After a four-year hiatus, Shanghai welcomes the 20th anniversary of the F1 Chinese Grand Prix, and the first Chinese F1 driver, Shanghai Xiao Nan Zhou Guanyu, also welcomes his home race for the first time. This weekend, the "F1 Chinese Grand Prix" has become a buzzword in the city – whether it is going to the race to make the ears feel addicted to the roar of an engine, or watching the race in front of TVs, mobile phones and other large and small screens, hundreds of millions of viewers and netizens around the world have been able to appreciate the brand image of Shanghai and feel the confidence and strength of China's new generation through the performance of the F1 Chinese Grand Prix and Zhou Guanyu.
Behind the popularity is the accumulation of time
As one of the world's three major sporting events, F1 has its own endless charm and attracts the attention of fans around the world. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the F1 Chinese Grand Prix, and the return of the race since 2019, when it was the 1,000th race in F1 history. Several 'firsts' added to the extravaganza: China's first F1 driver, Zhou Guanyu, making his debut on home soil, and the newly introduced sprint race, all of which put the event in the spotlight. This weekend, fans from all over the world gathered in Jiading to witness this historic moment with their love and anticipation for motorsports.
According to the ticketing data of the event organizers, nearly 200,000 people will attend the three-day F1 event in Shanghai. Judging from ticket sales, among the nearly 200,000 ticket buyers, overseas visitors accounted for 10%. Visitors from outside Shanghai accounted for 80% of the total, the highest proportion in 20 years.
Yang Yibin, general manager of Shanghai Jiushi Sports Industry Development (Group) Co., Ltd., believes that the popularity of this year's F1 event, in addition to many "first" blessings, is also related to consumer psychology, "It has been suspended for four sessions in the middle, and this time it coincides with the 20th anniversary, so everyone's demand suddenly exploded." However, in the reporter's opinion, the popularity of F1 this year is actually more a matter of time accumulation.
Xiao Min, a fan from Kunming, took his son to Shanghai to watch F1 this weekend. More than 10 years ago, she accompanied her mother to Shanghai many times, "At first, I was young and didn't know much about what Formula 1 was about, but my mother thought that this was the unique charm of Shanghai - in China, you can only see the top F1 races in Shanghai." Now I'm a mom and I'm here with my son to continue supporting Scuderia Ferrari. ”
This is also a microcosm of the in-depth development of F1 in China - 16 races in 20 years, the F1 China Festival in Shanghai has amassed a large fan base. The inaugural event in 2004 attracted 260,000 spectators, a record that has not been broken to this day. However, compared with the vast majority of spectators who watched the excitement at the beginning, the fans who walk into the field today are often the first generation of fans to continue to participate with the next generation, and watching F1 in Shanghai has become a hobby inheritance for them.
Behind the industry is cultural precipitation
As one of the most commercially valuable sports in the world, every logo painted on the body of a car in F1 represents the real money of the sponsor. In the world's top racing system, whether it is the sponsorship price or the ticket to the race, F1 is known for being "expensive". In the reporter's view, F1 is a cross-border integration of the sports industry and the automobile industry. The F1 Chinese Grand Prix attracted nearly 200,000 participants, and the root cause is the gradual formation of its own sports culture.
Wang Xueli, director of the Sports Industry Development Research Center of Tsinghua University, pointed out that the sports industry can be broadly divided into two types: one is visible sports objects, such as sports equipment such as sneakers, and the other is sports services without physical objects, such as buying tickets to watch a wonderful tennis event and participating in a marathon. She believes that the sports industry is ultimately built on the foundation of sports culture. A distinctive feature of sports consumption is the high loyalty of consumers, which provides a good basis for the sustainable development of the sports industry.
After 20 years of development, a large number of hardcore fans who are willing to pay for "love" have emerged across the country, forming a unique Chinese fan culture. At the same time, the global teams and sponsors involved in Formula 1 also attach great importance to the emerging Chinese market represented by the city of Shanghai. As a result, F1 has brought a very obvious effect to Shanghai, and the demand for catering, entertainment, transportation, accommodation, tourism and other aspects is particularly strong.
In 2023, 1.29 million people will watch major international and domestic events held in Shanghai, driving consumption of 3.713 billion yuan and the pulling effect of related industries reaching 12.864 billion yuan. This year, Shanghai will host 175 international and domestic sports competitions. The popularity of F1 is also a microcosm of Shanghai's growing sports consumption and sports culture.
Behind the event is the image of the city
The city is the stadium of sports, and the event is the show of the city. High-level international sporting events like Formula 1 are an important business card of the big city of Shanghai. Shanghai is building an international sports event capital and is also moving towards a world-famous sports city, which needs to inject more international and professional elements.
Sports events promote the continuous gathering of people and business, and sports are also becoming an important window to spread the image of the city and show the characteristics of the city. "Sports events can comprehensively demonstrate Shanghai's software and hardware facilities and urban management level, and at the same time, it also reflects Shanghai's event organization level and professional management level through the holding of events. Liu Dongfeng, a professor at the School of Economics and Management of Shanghai Sports University, said.
The success of a major event can be seen as a sign of the strength and level of development of the host city. Liu Dongfeng has worked with colleagues to analyse English-language news coverage of the F1 Chinese Grand Prix and examine the impact of the competition on the image of the host city. The study found that in addition to the reports on the facts and results of the competition, 9.8% of the reports will focus on Shanghai's industrial and technological development, and 5.1% will focus on Shanghai's business, economy and tourism. More than half of these reports were neutral and about 36% were positive – overall, the holding of F1 races has played a role in shaping Shanghai's image and spreading it globally.
It is reported that there are three major evaluation agencies in the world for "sports cities": the GSI ranking of the British SPORTCAL company, the SportBusiness ranking list, and the international sports city ranking of Boya Sports in the United States. "The top five global sports cities that are currently recognized are London, New York, Tokyo, Paris and Los Angeles. Liu Dongfeng said that these five cities are also among the best in the global city rankings.
"In this sense, sport and the development of the city go hand in hand. Liu Dongfeng believes that at present, the gap in Shanghai is mainly reflected in two aspects: one is the foundation, and the other is the high-end. "From the perspective of the future development direction, first of all, it is necessary to strengthen the sports foundation of the masses and promote the socialization and daily life of sports; second, we must vigorously develop professional sports and the sports industry; and finally, we must further build a rational sports event system and create a world-class sports event system. ”
Source: Jiefang Daily Author: Chen Hua Editor: Lu Zebin
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