By Gao Liang
Aligning itself with Shanghai's strategic goals of becoming a world-class sport city and a capital of sport events, Yangpu District in recent years has prioritized its focus on sport industry by working with the Greater China division of Nike, Alibaba Sports and Shanghai University of Sport to form the Yangpu District Industry-University-Research coalition for Sport, and successfully filed for and named the Wujiaochang National Sport Industry Base as well as two other national sport industry exemplary programs. The District has become a magnet for some industry giants such as Nike, Alibaba, and Perfect, as well as a number of industry-leading businesses including Shangti Health Technology, Dianfeng Sports, Yuedong, and Yike, many of them ranking among Shanghai's top 500 sport businesses.
As of 2018, the total size of Yangpu's sport industry was RMB 16.792 billion, and the yearly average increase from 2014 to 2018 was as high as 33.77%. The District's sport industry had increased by RMB 7.382 billion, or 3.99% of its GDP, and the expenditure per person on sport was RMB 2,726.
This May, the General Administration of Sport for the first time encouraged cities to apply for the national sport consumption trial city status. Solid industry foundation, strong momentum, and clear advantages were Yangpu's core propositions in this drive. It was also no surprise that when the first batch of trial cities was announced on August 26, Yangpu was among 40 cities (districts) given the honor.
The duration of the national sport consumption trial city status is three years from 2020 to 2022. The trial cities will be tasked with promoting innovation in sport consumption from the perspectives of consumption mechanism, policy, model and product, and exploring new frontiers for sport consumption.