China Sports Industry Summit 2018 & Series Forum: Explore the high-quality development path of China's sports industry based on strategy and overall situation

On May 24, 2018, China Sports Industry Summit 2018 and its series events sponsored by CSGF ended successfully in Shanghai the day before China Sport Show.

With the theme of "Gathering new impetus and promoting high-quality development", the Summit brought together the authorities of the General Administration of Sport, sports associations and sports enterprises to explore the high-quality development path of China's sports industry. Zhao Yong, deputy director of the General Administration of Sport, attended the Summit and delivered a speech. He noted that the sports industry is a sunrise industry with good social, economic and ecological benefits, and also a healthy industry which is beneficial to everyone and in a critical period of greater and faster development.

The Summit has been highly appreciated by the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry since its establishment. This year, Mr. Yang Jizheng, representative of the Asian region, was also present. He gave an in-depth analysis of international market data and the practices in China. The new retail model is profoundly affecting the sporting goods industry. We need to proactively embrace Industry 4.0 to better meet the opportunities and challenges of the new era. As noted by Mr. Zhao Yong in his speech, the new form of industry is the tipping point and growth point of industrial development. Contest performance, sports training and smart sports are highlighted as three new industry forms at the Summit, aiming to lead all parties to focus on growth points of the industry. As an important part of smart sports, sports big data has been deeply applied in countries like the United States where professional sports development is mature. Vince Gernnaro, Associate Dean of Tisch School & Director of the Sports Management Center at New York University, and President of the Society for American Baseball Research, provided an overall description combining the big data applications in the professional baseball field, especially in improvement on athletic performance and analysis of fans' engagement behavior, which could serve as an important basis for sports organizations' decision-making process. He also predicted that sports big data would become an important force driving sports-related revenue growth in the future.