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The Chinese Government has called for more investment in spectator sport, urging financial institutions to support the sector in order to help boost the economy and “promote investment and improve quality of life”.

Announced by the Central Bank of the People's Republic of China, the General Administration of Sport, the National Financial Regulatory Administration and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the new guidelines call for lenders and local governments to invest in facilities for athletes and spectators in order to drive the economy.

The initiative to support “business models that integrate sports with culture, tourism, and healthcare” encourages financial institutions to work with sports event organisers, especially for international events, and support everything from loans and insurance to currency exchange.

As reported by the South China Morning Post, the Central Bank is also offering support for issuing corporate bonds for projects with large investment scales and long payback periods, such as infrastructure, stadiums, sports parks, and fitness trails.

They also vowed to support stock market listings for sports industry firms, as well as encouraging private equity to invest.

The guidelines said the goal was to “optimise the financing function of the bond market, build an equity financing model, improve insurance quality, provide flexible financing leasing services and support companies to expand overseas businesses” adding “the sports industry is a sunrise industry of health and happiness that plays an important role in promoting national economic development and improving people’s quality of life.”

They said they aimed to “accelerate the introduction of financial products and service systems for the sports industry, enrich the supply of financial resources in the sports industry and effectively enhance the ability and level of financial support for the sports industry”.

In 2019, China’s State Council said it wanted to turn the sports industry into a pillar of the national economy, with a target of reaching 4% of China’s GDP by 2035.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is often described as a sports lover by state media, which has described him as an enthusiastic fan of football, a game he reportedly played as a boy.

State news agency Xinhua has said he also enjoys swimming, hiking, ice hockey, speed skating and figure skating.

In a report released last year, the state-run think tank Xinhua Institute said: “Xi places great importance on the economic function of sports, proposing that sports are an important driver for promoting economic and social development.”

The report said the industry had created employment opportunities in areas ranging from esports to personal training and that business models linking sports to tourism, culture and business districts were becoming new engines for consumption and economic growth.

It added “the sports industry, characterised by high growth and sustainability, shows immense potential in driving economic transformation and promoting high-quality development.”

Shandong in eastern China was one of the first provinces to respond to the guidelines by announcing it had added 3,000 sports enterprises to its list of companies that were eligible to receive financial services.

According to Dazhong Daily, an official newspaper, spectator sports brought in 8.3 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) in direct income to the province last year.

Images: Fans at the World Leisure Games in Shandong (top) and plans for a Modern Pentathlon facility in the city of Kunming (below).

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