Photo/Zhang Jian (NBD)

On July 29, the 15th press conference of the Chengdu FISU Games City Promotion Series “Sports Chengdu - World Sports Event City Construction” was held in Chengdu.

In recent years, taking the Universiade as a driving force, Chengdu insisted on giving equal importance to the development of sports events and sports industries, and has formulated the “Outline of Chengdu World Sports Event City Construction”.

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Chengdu has also won many honors from international sports organizations, such as “Golden Host City” and “Outstanding Contribution City”, and its global influence in sports events has risen to 28th in the world, ranking among the top three in China. In 2022, the total scale of the city’s sports industry exceeded 100 billion yuan.

Chengdu’s sports influence continues to rise

After winning the right to host the Universiade, Chengdu hosted the 18th World Police and Fire Games, and successively won the right to host the 2024 Badminton Thomas and Uber Cup and the 2025 World Games. Asian Sports Dance Federation and the World Curling Tour Asia-Pacific also established headquarters there.

“Chengdu took the lead in formulating management measures for sports events and activities, promoting the construction of a sports event system that is more suitable for Chengdu’s development,” Chen Zhi, deputy director of the Sports Competition Department (Anti-Doping Department) of the Chengdu Universiade Executive Committee and deputy director of the Chengdu Sports Bureau, introduced at the press conference.

In addition, Chengdu also actively cultivated its own brand events. The Chengdu Marathon became China’s first candidate event for the World Marathon Majors. It cultivated four major event brands: “Belt and Road”, “Tianfu Greenway”, “Panda Cup” and “Tianfu Longquanshan”. Professional sports events represented by Chengdu Rongcheng Football Club were popular across the country.

Chengdu has newly built or renovated 49 Universiade venues, including 36 renovated ones. Among them, 22 venues have built a smart venue operation and management platform.

NBD learned from the press conference that in recent years, Chengdu has newly built or renovated 22 provincial-level or above standard sports parks, created more than 200 community sports corner demonstration projects, and more than 400 Tianfu Greenway fitness new spaces.

Besides, Chengdu opened up Universiade venues to the public and carried out more than 2,500 activities. At the same time, it founded China (Chengdu) Life Sports Conference, which was rated as “China’s Most Loved Sports Fitness City” by CCTV Finance, and selected as one of the “Top Ten Sports Vitality Cities in China” by People’s Network. Sports life has become a new label for park cities.

Building world sports event city

Chengdu has put forward three development goals: by 2025, it will become a world sports event city with a complete event system, hosting more than 50 international and national events every year. The total scale of sports industry will exceed 150 billion yuan, and the proportion of sports industry added value to local GDP will exceed 2%.” Chen Zhi told NBD.

Specifically, how to use the “Universiade legacy” to further promote the construction of a world sports event city? NBD learned from the press conference that Chengdu will focus on three aspects.

First, adhere to hosting events to enhance capabilities and increase urban international influence.

Second, promoting the high-quality development of the sports industry.

At the same time, actively preparing for the World Sports Event City Development Conference, improve the operation level, utilization efficiency and comprehensive service capacity of Universiade venues.

Third, adhere to the whole-region promotion and improve the quality of public health and life.