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Expert: Low quality of leagues hampers sports industry

By Tang Yue (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-18 08:24

CHENGDU, Sichuan province - Low-quality domestic leagues and a lack of superstars have hampered the development of China's sports industry, a leading expert says.

"The basis of the sports industry should be the domestic competitions, but the quality is not very good here so a lot fans turn to the (English) Premier League and the La Liga," said Chen Shaofeng, director of the China Institute of Sports Value.

"We are without high-quality leagues and we are also in short supply of real superstars in professional sports, so we lack some basic elements for the sports industry to thrive," said Chen at the Sports Industry and Capital Forum held during the 2011 China Sport Show in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on Saturday.

The most famous Chinese sports icons are now all-star NBA player Yao Ming, 110m hurdler Liu Xiang, Australian Open tennis finalist Li Na and snooker sensation Ding Junhui. None play regularly in China.

"As a result, there is no great revenue for broadcasters, the sports agencies or the related entertainment industries."

Meanwhile, another official said the structure of the sports industry needed to be adjusted to cater to its increasing growth.

"The sports industry has enjoyed above 20 percent annual growth in the past decade, much faster than the growth of China's GDP," said Luo Jie from the equipment administration center of the State General Administration of Sport.

"But the sports goods manufacturing industry accounts for about 80 percent of the whole sports industry in China now; that is not a figure we like to see."

To change the situation, the expert said, the first step should be the reform of the management systems of the various local leagues.

A company was established in 2001 to run the Chinese soccer league, however, the soccer department of the State General Administration of Sport still remains the biggest shareholder and de facto governor of the league.

"Why are the European leagues so vibrant? They are self-governed and market oriented. When the government gets involved in professional leagues, rent-seeking and corruption follow," said Chen, referring to a series of match-fixing scandals that broke out in soccer over the past few years and have seen several high-ranking officials arrested.

"Only when the clubs and the players are the true owners of the league can it thrive."

Chen's opinion was shared by Lu Hao, president of D&F Investment Fund, the organizer of the forum.

"The sports industry is a very popular part of China today, but there are a lot of bottlenecks to break before more investment comes into the industry," Lu said. "A big problem is the lack of clear property relations. It stops a lot of entrepreneurs that are interested in the leagues from investing."

China Daily