A new local football league in east China's Jiangsu Province is making waves across the nation. This past weekend saw a new record for the amount of tickets sold in the league. The affordable tickets have have lit up people's enthusiasm towards football and boosted local consumption. CGTN's Wu Bin has the story.
If you ask me what the hottest sports topic is this summer in China, it has to be the Jiangsu City Football League, or Suchao.
Check out all the people around me!
"Super passionate, hot and overwhelming!"
A single game this past Saturday has broken a new record.
"This match has 60,633 people."
The first match held this May, the local game, with 13 city teams as rivals, has attracted millions of fans watching, and billions of online views, although it's just halfway to the finish line.
I talked to Sun Qing, a senior sports editor in the province.
As a football fan himself, he's been following the league since the very beginning.
"There are many reasons for the popularity of Suchao. First and foremost, people have a demand for it. We say that the government should provide public goods, and Suchao is an excellent example. Football, the world's most popular game, brings people together," said Sun.
The game also attracts foreigners, even from the football powerhouse, Argentina.
"I love it! I love it! Amazing atmosphere, and I can feel the energy of all the fans. It's a really nice game," said Marcelo Suárez Salvia, the Ambassador of Argentina to China.
So far, over 1 million people have walked inside the stadium.
But that's not all. Each game, thousands of people sit outside the stadium to watch the big screen.
A ticket to see the game costs just a little over one US dollar. In addition to seeing an amazing match, you get a gift bag. From ice pads to fan paraphernalia, the contents of the bag already cost more than the ticket.
So, is it really making money when the tickets are this cheap?
"Ticketing itself certainly doesn't make money. Sometimes the gift bag costs more than the ticket price, but the city actually makes money. The first is culture and tourism, the second is catering and transportation, and last, there's the ticket revenue. It's a lot of math to do," Sun added.
Authorities said the games have earned 38 billion yuan so far, about 5.3 billion US dollars in tourism, transportation, catering, accommodation and sports spending.
The National Sports Administration said on Tuesday that it will also work on policies to further promote consumption and drive economic growth based on large competitions.
