To implement the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council regarding the active cultivation of new consumption growth points such as sports events, to build the “Good Luck Shandong” sports event brand, to accelerate the high-quality development of the sports event economy, and to support the construction of a sports powerhouse in the new era, the following measures are formulated in light of Shandong’s actual conditions.
I. Expanding the Supply of Sports Events
(1) Attracting International and Domestic Brand-Name Events. Strengthen research on attracting and bidding for major international and domestic events, comprehensively assess the influence and market value of such events, and prioritize cooperation with various domestic and international professional sports federations, associations, and renowned sports companies.Coordinate the introduction of single-sport world championships (World Cups) such as the World Sailing Championships and the World Triathlon Championships; brand-name international events such as the ATP International Tennis Open, FIBA World Cup series, and ONE Championship; and domestic events such as the National Student (Youth) Games and the Diplomatic Series for Foreign Envoys in China. Strive to ensure that major international events and top-tier domestic events are held in Shandong every year, and work to secure their permanent establishment in the province.(Lead Agency: Provincial Sports Bureau; Responsible Agency: Provincial Party Committee Foreign Affairs Office)
(2) Develop high-level professional competitions. Actively introduce professional sports events and support the organization of professional leagues for “the three major ball sports” (soccer, basketball, and volleyball), “the three minor ball sports” (handball, netball, and floorball), as well as sailing, auto racing, equestrian, and board games. We will build a professional league ecosystem that integrates professional teams, youth training academies, fan engagement, and sports culture.Actively host various specialized competitions, promote and popularize newly added Olympic sports such as baseball and softball, rock climbing, skateboarding, and breakdancing, and drive the continuous growth of the sports-participating population. (Lead Agency: Provincial Sports Bureau)
(3) Cultivate proprietary brand events. Establish a brand event landscape where “every city has a brand and every county has a specialty.” Support cities in leveraging their historical and cultural heritage as well as natural ecological resources to expand and strengthen traditional brand events, while innovatively developing events in areas such as lifestyle sports, urban sports, and marine sports. Support single-sport associations in creating brand events for their respective disciplines. (Lead Agency: Provincial Sports Bureau)
(4) Actively organize mass sports events. Successfully host the National Fitness Games, Winter Games, and comprehensive events for various demographics, while expanding the scale of grassroots events such as city-level sports meets, community sports meets, and the rural “Four Competitions.”Support cities in developing “Village Super League,” “Village BA,” “Village Table Tennis,” community leagues, and city leagues, and encourage the Jinan Metropolitan Area, the Jiaodong Economic Zone, and the Southern Shandong Economic Zone to develop regional leagues. Support cities in hosting sports events with consumption-driving characteristics, such as marathons, human-vehicle relays, auto and motorcycle races, aviation events, and sailing (board) competitions, to enhance the level of event-driven consumption. (Lead Agency: Provincial Sports Bureau)
(5) Develop outdoor sports events. Compile a provincial directory of outdoor sports and comprehensively cultivate outdoor sports events such as mountaineering, hiking, rock climbing, river trekking, mountain bike cross-country, and pole walking on sand. Encourage cities to build self-driving and aviation camps, public mountain outdoor camps, ski resorts, and water sports training centers to enrich the supply of facilities for outdoor sports events.Develop the “Good Luck Shandong, Outdoor Paradise” information platform. (Lead Agency: Provincial Sports Bureau; Responsible Agency: Provincial Department of Natural Resources)
(6) Improve the youth sports competition system. Refine the mechanism for integrating sports and education in competition participation, broaden registration channels, standardize eligibility reviews, strengthen the connection between U-series competitions and school-based events, and gradually optimize the competition structure.Improve the four-tier league system for primary, secondary, and higher education institutions, expand participation, promote promotion and relegation systems, and facilitate pathways for students with athletic talents to advance to higher education. Pilot reforms to increase the weight of physical fitness tests in the high school entrance exams, guiding students to master 1–2 sports skills and improve their athletic performance, thereby encouraging more young people to develop lifelong exercise habits. (Lead Agencies: Provincial Department of Education, Provincial Sports Bureau)
II. Optimizing the Layout of Sports Events
(7) Rationally Develop Event Spaces. Focusing on the five major consumer-driven event categories—mountain sports, water (and marine) sports, winter sports, auto and motorcycle sports, and aviation sports—we will establish a framework led by the “Three Economic Circles” (the Provincial Capital Economic Circle, the Jiaodong Economic Circle, and the Southern Shandong Economic Circle) and linked by the “Four Corridors” (along the Yellow River, along the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, along the Grand Canal, and along the Qi Great Wall),interconnected by “five networks” (hiking, water sports, cycling, self-driving, and aviation), and supported by multiple hubs (Yellow River Estuary, Mount Tai, Yimeng Mountains, Kunyu Mountains, the Four Southern Lakes, Dongping Lake, Laizhou Bay, and Jiaozhou Bay). Clarify licensing requirements for events involving airspace, water bodies, and forests, and pilot initiatives to open up natural resources for sports events in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.(Lead Agency: Provincial Sports Bureau; Responsible Agencies: Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Provincial Department of Natural Resources, Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Provincial Department of Transportation, Provincial Department of Water Resources, Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Provincial Oceanic Administration, Provincial Meteorological Bureau)
(8) Coordinate event schedules. Based on the seasonal patterns of event hosting, coordinate the scheduling of events such as marathons, sailing, and winter sports to create an atmosphere where “every week offers excitement and every month has highlights.”Actively organize holiday events, such as walking, dragon boat racing, and mountain climbing competitions, in conjunction with traditional festivals like the Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and Double Ninth Festival; host high-profile, highly participatory brand events during peak tourism seasons, such as short holiday breaks; and organize various youth competitions during winter and summer vacations to continuously expand the comprehensive benefits of hosting events.Vigorously develop nighttime events by organizing carnival-style activities and other nighttime events in conjunction with major sporting events; support cities in organizing nighttime sports events such as glow-in-the-dark night runs, roller skating, street dance, and street basketball tournaments to lead the trend of nighttime consumption. (Lead Agency: Provincial Sports Bureau; Responsible Agencies: Provincial Department of Education, Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism)
(9) Building Distinctive Sports Cities.Promote the deep integration of “hosting events” and “urban development,” encouraging cities to build sports cities and event capitals of varying levels and types. Enhance the influence of Jinan as the “World Capital of Spring Sports,” Qingdao as the “Sailing Capital,” Weihai as the “Leisure Sports Capital,” Yantai as the “Coastal Fashion Sports City,” Tai’an as the “International Sports and Leisure City,” Rizhao as the “Water Sports Capital,” Weifang as the “Kite Capital,”“Birthplace of World Football” Zibo, and “Hometown of Martial Arts” Heze. We encourage all cities to include the development of sports event hubs in their government work reports and the 15th Five-Year Plan, fostering a virtuous cycle and mutually beneficial development between the event economy and the urban economy. (Lead Agency: Provincial Sports Bureau)
III. Deepening the Integration of Sports Events and Industry
(10) Strengthen the “Sports Events + Culture and Tourism” Model. Integrate the hosting of sports events with tourism consumption and cultural exchange in a unified planning framework. Support the incorporation of sports events into scenic areas, and encourage sports and culture-tourism enterprises, associations, and organizations to design and develop immersive, experiential consumption scenarios based on event content.Vigorously develop the “sports tourism economy,” regularly hold sports tourism promotion events, and publish a “Travel with the Games” event directory. Accelerate the development of new sports-tourism integration formats such as sports experiences and fitness and leisure activities. Through coordinated efforts at the provincial, municipal, and county levels, launch a series of outdoor sports and leisure tourism routes, outdoor sports camps, and sports tourism destinations. (Lead Agencies: Provincial Sports Bureau, Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism)
(11) Expand the “Events + Services” sector. Launch initiatives to bring sports events into neighborhoods and commercial districts, expanding event venues from traditional sports stadiums to suitable locations such as sports parks, commercial centers, and pedestrian streets, thereby transforming traditional sports spaces into sports consumption spaces. Publish a series of typical case studies on event-driven consumption scenarios and support event organizers in collaborating with commercial districts and brands to launch special shopping routes and exclusive discount coupons.Vigorously develop the “match-day economy” by collaborating with event organizers, professional service providers, social media platforms, and other market entities to host sports markets, product exhibitions, expos,food festivals, and shopping festivals to boost consumption. We will increase interactive experiences such as digital sports zones, trendy interactive play areas, and outdoor camping zones, building a comprehensive experience platform that integrates competition, entertainment, shopping, and culture to convert event “traffic” into consumer “retention” and economic “growth.” (Lead Agencies: Provincial Sports Bureau, Provincial Department of Commerce)
(12) Deepen the “Sports Events + Rural Revitalization” initiative. Leveraging rural revitalization demonstration zones, core areas of agricultural cultural heritage, and livable and prosperous “harmonious and beautiful villages,” vigorously organize popular rural sports events such as “Village Super League,” “Village BA,” and “Village Table Tennis” under the theme of “Harmonious and Beautiful Villages.”Support cities in organizing rural-themed festival events with distinct “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” characteristics—such as New Year’s mountain hikes, Farmers’ Harvest Festivals, and outdoor camping—tailored to local conditions. Support cities in developing sports tourism-themed villages by integrating sports events with exhibitions and sales of specialty agricultural products, farm-to-table experiences, unique homestays, and rural tourism, thereby increasing employment opportunities for farmers and boosting rural revitalization. (Lead Agencies: Provincial Sports Bureau, Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; Responsible Agency: Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism)
(13) Refine the “Events + Manufacturing” model. Encourage leading enterprises in the sports manufacturing sector to expand into service sectors such as event organization and education and training. Support “Single Champion” enterprises in manufacturing and “Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative” (“Little Giant”) enterprises in developing new products—such as smart cycling equipment, high-end esports gear, CNC fitness equipment, and AI-powered sports rehabilitation equipment—to meet the needs of sports events and training.Promote synergy between auto racing and automotive manufacturing, support the establishment of automotive modification facilities, and stimulate consumption of high-end racing car modifications. (Lead Agencies: Provincial Sports Bureau, Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology; Responsible Agency: Provincial Department of Science and Technology)
(14) Enhance the “Events + Training” Model. Standardize the conduct of youth sports proficiency grading competitions and related training programs. Support schools in establishing coaching positions and recruiting outstanding retired athletes to serve as coaches. Support outstanding retired athletes in starting their own businesses or joining youth sports clubs to guide young people in specialized training. Support compliant off-campus sports education and training institutions in bringing their programs into schools. Encourage the development of training programs related to professional events such as marathons.(Lead Agencies: Provincial Sports Bureau, Provincial Department of Education; Responsible Agency: Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security)
IV. Strengthening Sports Event Operating Organizations
(15) Support the development of sports event enterprises. Support leading enterprises in the industry and state-owned enterprises in their core business sectors to develop the sports event industry, and actively introduce and host major sports events. Establish a talent pool for sports event enterprises, and strengthen the cultivation, guidance, and dynamic monitoring of enterprises within the pool. Actively recommend Shandong sports events and sports event enterprises to participate in the selection of national sports industry demonstration projects and demonstration units. (Lead Agencies: Provincial Sports Bureau, Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission)
(16) Stimulate the vitality of social organizations. Actively and prudently advance the reform of sports social organizations, guiding provincial-level single-sport associations to formulate and publish standards for sports events, as well as guidelines for organizing and participating in events. Encourage single-sport associations at all levels to provide guidance and services—including technical expertise, rules, equipment, and personnel—to sports event organizers and hosts. (Lead Agencies: Provincial Sports Bureau, Provincial Department of Civil Affairs)
V. Optimizing the Environment for Event Organization
(17) Enhance Service and Support Capabilities. Support cities in establishing a “one-stop service” mechanism for event organization to optimize services related to event bidding, preparation, and hosting. Explore market-oriented and socialized operational mechanisms for sports events; deepen cooperation with professional institutions and associations in event organization; promote the standardization and socialization of public services such as security, medical care, and transportation for sports events; and reasonably reduce event hosting costs.(Lead Agency: Provincial Sports Bureau; Responsible Agencies: Provincial Public Security Department, Provincial Department of Transportation, Provincial Health Commission, Provincial Department of Emergency Management, Provincial Market Regulation Bureau, Provincial Big Data Bureau)
(18) Strengthen safety supervision of sports events. In accordance with the requirements of the General Administration of Sport of China’s “Notice on Strengthening the Management of High-Risk Sports Events and Activities,” we will strictly enforce the primary responsibility of event organizers, local government responsibility, and regulatory responsibility, and guide all cities in safely organizing high-risk sports events and activities. We will explore the establishment of interdepartmental collaborative supervision and emergency support mechanisms for sports events and activities, conduct comprehensive emergency drills and joint law enforcement operations, and intensify efforts in risk assessment and hazard identification.(Lead Agency: Provincial Sports Bureau; Responsible Agencies: Provincial Public Security Department, Provincial Department of Natural Resources, Provincial Department of Transportation, Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Provincial Health Commission, Provincial Department of Emergency Management, Provincial Market Regulation Bureau, Provincial Meteorological Bureau, Provincial Communications Administration)
VI. Strengthening Support for Event Elements
(19) Accelerate the upgrading of venues and facilities. Guide cities to tap into the potential for opening public sports venues, school sports facilities, and shareable commercial complexes; integrate elements such as urban greenways, bicycle lanes, hiking trails, and fitness facilities; upgrade and renovate sports parks; and make rational use of urban “prime corners and edges” to incorporate cage soccer and basketball courts, as well as multi-purpose sports fields.Accelerate the construction of new sports infrastructure such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, support the renewal of sports venues and facilities, and promote the smart upgrading of sports venues. Encourage cities with the necessary conditions to increase the supply of sports venues in accordance with relevant national and Shandong provincial standards, and promote the conversion of public sports venues for “dual civilian and military use.” Reform and innovate the management and operation mechanisms of sports venues to enhance operational efficiency.(Lead Agency: Provincial Sports Bureau; Responsible Agencies: Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, Provincial Department of Finance, Provincial Department of Natural Resources, Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Provincial Department of Commerce, Provincial Department of Education)
(20) Strengthen the talent pool. Establish a multi-stakeholder talent development system for sports events that integrates government, enterprises, social organizations, and universities, and cultivate a group of professionals in event management, planning, organization, operations, and market development. Create a Shandong Province sports event talent database and talent exchange platform, incorporating experts and scholars in the field of sports events, as well as professional referees, coaches, and physical education teachers required for event activities, to provide intellectual support for planning and organizing sports events.(Lead Agency: Provincial Sports Bureau; Responsible Agencies: Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security, Provincial Department of Education)
(21) Establish a brand certification system. Develop the “Good Luck Shandong” sports event brand and formulate certification standards for the “Good Luck Shandong” brand to lay a solid foundation for sports event branding. Vigorously support the development of sports events that have obtained brand certification by optimizing service support and integrating marketing and promotion efforts. (Lead Agency: Provincial Sports Bureau)
(22) Conduct sports event evaluations. Establish a comprehensive evaluation standard system for sports events, developing assessment indicators based on professionalism, public attention, and contribution. Systematically evaluate the quality and comprehensive impact of sports events in our province, and publish the “Shandong Province Sports Event Impact Assessment Report” annually.Guide municipal sports departments to commission third-party agencies to conduct sports event evaluations, scientifically, comprehensively, and systematically reflecting the comprehensive value of events. Based on the results of recognition and evaluation, provide diversified and personalized support for events in terms of funding, policies, public resources, and integrated marketing, promoting the deep integration of events into urban development. (Lead Agencies: Provincial Sports Bureau, Provincial Bureau of Statistics)
VII. Improving Support and Safeguard Measures
(23) Strengthen Organizational Leadership. Governments at all levels shall take the lead in enhancing coordination and collaboration between sports departments and relevant agencies, ensuring the implementation of major event-related matters, streamlining channels for basic urban service support, and guaranteeing the orderly operation of events. (Lead Agencies: Provincial Sports Bureau, relevant provincial departments)
(24) Improve Incentive and Subsidy Mechanisms. Coordinate provincial sports development funds and other resources to support the sports industry and promote high-quality economic development in sports events. Research and formulate detailed rules for supporting sports events, strengthen coordination between finance and sports sectors, attract social capital participation, and provide support to eligible events and event operating organizations. (Lead Agency: Provincial Sports Bureau; Responsible Agency: Provincial Department of Finance)
(25) Intensify publicity efforts. Formulate and implement the “Good Luck Shandong” sports event brand promotion plan; regularly publish the “Good Luck Shandong” sports calendar; and annually announce the “Good Luck Shandong” Top Ten Premium Events. Build an omnichannel publicity and marketing matrix; strengthen policy promotion and event outreach; and enhance the awareness, participation, and reputation of the “Good Luck Shandong” sports event brand.(Lead Agencies: Provincial Publicity Department, Provincial Sports Bureau; Responsible Agencies: Dazhong Press Group, Provincial Radio and Television Bureau, Shandong Broadcasting and Television Station)
