The State Council has approved the "15th Five-Year" Plan for Building a Leading Sports Nation, setting clear goals to enhance the public fitness service system, reform the management and operational mechanisms for competitive sports, strengthen youth sports initiatives, promote the revitalization and development of the "three major ball sports," and accelerate the quality improvement, expansion, and upgrading of the sports industry.

Analysts believe that with this top-level policy design now in place, the sports sector, particularly ball sports and related infrastructure, is poised to enter a new cycle of high-growth driven by policy support.

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the sports industry emerged as a new economic bright spot, with its total scale achieving an average annual growth rate exceeding 10% over the past five years. High-profile events like the "Jiangsu Super League" and "Village Super League" have gained widespread popularity.

The sports industry has injected new momentum into national economic growth and local economic transformation. The head of the Sports Economy Department at the General Administration of Sport previously noted that since the launch of the "Jiangsu Super League," single-match attendance has exceeded 60,000, driving 38 billion yuan in multi-scenario consumption across Jiangsu province and significantly boosting consumption.

Leveraging the drawing power and catalytic effect of sports events, enhancing the "event+" model, and promoting the integration of events with culture, commerce, and tourism has created a "golden combination" for stimulating consumption and expanding domestic demand.

The success of the 2025 "Jiangsu Super League" provides a template for mass-participation events. Government guidance combined with market leadership, public engagement in promotion, and the fusion of culture, sports, and tourism jointly leverage consumption, achieving a multiplier effect where 1 yuan in ticket revenue drives 7.3 yuan in consumption. The commercial value of other domestic professional events is also gradually increasing.

The popularity of the "Jiangsu Super League" not only demonstrates public enthusiasm for high-quality events but also proves the existence of fertile ground in China for cultivating such events.

On November 4, 2025, the Jiangsu Provincial Government issued an opinion on accelerating the development of the event economy to boost sports and leisure consumption, explicitly proposing to amplify the "Jiangsu Super League" effect, transform "sports traffic" into "economic growth," and chart a clear blueprint for the long-term development of the event economy.

Jiangsu is positioning sports events as a key tool for cultivating new types of consumption and fueling economic growth, with the event economy gradually becoming a significant economic growth point.

Industry insiders point out that as the supply-side of service consumption deepens, resident consumption demand is expected to be further unleashed, with cultural, tourism, and sports events being one of the most typical sectors.

Represented by the "Jiangsu Super League," such events employ a tripartite collaborative model of "government-market-society," enhancing operational efficiency while unleashing consumption vitality in culture and tourism, thereby addressing bottlenecks in the supply of high-quality events.

Data shows that China's total sports industry scale exceeded 2 trillion yuan in 2017, reached 2.95 trillion yuan in 2019, increased to 3.3 trillion yuan in 2022, and was approximately 3.84 trillion yuan in 2024. In 2025, the total scale reached 5.12 trillion yuan, officially surpassing the 5 trillion yuan target. Institutions project that by 2030, the national total sports industry scale is expected to exceed 7 trillion yuan.

CITIC Securities believes that in recent years, the positive social externalities of popular sports activities like the Jiangsu Super League, the Winter Olympics, and F1 have been demonstrated. The feasibility of stimulating economic vitality and promoting consumption cycles through new models like the event economy, ticket economy, and launch economy has been continuously verified. The sports industry is expected to become a leading sector within the modern service industry.

Many mature international events have cultivated a large pool of potential customers domestically. The domestic event economy is anticipated to embrace a period of vigorous development, making it worthwhile to actively monitor listed companies related to the sports industry chain.

Relevant stocks include: ANTA SPORTS (02020): The undisputed domestic leader in sports goods, with a multi-brand portfolio including FILA and DESCENTE, comprehensively covering professional sports like basketball and football, directly benefiting from rising public enthusiasm for sports.

LI NING (02331): A leading Chinese sports brand enterprise with strong brand influence and market share in basketball, positioned to gain significant development opportunities from the revitalization of the "three major ball sports."

XTEP INT'L (01368): Deeply focused on running and mass sports, benefiting from the improvement of the public fitness service system and growing demand for mass sports equipment.