China is increasingly trying to tap into that potential. The 2026 Government Work Report explicitly called for efforts to "actively develop the sports economy", placing it alongside tourism and wellness as areas with significant consumption potential.

　　Su Super League, an amateur soccer competition in Jiangsu province, has become a social-media sensation. What started as a regional competition has evolved into a celebration of local identity, generating traffic for restaurants, hotels and tourist attractions across participating cities.

　　In Guizhou province, the grassroots Village Super League, or "Cun Chao", has blended soccer with ethnic culture, music and tourism, drawing visitors from across the country. Local authorities say sports-related events generated billions of yuan in tourism and consumer spending last year.

　　"The overall commercialization of China's domestic sports IPs is still at a relatively early stage," said Wang Xueli, director of the center for development of sports industry at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management.

　　While organizers have become increasingly successful at attracting sponsors, areas such as sponsorship activation, audience targeting, brand-event alignment and year-round content operations still have significant room for development, Wang said.

　　That distinction helps explain why events such as Su Super League and Cun Chao can generate enormous online attention but still differ from global properties such as the World Cup, the Olympics or the Australian Open tennis tournament.

　　FIFA's decision to embrace IPs like Labubu was not simply a cultural gesture. It reflected a broader effort to expand the tournament's appeal beyond traditional soccer audiences and connect with younger consumers through popular culture.

　　Perhaps that is the most important lesson for China's sports economy.