In recent years, the concept of mass sports and fitness is gradually popular among the public. And the Chinese sports industry has developed very fiercely thanks to the policy support, such as the issuance of Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Sports Industry and Promoting the Sports Consumption and The 12th Five Year Plan for the Sports Industry.
Organized by China News Network and co-organized by Zoom Tech, the second Entrepreneurial Elite Club themed Consumption of Mass Sport and Fitness at the Age of Wisdom was held in Beijing Pomegranate Center on July 29. Many professionals from the well-known venture capital companies presented themselves to discuss the consumption modes of mass sports and the future trends of the investment in sports industry with the entrepreneurs on site.
This year can be called as a major year with regard to the competitive sports, with the world's top sports events throughout the year including the European Cup, the Champions League, and the Olympic games. The question is where is the road of the Chinese sports industry under the background of the rapid development of the global sports industry. Wang Chao, director of Legend Capital, believes that there are three trends for the future development of the Chinese sports industry: firstly, the enabling policy and increasing demand of the consumers will directly stimulate the increase of the professional and the amateur events; secondly, the operation and revenue of the sports events will be enhanced with exploration and development of the commercialization of the sports industry; finally, more and more people will be involved in the sports industry due to the large population of China.
Besides, high-tech is also one trend of the future development of the sports industry. Li Dalong, vice president of the intelligent hardware of LeTV, believes that the intelligent design has been integrated into many sports events, such as wearable devices, shooting and live sports, professional and intelligent fitness and sports equipment etc. Intelligence already has deep impact on our lives. “In my view, everything will be intelligent in the future", said Li Dalong.
According to the date released by the State Sports General Administration, the overall revenue of the Chinese sports industry was 259.5 billion yuan in 2012, accounting for 0.5% of the total GDP. While in 2015, the added value of the Chinese sport industry was about 400 billion yuan, accounting for 0.7% of the GDP. Although the overall size of the Chinese sports industry is far lower than that of the United States, the growth rate of China is relatively higher. Why China has seen rapid development of the sports industry in recent years? According to Wang Chao, one important factor is the increasing demand for sports and fitness of the consumers driven by the improved consumption capability. Another factor is that the sports cause is changed into sports industry encouraged and supported by the national policy, which is not only a structural adjust of the sports industry but also a powerful measure of the state to support the industry. “The sports have much bigger space since it does not have boundary in terms of ideology, nation and race. This is one of the reason why the Chinese sports industry can see rapid development, ”added by Pan Shijian, founder of Kaixing Capital.
The thriving sports industry leads the flourishing entrepreneurial companies in the sports field. But what kind of shorts venture can survive and develop? Meng Fan, founder of Heidie Capital and partner of Roots Capital, believes that the sports projects can be valuable if they can enhance people experience the movement so that the sports can be interesting. For example, UP Lady mainly provides drift training, kayaking and diving for the female population, Paohaile offers special music for different sports, Qifenshi designs special meals for the fitness people. These entrepreneurial companies allow people to enjoy the sports and thus enhance the participation.
Since 2013, along with the economic slowdown, finding new investment direction and projects becomes a key factor. Undoubtedly, the sports industry has attracted many investors. But the investment in sports should never be at random. Pan Shijian, founding partner of Kaixing capital, reminded the investors and entrepreneurs that the following four risky areas should be avoided: first, as a consumer product, the wearable device is very risky for the small and medium enterprises. Now only Apple, Xiaomi, and Huawei can survive. Second, Internet thinking could be risky. Now almost half of the entrepreneurs are involved in Internet+, but it is not worthy trying if no unique project is found. For example, a tennis enthusiast can easily find a tennis court through telephone or wechat, and thus he does not need to download an APP. Third, blind introduction of foreign sports project. The Chinese people have different physical characteristic and cultural tradition, and some foreign sports are not suitable for us, such as rugby and other sports with strong physical contact and collision. Forth, purchase of copyright instead of race IP. Purchase of the latter depends on its commercial value. The entrepreneurs should be realistic instead of making haste decision.
