China Wants to Trigger a Sports Industry Boom

Michelle Obama has told American schoolchildren, “Let’s Move!” Now China’s top leaders are getting behind their own program to boost fitness levels and the sports industry.

China’s State Council (its analog to the U.S. cabinet) released projections this week that the fitness industry would reach 5 trillion renminbi ($800 billion) by 2025 and account for an estimated 1 percent of China’s GDP, vs. 0.6 percent today. “There are great opportunities for foreign investors, particularly in areas such as sporting events, overseas sports tourism, and venue management,” Liu Fumin, director of the finance department at the General Administration of Sport, told the state-run China Daily.