CHINA SPORTS MARKETING NEWSLETTER
Vol. 1, No.7 - December 27, 2001
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- CCTV Closer to World Cup Rights
- Zhu Chen Wins Women's Chess World Title
- Beijing Launches Organizing Committee, Promises Open and Frugal Games
- Beijing Establish Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
CCTV Closer to World Cup Rights
CCTV stands a better chance than before of securing the right to broadcast the 2002 World Cup on the mainland, with the withdrawal of its Hong Kong competitor from bidding, according to media reports. Ma Guoli, director of CCTV's sports center, denied any knowledge about the withdrawal of an undisclosed Hong Kong media company. "So far we haven't been notified of any latest development," Ma said. "The biggest problem is still the price."
Hong Kong media reported earlier this month that the Special Administrative Region's broadcasting company, reportedly a satellite TV station, had withdrawn from the bidding. CCTV is now in talks with Germany's KirchMedia, the authorized marketing company for the World Cup, for the broadcasting rights. However, China's official TV station operator may have trouble matching the prices offered by other regional networks, including a Singapore TV station. CCTV is reportedly offering US$12 million for the rights to broadcast both the 2002 and 2006 World Cup matches. Its competitors, meanwhile, are reported to be offering US$12 million just for next year's tournament.
The month-long tournament is expected to generate 100 million yuan (US$12 million) in advertising revenue, according to Yuan Feng, executive supervisor of CCTV's central viewer survey and consulting center. "CCTV will unlikely allow local TV stations to broadcast the matches simultaneously because of ad benefits," said Li Gongzhen, deputy director of the Shanghai Morning Post's sports section. On the Chinese mainland, there are about 400 million football fans, most of whom watch matches on television, according to industry sources. The figure is expected to jump 50 percent during the World Cup finals because China for the first time has qualified, said analysts. The slight time differences between South Korea, Japan and China will also guarantee large viewership.
(Source: China.Org/Easterly.com)
Zhu Chen Wins Women's Chess World Title
Zhu Chen of China won the women's world chess title after beating Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia 3-1 in the rapid playoff on December 14.
Zhu won the first, third and fourth games while Kosteniuk took the second. Zhu, 25, becomes the second Chinese player to win the world title after Xie Jun won the world championship in 1991.
(Source: China Sports Publication Corp)
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Beijing Launches Organizing Committee, Promises Open and Frugal Games
Buoyed by the success in the Sydney Olympics last year, Chinese sports aims to gain more ground in the 2008 Olympics at Beijing.
Addressing the launch ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games organizing committee earlier this month, Chinese Olympic Committee president Yuan Weimin said that to host the games will be a great boost to the development of Chinese sports.
"We believe that through the hosting of the games, our sports will rise a notch and reach a new high in the 2008 Olympic Games," he said.
Chinese sports has been a force to be reckoned with since it broke the Olympic gold medal drought in Los Angles in 1984, wining 16 golds each from the Barcelona and Atlanta Games.
It peaked in the Sydney Olympics by finishing third overall and winning an unprecedented haul of 28 golds from such traditionally strong events as table tennis, badminton, gymnastics and diving.
But the euphoria was diluted by its poor performance in such team events as soccer, basketball and volleyball, and China is still a poor cousin in the world arena of medal-rich athletics and swimming.
"China will try to compete in all the 28 Olympic sports in 2008, " said Yuan.
"We aim to enhance the Chinese overall sporting strength, gain more ground in our favorite events, and make breakthrough in medal-rich events such as athletics and swimming, and improve our ball games," he added.
(Source: China net)
Beijing Establish Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Five months after its high-flying bidding success, Beijing got down to earth to prepare for a best ever sporting gala by setting up the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG) on December 13.
Chinese Vice Premier Li Lanqing and Chinese Olympic Committee president Yuan Weimin, attended the launch ceremony.
Addressing the ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing Mayor Liu Qi hailed hosting of the 29th Olympiad as "glorious but challenging" and pledged that the host city would stage the games in an open and economical way.
Liu said that during the seven-year buildup to the Olympic Games, the OCOG would take a receptive approach to adopt international practices in many sectors including infrastructure construction, fund raising and service providing.
"We will enhance the teamwork with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Federations and National Olympic Committees, build on experiences of the previous host cities, take in advice of experts from all directions and enroll talents, local or foreign, into the organizing committee," said Liu.
IOC president Jacques Rogge sent a letter to congratulate on the launch of the organizing committee, expecting Beijing to deliver a successful games seven years later.
"The People's Republic of China has played host to several international sport competitions at all levels and will now, for the first time in history, organize the Olympic Games. There is no doubt therefore over the organizational capacity of China," said Rogge.
"The IOC will provide full cooperation and assistance to the newly-founded Organizing Committee to ensure the success of the Games of the 29th Olympiad in 2008," he added.
Beijing was awarded the top sporting prize in Moscow on July 13 by beating the other four candidate cities including Paris, Toronto, Istanbul and Osaka.
Concurring with the launch of the organizing committee is a Supervision Committee, which Liu said, is set up to ensure the transparency and fairness during the Olympic preparation.
"Strict regulations and rules on managing assets and finance of the organizing committee will be put in place and strictly enforced," said Liu.
"An independent auditing body will also be established to audit the financial records of the organizing committee."
One of the priorities for the Supervision Commission will be to monitor the infrastructure construction, Liu said.
"We will strictly enforce the governmental regulations on the management of infrastructure construction, standardizing its bidding process and improving the monitoring system," he said.
He also stressed that Beijing organizing committee will stage the Olympiad on the principle of frugality while meeting the requirements for staging the Olympiad.
"The building of Olympic venues should not only meet the demand of the Olympics, but also take into consideration the post-games utilization, and we should make full use of the existing facilities and try to put on some temporary facilities for the games to reduce the cost,"said Liu.
Liu also pledged that the 2008 Olympics would be a grand event "by the people and for the people". "All ethnic groups in China have chances to participate in the Olympic torch relay, all the people could make their own contribution to the games, and all enterprises at home and abroad have equal chances to join and profit from the Olympic-related infrastructure construction," he said.
The BOCOG is composed of leading officials from Beijing Municipality Government; the State Sports General Administration of China and the Chinese Olympic Committee as well as the Chinese IOC members and athletes representatives.
"We welcome all elite from all directions to join us and try to make the OCOG a team of high quality and high efficiency," said Liu.
(Source: Peoples Daily)
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