State holding back sports apparel spend in China, report claims
06/10/2009
China’s sports industry remains largely under state control, and is being held back by under-investment and a lack of marketing skills, influential business magazine The Economist has claimed.
The Economist Intelligence Unit has published a special report on the development of the sports industry in the Asian country, with special focus on basketball, football, tennis and golf. Golf’s inclusion is no surprise as it’s said to be the fastest growing sport in China (and the report was sponsored by the development company behind the Mission Hills golf complex near Shenzhen in southern China.
The report says that commercialisation is taking root in sport, for example with some teams in the national basketball league having come under private control, but it says more investment in public sports facilities is required.
At the same time, The Economist claims that sports marketing is in its infancy in China, with few federations focusing on branding and marketing, few Chinese athletes having agents, and consumers yet to share the Western obsession with teams, players, and buying team or player-related apparel. It said Chinese sport lacked local heroes and said the dominance of broadcasting by state broadcaster, CCTV, was restricting the money that could flow to sport in China from “a competitive television market”.
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