Thursday, June 22, 2006
World Cup, China Style
by from BeijingI grew up in North Dakota and Minnesota, where football—American football—is king throughout the fall. And, baseball and golf takes center spotlight in the summer. However, now that I am in Beijing, most major American sports, other than basketball, are pretty much ignored over here.
I never really paid much attention to soccer, but it is big here in China...and now even more so since the start of the World Cup. Being the capital city of the most populous country on earth, Beijing is filled with people from all over the world. Just about everywhere you go you can find die-hard supporters for many of the teams playing in this big event.
The six-hour time difference between the World Cup in Germany and China contributes to the almost nonstop soccer excitement in Beijing. One set of games starts on TV here every night at 9pm, a second set coming on at 12am, and the last at 3am. Everyone, both young and old in China, has been eating up the action—literally—until late into the night. In fact, most bars and restaurants have changed their seating arrangements to provide an easy view of the games on TV. The food and bar trade is flourishing with businesses vying for the crowds of soccer fans by almost giving away food and drink. It’s a great time to be a Chinese consumer!
CCTV-5, which is broadcasting the games, has devoted 24 hours a day to the World Cup. It is also creating big advertising revenues. The games are broadcast during their scheduled times, but they are also played again throughout the day so that people can keep up with the tournament. Over the course of the event, it is estimated there will be over 10 billion (duplicated) TV viewers in China.
Even though China doesn’t have a team in the month-long games, everyone here seems riveted to the event. It has been great for business, and with the round of 16 starting soon, the atmosphere is only expected to get more intense.
