After football, ice and snow, triathlon and basketball, Wanda has won the core resources of important international sports. From Infront to Tiesan, and then to holding hands with FIBA and FIFA, how ambitious is Wanda Group in the sports industry?
Looking back on history, Wanda took the lead in acquiring Infront Sports Media Group in 2065438+February 2005 at a price of10.05 billion euros. After a series of acquisitions, Wanda merged Infront with the World Iron Man Company in 2065438+2005+065438+February 2005, and formally established Wanda Sports, and put forward the lofty words of becoming the world's first sports company.
At that time, Wang Jianlin revealed the style of Wanda Sports in an interview. He said that the sports industry is divided into three ends: ABC, and the A end is an international organization in the sports industry, including international organizations of large-scale comprehensive events and international organizations of individual events. The previous cooperation with FIFA and FIBA, as well as this time holding hands with the World Badminton Federation, are all big moves that Wanda continues to exert its strength at the A end.
It is also revealed that Wanda Sports has also obtained the TV production business of the World Badminton Federation, including providing main broadcast for important events, producing programs and serving other broadcasters. In addition, Wanda Sports will also help the World Badminton Federation to carry out digital communication.
At the press conference, Wang Jianlin revealed his intention to sign the World Badminton Federation. He said that the comprehensive cooperation between Fang Ying and BWF is Wanda's tenth sports business cooperation agreement. Through this cooperation, Wanda will have more say in the upstream resources of sports.
In addition, Wang Jianlin also said that they still have two cooperation projects to be announced before the end of the year. Judging from these cooperations, it is Wanda's goal to expand the mass base and realize market appreciation.
So, why should the World Badminton Federation help Wanda achieve its goal? Let's talk about the World Badminton Federation and their competitions first.
The full name of the World Badminton Federation is the Badminton World Federation (BWF), which is the highest management body of badminton in the world. Its predecessor was the International Badminton Federation (IBF), which was founded in 1934. At present, BWF is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
At present, the influential international badminton events are managed by the World Badminton Federation. Top events include World Cup, Sudirman Cup, Thomas Cup and Uber Cup. BWF also organizes competitions with different levels and different bonuses every year to further promote badminton. At the same time, the World Badminton Federation, which holds the IP of the event, has naturally mastered the commercial development rights of these events.
Although the commercial and market development of BWF is not as good as that of FIFA and FIBA, the other two partners of Wanda Group, after years of development and progress, BWF has also found a way suitable for badminton.
Previously, BWF had eight main official partners, including not only giants such as Red Bull and IMG, but also China brands such as Li Ning and Chery Automobile. Not only that, BWF can also find partners at different levels in every Super Series, Open and Tangyou Cup.
According to the official data released by BWF 20 15, the income of BWF last year reached1690,000 USD, most of which came from commercial sponsorship. In the same year, the total expenditure of BWF was USD 65,438+USD 0,689,65438+USD 0,000, which is obviously different from other projects.
Among them, insufficient broadcast income has always been a problem that the World Badminton Federation needs to face. Although after joining hands with IMG, all kinds of badminton events can cover 500 million spectators around the world, there is no choice but to sell the copyright of the events. In the final analysis, it still stems from the limited influence of badminton competition, and it is impossible to develop the habit of paying viewers to watch.
Although China has only a history of 35 years in the BWF, China will play a decisive role in both the competition and the market, which is why BWF chose to cooperate with China Wanda Group.
As Wang Jianlin said at the press conference, badminton ranks in the top two in China and is also a major sport in the world. As the first badminton power, China has always had an excellent record. Wang Jianlin said that with the development of the competition, the market expansion of badminton should reach a new stage.
Badminton for China people, in addition to watching games during major events, the most important thing is to provide leisure, fitness and sports functions. The China Interest Report recently released by China Academy of Social Sciences shows that badminton ranks second in China's sports interest, second only to fitness.
At present, there are more than 500 million badminton fans and players in the world, and the badminton population in China has reached 200 million. In recent years, badminton has developed rapidly in traditional badminton areas such as East Asia, Southeast Asia and Northern Europe.
Through these data, we find that badminton has great influence in China and even the world, and has a particularly deep mass base in China. At present, in many cities, badminton courts are in short supply, and users can't book venues during peak hours. Wanda joined hands with the World Badminton Federation to enter badminton this time, just because it took a fancy to the profound mass base of the sport.
As mentioned earlier, there are two kinds of logic in the layout of Wanda Group. FIBA and FIFA are teamed up because the football and basketball industries are highly marketized and their business models are mature. After cutting into the resources of the football basket from above, Wanda can stimulate the consumption of watching the game.
On the other hand, Wanda Group has previously acquired triathlon from Providence, and acquired Infront with heavy money, and is also laying out participatory ice and snow projects and running projects. For badminton, there is great potential for both participation and appreciation.