due to the Universiade event, Chengdu Rongcheng did not schedule three matches at the Phoenix Hill Professional Football Stadium. If all matches were played at this venue, its fan base could be as high as 580,000 people.
Tianjin Jinmen Tigers and Shandong Taishan have home crowds of over 400,000, while Shanghai Shenhua has close to 400,000. Jinmen Tiger, Taishan, Shenhua, Beijing Guoan and Chengdu Rongcheng make up the five "gold medal markets" for the 2023 Chinese Super League. Eight other teams, such as Dalian Ren, Qingdao Hainiu, Henan, Changchun Yatai, Wuhan Sanzhen, Shanghai Harbor, Nantong Zhiyun and Meizhou Hakka, have an average attendance of more than 220,000 people.
Teams such as Zhejiang, Cangzhou Lions and Shenzhen had smaller crowds. Zhejiang has been playing in Huzhou due to the impact of the Asian Games and has a relatively sparse population with few fans, making it difficult to boost attendance. Cangzhou Lions relocated and had a lack of fan identification, which, combined with economic issues, affected attendance. Shenzhen early lock relegation, losing the game into the norm, fans watching an average of nearly 8,000 people per game, has not been easy.
Overall, the Chinese Super League (CSL) market for the 2023 season is not as enthusiastic as it was in the era of golden dollar soccer, but the market for most clubs is relatively stable. Tickets for Beijing Guoan and Chengdu Rongcheng are hard to come by. The season is in its 24th round, and there are still Chengdu fans complaining, "I've never grabbed a ticket this year."
It is worth noting that professional soccer stadiums play a key role: in addition to Shandong Taishan, the other four major gold-medal market clubs have professional stadiums; Dalian People and Qingdao Hainiu are also among the ranks of professional stadiums, and the number of Dalian people at the Barracuda Bay professional soccer stadium has been as high as 30,000 people, with the Dalian Sports Center having only 14,000 people, and Puwan Stadium having only 12,000 people. The average seating capacity of the Jinmen Tigers in the main city (Olympic Stadium) and the new district (TEDA professional soccer stadium) is similar, which reflects the attractiveness of professional stadiums.
Fans returned, and fan culture became more deeply rooted in people's hearts: the stadiums tended to be uniform in color, such as the green of the Beijing Gongtai Stadium and the orange of the Jinan Olympic Stadium, which provided a visual feast; and in terms of special fan culture, the post-game chorus and light show represented by Chengdu's Fenghuangshan brought a concert-like experience while enjoying soccer. The "weareone" ceremony in the North Stand of Jinan Olympic Stadium was exciting.
Feng Wenjing, deputy general manager of Qingdao Sea Cow business, said that at the beginning of the negotiation with Qingdao companies, the other party was just watching, and only at the end of the season did they start to communicate in depth. The reason for this is that nearly 270,000 people attended the Youth Football Stadium event. There were 33,000 people in attendance in the three towns and nearly 30,000 spectators at the Qilu derby. Seaport, Guoan and Rongcheng had an attendance of about 25,000 people. These numbers are appealing to potential sponsors.
Including the Chinese Super League, sponsor negotiations were difficult at the beginning of the season and potential sponsors began to show interest in the middle of the season.
Ticket revenue (including other matches), Beijing Guoan and Chengdu Rongcheng's figures currently make the club quite happy. Ticket revenues for Tianjin Jinmen Tigers, Shandong Taishan and Shanghai Shenhua are expected to be in the range of $50 million to $80 million.
For the current economic difficulties of the Chinese Super League, reasonable policy support and local government support is crucial, but the professional league will eventually return to the word "professional", still need to be closely linked with the market. If the market can grow steadily in the future, the solution to the economic difficulties of the Chinese Super League will have more "internal power".
Indeed, even if policy support and local government support is sought, more fans means more discourse: governments are naturally willing to support what the people love.
For the 2024 season, the CFA and CSL clubs face a number of challenges: to introduce a more reasonable and detailed business plan to attract more small and medium-sized sponsors; to reduce commercial and safety restrictions to fully activate the matchday economy; and to provide a more detailed and experiential fan service so that the family, parent-child, friend and even business audience can become mainstream and fashionable.
Driven by fans, Chinese professional soccer is gradually saying goodbye to gold dollar soccer (or even "gold master soccer"), reducing its dependence on "policy soccer" and "government soccer" (hoping for support but not relying on it), and embracing more of the market to develop steadily. (hopefully supported but not dependent), embracing more markets and developing steadily.
