Sport kick-starting local growth
Grassroots events also drawing huge crowds of fans, consumers, boosting consumption
During the 2025 season, the Su Super League achieved a remarkable spillover effect — every yuan spent on a ticket drove a 7.3-fold return in peripheral consumption. In Changzhou alone, six home games generated a visitor flow of over 2 million, directly stimulating consumption exceeding 1.5 billion yuan ($223.2 million).
The core strategy involves treating the event as an engine and using supportive policies to channel traffic into diverse consumer sectors.
"Expanding the event space from inside the stadium to the broader urban space creates a massive economic pull. This integrated 'tour, shop and entertain' consumption has a highly evident stimulating effect," said Wang Xueli, director of the center for development of sports industry at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management.
While Jiangsu uses tickets to drive citywide spending, Zhejiang province has taken a different approach with its mass sporting event — the Zhe BA.
By reaching every county, the tournament spans 90 counties and districts, allowing rural areas to capture significant traffic and driving the cultural and tourism market deeper into grassroots communities.
This year's provincial opening match took place in Cangnan county. In preparation, Cangnan upgraded over 80 public basketball courts.
A newly constructed air-dome basketball court in Waterfront Sports Park immediately attracted large crowds. Relying on air pressure to support its flexible membrane, the facility boasts a space utilization rate approaching 100 percent.
The immense popularity of the Zhe BA has activated peripheral consumption sectors, with basketball training, equipment sales, catering, accommodation and rural tourism all witnessing substantial growth.
In Changxing county, a growing number of students are receiving systematic training. Since the start of summer vacation, just one basketball training institution alone in Changxing has seen a daily average of over 800 trainees, thus operating at full capacity.
Data show the Zhe BA cumulatively drove 2.92 billion yuan in cultural, commercial, tourism and sports spending in 2025.
Dai Bin, director of the China Tourism Academy, highlighted the necessary conditions for this success: "First, once traffic arrives at a destination, it is crucial to have high-quality lifestyle amenities, cultural spaces and tourism attractions to accommodate it. Second, there must be corresponding transportation infrastructure for rapid access. With these elements, the economic and social momentum brought by an event is incredibly robust."
Jingshan, a county-level city in Hubei province's Jingmen with a population of less than 600,000, hosts more than 40 domestic and international tennis tournaments annually.
On May 24, the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors J30 Jingshan got underway. Designed for participants under 18, it serves as a key stepping stone for Grand Slam tourneys and attracted 107 athletes from nine countries.
