Economy of sports more than merely on-field action

I am not what you would call an avid soccer fan.

I rarely follow league standings, transfer rumors or match schedules. Yet as the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicked off, I found myself paying attention anyway.

Not because of the soccer.

But because of Labubu.

Pop Mart's designer toy with its toothy grin made a surprise appearance during the World Cup opening ceremony. Within hours, Chinese social media exploded with chatter, and one of the most popular quips was that while Team China failed to reach the World Cup, Labubu had made it onto soccer's biggest stage.

As someone who does not regularly watch soccer, I was suddenly following World Cup-related stories. I was checking social media reactions, reading reports about limited-edition merchandise and monitoring travel data linked to host cities.

The experience reminded me that the world's biggest sporting events are no longer just sports competitions. They have become vast consumer platforms capable of reaching people far beyond traditional fan bases.

Labubu's World Cup collaboration products quickly sold out on Chinese e-commerce platforms, while some limited-edition items began trading at significant premiums on the secondary market.

At the same time, Chinese travel agencies reported growing interest in visiting World Cup host cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Online travel portal Tongcheng Travel said searches for World Cup-related travel packages jumped 166 percent week-on-week in the period leading up to June 2, while bookings and inquiries for customized viewing trips also surged.

A successful sports IP can create value far beyond ticket sales. It can drive tourism, hospitality, retail, advertising, merchandise, media rights and urban branding. The event itself may last a few weeks, but its commercial ecosystem can operate year-round.

China is increasingly trying to tap into that potential. The 2026 Government Work Report explicitly called for efforts to "actively develop the sports economy", placing it alongside tourism and wellness as areas with significant consumption potential.

Su Super League, an amateur soccer competition in Jiangsu province, has become a social-media sensation. What started as a regional competition has evolved into a celebration of local identity, generating traffic for restaurants, hotels and tourist attractions across participating cities.

In Guizhou province, the grassroots Village Super League, or "Cun Chao", has blended soccer with ethnic culture, music and tourism, drawing visitors from across the country. Local authorities say sports-related events generated billions of yuan in tourism and consumer spending last year.

"The overall commercialization of China's domestic sports IPs is still at a relatively early stage," said Wang Xueli, director of the center for development of sports industry at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management.

While organizers have become increasingly successful at attracting sponsors, areas such as sponsorship activation, audience targeting, brand-event alignment and year-round content operations still have significant room for development, Wang said.

That distinction helps explain why events such as Su Super League and Cun Chao can generate enormous online attention but still differ from global properties such as the World Cup, the Olympics or the Australian Open tennis tournament.

FIFA's decision to embrace IPs like Labubu was not simply a cultural gesture. It reflected a broader effort to expand the tournament's appeal beyond traditional soccer audiences and connect with younger consumers through popular culture.

Perhaps that is the most important lesson for China's sports economy.

The country has already shown it can create sporting events that generate excitement and attract massive online audiences. The next challenge is transforming those moments into sustainable business models that continue creating value long after the final whistle.

Because the real measure of a successful sports economy is not whether an event goes viral.

It is whether the crowds, spending and attention remain after the teams have shaken hands.