With the arrival of the 2024 Chinese Super League, the fierce competition on the football stage has once again set off a boom. Compared with the previous season, the new season has brought a series of changes, including the relaxation of foreign aid policies, the adjustment of referee penalty standards, and the innovation of club business cooperation. These changes have had far-reaching implications, not least the opening up of the club's naming, making commercial partnerships a key pillar of the team's finances.
As the new season approaches, the Chinese Super League's foreign aid policy has undergone a significant change. 5 foreign aid has become the standard configuration of each team, and some teams are even arrogant, with 6 foreign aids, one of which is an alternative. At the same time, the league stipulates the number of foreign players who can play at the same time, which undoubtedly provides the team with greater tactical flexibility and also heralds a further improvement in the quality of the league.
At the pre-season referee training meeting, the referee's penalty criteria were explained, and some controversial penalties from last season were clearly defined. The results of the training show that the referees will be more impartial, but the actual effect remains to be seen. This change is expected to pave the way for the league to be fair, while also providing clearer rules of play for players, coaches and fans.
The Football Association allows clubs to name the first team and echelon, opening up a new commercial space for the club. Naming is not only an important breakthrough in the club's operations, but also a potential economic pillar. The implementation of this policy allows clubs to increase their income through naming and thus run their teams better.
In the previous business cooperation manual**, the business cooperation project of Chengdu Rongcheng Club has attracted widespread attention. The price of naming rights, jersey advertising space and other business rights is amazing, of which the team's naming rights are sold for as much as 80 million, the jersey advertising space is sold for 30 million, and the back advertising is 20 million, and the total of these three business rights and interests reaches 1300 million. This has undoubtedly injected strong financial resources into Chengdu Rongcheng Club, and through the successful case of Chengdu Rongcheng, other clubs may usher in more opportunities for business cooperation.
Although the Football Association has opened up the business rights and interests of each team, due to the limitation of the brand value of the league, the title and jersey advertising sales of the 16 teams of the Chinese Super League are not ideal. In the official schedule released by the Chinese Super League, only Henan team successfully changed the naming rights**, and its name was changed to Henan team Jiusheng Dukang, while the other teams still retain the club name. On the jersey advertising space, some teams are also facing problems, among which Shandong Taishan has successfully sold the advertising space behind it, but the front chest is still the word "Shandong Taishan".
Although the teams have invested heavily in the new season and the overall commercialization level of the Chinese Super League has improved, the 16 teams have not been able to sell their titles and jersey advertising as expected. It is reported that Meizhou Hakka's budget for the 2024 season is 200 million, but it can still only be ranked in the middle and lower reaches of the Chinese Super League. It also reveals the pressure on teams to invest and the enormous challenges investors face during the season.
The business feast of the new season of the Chinese Super League presents a unique visual feast for fans. The high price of naming rights and advertising space has undoubtedly brought financial enhancement to the club, and also brought more opportunities for fans to follow the team. However, the challenges and problems that come with it cannot be ignored. In the future, the clubs of the Chinese Super League need to further innovate their business models and enhance the brand value of the league to promote the implementation of more business opportunities. The vigorous development of business cooperation forms such as naming and advertising space marks the advent of a new era of commercialization of the Chinese Super League.