Friday Night Lights: young Chinese tackle American football
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[June 09, 2017]
By Elias Glenn
BEIJING (Reuters) - A pint-sized
running back takes a handoff and scrambles across the goal line,
spiking the football for a last-minute win. It could be any school
field in America, but on a warm spring night in Beijing the star of
the game is nine-year-old Lisa Li, one of the best players in
China’s first American football youth league.
"I was so excited. Before I ran for the winning touchdown I thought
to myself I just had to score," Li said as her Eagles celebrated a
come-from-behind 24-20 victory over the Sharklets.
Li plays running back and linebacker in the 16-team Future League
run by GSG Sport, a Beijing company promoting America’s most popular
game to parents seeking a new sport for children.
American football lags far behind soccer and basketball in China,
but the huge potential market of 1.4 billion people has caught the
attention of the National Football League.
This year's Super Bowl championship was streamed live for the first
time in China, where 1.5 million mostly young fans watch weekly NFL
games on digital platforms.
NFL stars are pitching in to help build the fan base. Tom Brady, a
five-time Super Bowl winning quarterback, will visit Beijing and the
commercial hub of Shanghai later in June.
ESSENCE OF AMERICA
GSG initially wanted to set up an adult league, but spotted the
youth niche five years ago, said co-founder Michael Jin. Today it
has 5,000 players whose parents spend between $1,700 and $3,000
annually for training, uniforms and equipment. Parents like football
because it stresses discipline, team skills and exposes their
pre-teen children to a new culture.
"A lot of parents think football is actually the essence of American
culture," Jin said.
At a recent Friday night game, a father cheering for his son said he
appreciated the toughness of the sport. "It's very manly and the
kids like it a lot," he said.
Parents at the game said they were not overly concerned about the
risk of injury, which has fueled a safety debate in the United
States.
"They’re not running that fast or hitting that hard," said one
parent, who sought anonymity. "It's not a big risk."
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
To tap a sports industry fueled by rising consumer spending and
favorable policies, two Beijing-based funds, Kaixing Capital and
Unity Ventures, said they had invested "millions of dollars" in GSG,
but gave no specific figures.
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Sharklets players (blue shirts) defend against the Eagles during
their Future League American football youth league match in Beijing,
China, May 26, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Beijing wants to triple the value of China’s sports
sector to 5 trillion yuan ($735 billion) by 2025.
Unity investment manager Xu Miaocheng said it was drawn to GSG’s
training business model.
"Most sports companies are not very good at generating cash," he
said. "The training sector generates cash."
GSG has expanded to Shanghai and the eastern city of Hangzhou and
will soon open a franchise in eastern Qingdao. It aims to reach
10,000 players in two years.
GSG is not profitable but the funds say they are patient.
"If you get in a hurry and compromise your service, it hurts your
reputation," said Pan Shijian, a partner at Kaixing, which set up a
10-billion-yuan sports fund last year with property developer Kaisa
Group.
The one-year old Future League is a key part of GSG’s effort to
build its brand.
Taking a page from American high school football, Future League
games are held on Friday nights, complete with uniformed referees,
cheering fans and a camera crew for post-game interviews.
This year GSG began livestreaming games in partnership with sports
media company LeSports, drawing about 200,000 to watch the winning
score by the Eagles' Li against the Sharklets.
"Lisa is much more confident and much more brave after playing
football," said her father, Li Ning.
(Editing by Darren Schuettler and Clarence Fernandez) [© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
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