– This is the script of CNBC's news report for China's CCTV on October 22, Thursday.
Welcome to CNBC Business Daily, I'm Qian Chen.
On Friday, The Chinese President Xi Jinping will be joined by Prime Minister Cameron on a visit to the Machester City Football Club.
Ahead of his state visit to the U.K, Xi pledged to spur the sport's development in China, where one of the world's largest soccer fan bases has endured decades of home-field mediocrity.
"In the next five years, football training will be introduced to 20,000 Chinese schools, which means huge potential of cooperation between China and the UK in the training of players, coaches and referees," Mr. Xi said in the written interview.
Stocks related to China's soccer sector were buoyed by Xi's pledges to invest in soccer infrastructure across China.
According to a research report conducted by Repucom last year, they found that China is the largest fanbase for the EPL with around 170 million followers,with 31% of EPL fans in Asia-Pacific and 51% of all Chinese football supporters.
From an economic perspective, let's quickly take a look at the market value of English Premier League -- now worth £8.4bn and they're getting richer...with Manchester United leading the way.
According to UK's Dailymail, the 20 clubs starting this season's Premier League are worth a combined £8.4billion according to new valuations.
That represents a massive 460 per cent growth in the worth of the top-flight clubs in the 16 years since Richard Scudamore became chief executive.
They were collectively worth about £1.5bn in 1999, with Manchester United by far the most valuable at £623m.
According to British media, "Daily Mail" message, televised Premier League
2016-19 season cost total income reached a staggering 8.1 billion pounds, which contains 3 billion pounds and pounds of British overseas 5.1 billion, the two Price is the price.
According to statistics, 16-19 Premier League season, transmission costs even more than the sum of the Primera Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue four league television fees.
How is the Chinese soccer industry doing?
Well, money might not be the problem, and the competition is getting hot.
The Chinese government has announced plans to develop the country's sports industry and raise the sector's annual output to 5 trillion yuan (813.87 billion U.S. dollars) by 2025.
We've seen some movements by Chinese big names.
Dalian Wanda Group Co. bought World Triathlon Corp. for $650 million, becoming the owner of the world's largest sports operating company. Earlier, the giant bought 68% of Swiss sports-marketing company Infront Sports & Media, as well as a 20% stake in Spanish football club Atletico Madrid for $52m.
It's likely that we will hear more headlines from Wanda on M&As, but it's not the only player in the market.
It was joint by Alibaba last month, with the announcement to establish a sports division. It is expected to spark competition in the sector.
The Chinese e-commerce giant is teaming up with top leagues in the National Collegiate Athletic Association(NCAA) to online-stream the 1st regular-season games in China.
In addition, Alibaba has introduced FC Bayern Munich and Real Madrid C.F. to Tmall Global, in an effort to provide Chinese consumers with both sports clubs' merchandise, including official player jerseys, club apparel for men, women, and children, and club memorabilia.
(ON CAM)
More players are coming to the booming sports industry.
Tencent has reached a digital partnership with NBA, while China-based Letv has obtained the exclusive broadcasting rights of English Premier League
(EPL) in Hong Kong for three consecutive years.
And this, might JUST be the starting point of China's sports economy.
More is on the way.
CNBC's Qian Chen, reporting from Singapore.
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