On your marks, get set, buy!

China's sports market is projected to increase by leaps and bounds in the long term, as the country ramps up its resources to promote physical activities, insiders say.

Li Xudong, managing director of the investment banking department of Beijing-based China Securities, said at a recent seminar that the prospects for China's sports market were bright, although there was still a long way to go.

"Sports activities among ordinary people are creating huge demand," says Li Ning, chairman of the Beijing-based sportswear maker Li Ning Co Ltd. Li made a name for himself by winning three Olympic gold medals in gymnastics.

He says affluence stemming from the increasing urbanization of China's population, and increases in family income, will continue to spur the sector.

According to independent research conducted by 36kr, a Chinese media website specializing in reporting technology-related stories, the sports market is set to increase 25 percent in the next 10 years.

Analysts say companies and investors have been seeking business opportunities in the industry over the past three years.

For example, Wanda Group bought Swiss-based sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media for $1.2 billion (1.1 billion euros; 1 billion), just three weeks after its purchase of a stake in Spanish La Liga football champions Atletico Madrid. It also bought Florida-based World Triathlon Corp - the world's biggest operator of Ironman events, accounting for 91 percent of the global market share of long-distance triathlon events - for $650 million.

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd established Ali Sports Group, while Tencent, the top internet service portal, bought online broadcasting rights for a large number of sports events.

Fueling the trend are the government's initiatives to accelerate the development of the sports industry and promote sports participation among Chinese people.

China's General Administration of Sport mapped out the 13th-five-year plan for the industry in July 2016, aiming to spend the next five-decade boosting it to 3 trillion yuan ($460 billion; 416.7 billion euros; 371.6 billion) by the end of 2020 and account for 1 percent of domestic GDP.

Before the latest plan, the State Council, Chinese cabinet, released a guideline for the sports industry in 2014 that suggests the total value of China's sports industry should exceed 5 trillion yuan by 2025.

In 2014, the value of the sector was 1.36 trillion yuan.

The plan delivered a blueprint for nationwide fitness programs, setting goals of building 500 public fitness centers in counties and 15,000 fitness facilities in villages and towns, with 10,000 more multifunctional playgrounds to be constructed in cities.

However, although there is a huge potential market for sports, analysts say it is difficult to turn that potential into profits because of a lack of a proven business model.

Li says that none of the Chinese sports companies are listed on the stock market's main board. As for the New Third Board - popular among micro, small and medium-sized firms - 41 companies are currently listed in the sports or sports-related category. According to industry data, the 41 companies recorded an average annual loss of 11 million yuan.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

jingshuiyu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/11/2016 page28)