From the stands to the pocket, the Jiangsu Football Super League (Su Chao) has gone from being an amateur football tournament to becoming an economic engine that moves crowds and millions in this eastern Chinese region.
In its first six days alone, it boosted spending of 37.96 billion yuan (about $5.3 billion) in transportation, tourism, restaurants and accommodation, thanks to the wave of visitors that accompany each match.
New business formulas are flourishing around it, from the “second stadiums” in plazas and shopping centers to tourist packages that extend the stay of fans, consolidating the ‘Su Chao’ as a case study in the Chinese sports economy.
The phenomenon is not limited to the stands. In each venue, stadiums have become poles of mass consumption.
According to what one of Nanjing City’s directors, Ge Xiang, told EFE, 17 journalists were accredited for the team’s debut alone, but in the last matches the requests exceeded 180, a reflection of how media and commercial attention has exploded along with the tournament.
With more than 60,000 spectators at the Nanjing Olympic Center, the cities mobilize transportation devices, enable ‘fan zones’ with giant screens in more than 80 urban points and deploy official and private marketing.
In the case of Nanjing, Ge points out, the large meeting spaces are concentrated on the banks of the Qinhuai River, where screens, gastronomy and a festive atmosphere mix.
In the words of the Xinhua Daily newspaper, each city has become a “Stadium City”, a showcase of local pride where football functions as a cultural and economic magnet.
From the pitch, the Spanish coach of Nanjing City, José Antonio Parreño, sums it up to EFE simply: “If you create culture, you can create football.”
The numbers confirm it: hotels around the stadiums report occupancy increases of 20 to 30% on match days; restaurants and shops register increases of 15 to 25%.
In Changzhou, the “Enjoy the Night in Changzhou” coupons boosted hotel reservations by 120% and filled the shops in the Olympic area for three consecutive weekends.
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In Suzhou, surrounding shopping malls doubled their customer traffic during the matches, and some even delayed closing until midnight to take advantage of the flow.
The magnet of the ‘Su Chao’ has not gone unnoticed by the private sector either. What started with local contributions – such as Jinshiyuan Liquor, Yanghe or the dairy VV Food & Beverage – soon attracted national giants such as JD.com and Yili, which entered as official sponsors in June.
The Bank of Jiangsu secured the season with a package estimated at 8 million yuan (1.1 million dollars) while the value of a standard sponsorship went from 500,000 to 3 million yuan (from 70,214 to 421,283 dollars) in a few weeks.
At the municipal level, companies from sectors as diverse as CITIC Pacific Special Steel in Wuxi or Power Dekor in Zhenjiang took advantage of the league as a brand showcase.
Even multinationals such as Heineken and Xiaomi have joined the wave, consolidating ‘Su Chao’ as a new terrain of advertising visibility.
The combination of local pride and massive exposure explains how quickly the tournament has become a business platform.
As of September 7, the tournament had held 65 matches with 1.67 million attendees in stadiums and more than 1.46 billion online views, according to official figures.
The expansion of the ‘Su Chao’ has transcended borders. In September, during the Xiamen International Investment Fair, the governor of Jiangsu, Xu Kunlin, and the British ambassador in Beijing exchanged shirts: one for Manchester City and another for ‘Su Chao’, a symbolic gesture that linked a club with 145 years of history with an amateur league that in 2025 debuted as a mass phenomenon.
The model has attracted attention as an example of “consumption ecology” in which admission tickets function as a passport for discounts at hotels and restaurants, shopping centers become second stadiums and municipalities compete in creativity to retain fans.
A case that contrasts with the so-called ‘Village Super League’ of Guizhou (center), which in 2023 surprised with its spontaneity, but lost luster in subsequent years. The question is whether the ‘Su Chao’ will manage to maintain its appeal when the novelty wears off.
For now, what is clear is that the tournament has turned Jiangsu into a laboratory of sports economics, where an amateur ball has ended up moving first division figures and brands.
With information from EFE.
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