Chapter 915: Chapter 221: Stadium Incubation Plan—The Most Failed Investment in History?

"Dear viewers, good evening and welcome to today’s ’Common Focus’. I’m your good friend, Bai Yanbai."

CCTV News Channel, one of the top three shows in viewership ratings, ’Common Focus’ is now airing.

From today’s news images, it is clear that the main focus this time is related to football.

"Chinese player Lu Yang, in his first European Cup, led the Italy Team to victory and lifted the De Laurant Cup! This is the glory of Italian Football and at the same time the prologue to the rise of Chinese Football," Bai Yanbai said. "Of course, I know everyone is curious about how this relates to Chinese Football, and we will delve into this topic below."

"Many people might know about the football foundation Lu Yang established. Since last year, Lu Yang has invested a significant amount of money into the domestic scene. Statistics show that every year, his personal direct investment in the domestic football industry exceeds ten million!"

"But that’s not all."

"As Lu Yang’s fame spreads across Europe, his endorsement fees and team salaries have seen a substantial increase. Combined with his profitable investments in films, his investment in domestic football will further increase starting this year!"

"After winning the European Cup, Tang Yuqin, the manager of the Lu Yang Football Foundation, officially announced that the foundation would launch a stadium incubation plan nationwide!"

"The plan is ambitious, requiring continuous investment of hundreds of billions on a large scale to fully realize! This is the largest plan in the history of Chinese Football to date, and even in the future, there will be no parallel!"

"Notably, a high proportion of external financing is not involved in this plan. The main investor will always remain the Lu Yang Football Foundation!"

"The project is divided into three parts."

"The first part is to create landmark, top-tier football stadiums! The aim is to establish stadiums with a four-star rating or above to host top-level football events! Currently, the Lu Yang Football Foundation has reached a preliminary agreement with the Shanghai Shanggang Team to strive to build a landmark football stadium in Shanghai!"

"Once the venue is completed, it will become the home ground of the Shanghai Port Team. San Remo and Lu Yang’s team will also have usage rights. This venue will host some international events, significantly benefiting the cultivation of a football match culture."

"This project has currently already..."

As ’Common Focus’ narrated, countless fans were already shocked.

Lu Yang wants to build four-star or even five-star stadiums at home?

To create landmark stadiums?

This is simply a big move domestically!

And most importantly, a large portion of the funding comes from Lu Yang?

Of course, this part just seems to be the case.

In a place like Shanghai, how could Lu Yang build a top-tier stadium by himself?

In fact, the first two parts of the stadium incubation plan are both in collaboration with others, with the third part almost entirely funded by Lu Yang himself.

The first part is to create landmark stadiums.

This part lacks no investors, and even if Lu Yang wanted to invest alone, others wouldn’t allow it.

Moreover, these projects are massive, often costing billions, which is not something Lu Yang can handle alone.

Lu Yang is only taking the lead with Shanggang.

The second part of the stadium incubation plan is to establish large stadiums in an estimated eight new first-tier and top second-tier cities nationwide.

These stadiums can roughly accommodate 30,000 to 60,000 people.

Very large.

But that is because of the large population inland, and once football develops, the utility of these stadiums will be broad.

However, the configuration and design of these stadiums are not top-tier, completely different from landmark stadiums, and hard to use in top international events.

But hosting top domestic events or some Asian-wide events is still okay.

The construction of these stadiums is also a collaboration between the Lu Yang Football Foundation and local authorities, with a large amount of additional funding involved.

Lu Yang is similarly just taking the lead.

But these projects are highly lucrative and influential, so they’re not difficult.

These two parts are also the ones most covered by the media, easiest to achieve results, most respectable when talked about, and best reflect the "progress and development" of mainland football.

Even on some future day, when China applies to host world-class events, these two types of stadiums will play a huge role!

However, compared to the third part, which is truly useful to the vast majority of fans and players, it goes unnoticed.

The controversy over whether the "stadium incubation plan" is a successful business plan or a public welfare project doomed to fail actually lies in the third part.

Because the third part is... to build over seven hundred community fields in more than five hundred cities nationwide!

Today’s ’Common Focus’ mainly focused on this third part!

The famous host, Bai Yanbai, was dumbfounded while preparing the materials.

His first reaction was... Is Lu Yang finding it too easy to make money, so he’s voluntarily throwing it into the water?

Football was once a very popular sport inland.

But since the early 2000s, football has declined, and basketball began to dominate and thrive.

This is closely related to the achievements of domestic football and basketball.

But another crucial aspect outsiders don’t understand much, though those who play the sport know well, is that... a football field is too big!

A single football field can accommodate three or five buildings instead!

While a basketball court can be used with just a drawn border or corner.