◎Wu Lei and Oscar celebrate scoring. Source: ECHO Stand
Original production of “Phoenix Stand” on Ifeng.com
Author|Fengzhen
If there is anything new in the new Chinese Super League season for me, the first thing that bears the brunt is the cold air during the game.
It is said that the scarves outside the home stadium in Chengdu Chengdu were sold out. The best-selling scarf in the official store has four eye-catching words “You want claws” on it. Sichuan people say that I don’t need claws, I just want to buy a ticket and plunge into the crowd in the cold air.
In fact, it was the noise outside the Super Bowl that made me realize that the season had started. It was super cold in Shanghai that afternoon, and Hongkou Tianai Road was full of vendors selling scarves. I was curious about the dialects these vendors spoke, where they came from, what they usually did, and what else they could sell besides scarves to survive in Shanghai. That’s too far. Anyway, selling scarves at the Hongkou Football Stadium is like selling cigarettes in front of the Paramount Ballroom. It’s part of the drama.
Closer to home, the season hasn’t started this cold in a long time.My unilateral and wishful understanding is that the league is back on track and there is no need to be delayed by anything.
Of course, the freshness of the Chinese Super League is far more than that.I am delighted that the Chinese Super League has taken the initiative to break through during difficult times. Strictly speaking this is a great undertaking.
Two days before the opening ceremony of the league, the Chinese Football Association held an online media briefing on the 2024 referee penalty standards. The Football Association has held similar briefings before and released similar promotional materials, but it has not conducted live broadcasts to the media on a large scale before.
Among those listening online is the commentator Li Yi. It seems that although the great emperor has not fulfilled his ambitions in coaching, he has not slacked off in his commentary work. As a group that “sets the pace” during live broadcasts of games, commentators and reporters’ comments on referees’ penalties can easily ignite public opinion on social platforms. If you have only a little understanding of the penalty rules, it is actually a blasphemy against your job.
At the seminar, the lecturer Tao Rancheng did a lot of case analysis based on the latest FIFA rules, and the courseware was quite vivid. If this seminar is well organized, it will definitely be effective. Taking myself as an example, I have a better understanding of some controversial rules.In addition, I seem to have a little more understanding of the referees as a group. Perhaps the latter is more important than the former.
◎Chinese Football Association holds media briefing
The day before the opening ceremony, the Chinese Football Association held a media briefing in Pudong. At the briefing meeting, Xu Jiren, vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association, announced a number of rules for referee improvement work, including rules that are in line with the world’s advanced leagues, such as public explanations for some controversial penalties like the Premier League, and measures to ensure the length of the game. Longer reasonable stoppage time——
An extra 10 minutes of stoppage time in a game means an extra 80 minutes of exposure in a league round, and an extra 40 hours of exposure in a season. If the audience is happy, the sponsors should be happy.
Things that seem within your reach are sometimes not easy to do.The Chinese Football Association promulgated a lot of new rules in one winter, and there is no need to delay. This attitude and efficiency should be praised.
Also present at the media briefing meeting with Xu Jiren was Yang Xu, vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association in charge of the professional league. In front of Yang Xu were nearly 30 domestic media – including official media such as People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency, and CCTV, as well as industry-oriented independent media such as Sports Industry Review, Lanxiong Sports, and Sports Big Business.
The attitude of the briefing meeting was open, which is the atmosphere that the top management of the Football Association hopes to continue to create since Song Kai took office.This was the first time that Yang Xu attended the briefing meeting as a protagonist. Naturally, I paid close attention to him, and I also noticed that he was reserved, humble and a little embarrassed in front of the media – this is normal.
◎Chinese Football Association Vice Chairman Yang Xu
This official who was selected by the State Sports General Administration to serve in the Chinese Football Association has one thing in common with Liu Jun, the former head of the Chinese Football Association: he wears glasses and is polite. However, Liu Jun has experienced the details of the club and then worked in the Chinese Football Association. He is well versed in the rules of the world, and it is inevitable to have various connections.Yang Xu seems to be more scholarly and simple.Yang Xu previously worked in the Chinese Softball Association, the Asian Softball Federation, and the World Baseball and Softball Federation. Compared with Chinese football, it was another very quiet and even no-one environment.
This should be the first time he has faced the attention of the massive national sports media, so it is inevitable that he will be a little embarrassed. But you can think of this kind of occasion as a necessary baptism. Once you are alive, you will be familiar again. Just like at the opening ceremony of the league at the Pudong SAIC Football Stadium the next day, Song Kai was booed by the seaport fans when he announced the opening of the league, which was also a baptism.
The boos from the Harbor fans were probably not directed at Song Kai, but at his status as a Football Association official. Song Kai seems to have gradually understood this culture. Only in football do officials experience this uniquely real sense of public scrutiny. This may in turn increase their sense of worth.
After the scandal involving fake gambling in Chinese football, the State Sports General Administration has tightened its control over the Chinese Football Association, but among all fields, football still has the most room for development. Because it is still the project that attracts the most attention and has the most international scale.
The new Chinese Super League season started smoothly with the cooperation of the new title sponsor China Resources C’estbon and the new copyright licensee China Mobile Migu. Fortunately, the enthusiasm of the fans gave sponsors confidence.
◎The new title sponsor of the 2024 Chinese Super League—China Resources C’estbon
Chengdu Chengdu’s first home game of the new season, the number of attendees was reported to be 40,088. Phoenix Mountain has a total of 50,110 seats. According to the relevant event security rules of the Ministry of Public Security, the ticket sales capacity is at most 80%. 40088 happens to be the upper limit.
Professional stadiums in some cities prohibit fans from sitting in the first three or even the first five rows on the grounds of safety, which is ridiculous. Phoenix Mountain only prohibits sitting in the first row. Last season, Phoenix Mountain always broadcast about 39,000 people for each game, but now it has exceeded 40,000. Although the numbers are not much different, it can be seen as a signal that the local police are also willing to see more fans attend.
In fact, the Chengdu Public Security Bureau is very sensitive to stadium security. Last season, there were some incidents of black subtitles in the stands that made them feel even more stressed. With this in mind, it’s not easy for the club or the police either. Chengdu has made the football market one of the mainstream cultures in Chengdu and polished its business card for Chengdu’s cultural tourism, with amazing results. It has to be said that under the current system, this is a benign internal cooperation.
Statistics are based on the officially disclosed ticket information of Chengdu Club.The income from public sales of package tickets and individual tickets alone is about 75 million yuan a season. Excluding the venue rental and security fees of about 1 million per game, the net box office revenue may be close to 60 million yuan.
In fact, the club’s revenue pie can be made even bigger, such as sales on match days. Assume that Phoenix Mountain, which has an average of 40,000 people per game, has 10,000 people buying a beer for each game, and a beer is 20 yuan. This is a revenue of 2 million. Even if the profit is only 50%, it can basically cover the venue rental and fees for a game. Security costs.
◎Phoenix Mountain Stadium, home to Chengdu Chengdu, is the most popular stadium in the Chinese Super League
Last season, Qingdao Hainiu won the right to sell beer at the stadium on match days without any trouble. So is it possible to compete for home games in other cities?
Professional football culture is grand and great, but there are indeed many natural obstacles in Chinese society, so those small breakthroughs are valuable. A bus stop next to the 80,000-person stadium is decorated with blue Shenhua elements; the new VI (visual image) of the Henan Jiuzu Dukang team is refreshing; Beijing Guoan has developed a more diversified business model…
I have a question that I wanted to discuss with Yang Xu at the briefing meeting, but I can just write it down here:Lack of data is one of the huge shortcomings of the Chinese Super League. The fault is not in the future, but in the present and the past.
The professional league has been in existence for 30 years, but the official has never established an authoritative and detailed league database that can be consulted, so that the history is too unclear. In order to create a professional league, it is necessary to catch up on past data and improve it from now on, and it doesn’t cost much. This breakthrough must be made by the Chinese Super League now.
2024-03-04 08:29:53
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