Why is “Suzhou Super League” so popular?
The popularity of “Suzhou Super League” (Jiangsu City Football League) is not accidental, but the result of multiple innovative factors and social emotions. Based on information from all parties, the core reasons for its popularity can be summarized as follows:
🏟️ 1. Low threshold and inclusiveness: the essence of football returning to the masses
1. People-friendly ticket prices: The official ticket price is only 5-10 yuan, and some matches do not exceed 20 yuan, which is equivalent to “a cup of milk tea money”, which completely breaks the hundreds of yuan viewing threshold of traditional professional events (such as the Chinese Super League), and greatly activates the enthusiasm of ordinary people to participate.
2. Grassroots players: 65% of the 516 participating players are from non-professional groups such as teachers, students, couriers, programmers, etc., with an age span of 16-40 years old. The daily routine of players “working during the day and practicing at night” eliminates the boundaries between professionals and amateurs, and makes citizens enthusiastic about fighting for the honor of the city.
3. Open viewing: In addition to on-site viewing, free live broadcasts and outdoor large-screen broadcasts (such as the giant screen in Nantong Binjiang Sports Park) further lower the threshold for participation. The average audience in the fifth round reached 30,800, which is four times that of the first round.
💬 2. Regional cultural identity and “playing memes carnival”: the ultimate release of emotional value
1. Creative transformation of “bulk Jiangsu”: The historical origins and economic competition of 13 cities in Jiangsu are refined into “city personality”, such as the “sweet and salty dispute” of Nanjing (salted duck) VS Wuxi (peach), the “Chu-Han hegemony” of Xuzhou (Liu Bang) VS Suqian (Xiang Yu), and Nantong’s “deadly scholar” and other labels, turning the stadium into a regional cultural performance stage.
2. Officials and the public create memes together:
– The government takes the initiative: For example, “Nanjing Release” proposed the slogan “Competition first, friendship fourteenth”, incorporating folk ridicule into official discourse;
– City interaction: Suzhou “confessed” to Lianyungang with the song “Alian”, and Changzhou was nicknamed “Diaozhou→Jinzhou→丨zhou” by netizens due to its losing streak, forming a self-deprecating humor.
3. Involvement of non-fan groups: The survey shows that nearly 80% of the people who follow the game are non-traditional fans, and 58.5% participate because of online memes. The event has become a social currency and identity recognition carrier.
🍜 III. Deep integration of “events + culture and tourism”: traffic is converted into economic growth
1. Accurate access to urban culture and tourism:
– Although Changzhou’s team lost consecutive games, it implemented free tickets for A-level scenic spots for Yangzhou tourists, attracting 150,000 visitors during the Dragon Boat Festival, realizing “losing the stadium but winning the economy”;
– Wuxi provides Changzhou fans with “buy one get one free” peaches, and Yangzhou promotes policies such as “80% off accommodation + free hot springs”, forming a consumption chain of “going to a city for a game”.
2. Consumption data surges:
– Meituan data shows that the search volume for “Nanjing Salted Duck” and “Nantong Morning Tea” increased by 74% and 367% respectively, and the number of reservations for scenic spots in the province during the Dragon Boat Festival increased by 305% year-on-year;
– The amount of cultural tourism consumption in other places increased by 14.63%, driving “secondary consumption” such as catering, accommodation, and retail.
3. Combination of intangible cultural heritage and events: Nantong embeds intangible cultural heritage performances into halftime breaks, Changzhou promotes “dried radish fried rice set meal”, and the stadium is transformed into a cultural consumption scene
📱 IV. Innovation of communication mode: Resonance effect of self-media creation and official connection
1. Self-media ignites fission: Short video blogger “Daodao Fu” creates event content (such as “The Great Battle of Thirteen Taibao”) with the “Bulk Jiangsu” persona, and the first video detonates and spreads, pushing the #苏超 topic to over 11 billion views.
2. Multi-platform collaborative diffusion: Douyin secondary creation, Xiaohongshu cultural tourism planting, Weibo hot memes (such as “There is no match-fixing, it’s all feuds”) form a three-dimensional communication network, Hupu App urgently added the “Jiangsu League” channel, and the number of visits on the first day exceeded one million.
3. UGC drives vitality: Audiences record “Goal Scream + Flag Pulling” short videos, primary school students turn their backs to the stadium to make up for online classes and still cheer, and other real stories, strengthening the emotional connection of the event.
🏛️ V. Government top-level design and mass co-governance: the foundation of sustainability
1. Provincial coordination + city autonomy: Jiangsu Provincial Government builds the competition framework, 13 cities independently operate the home stadium, forming a “one city, one team, one home stadium” model, which not only unifies the dispatch but also retains local characteristics.
2. Mass participation in urban governance: Nanjing communities provide shared parking spaces to ease the traffic of fans, and Changzhou volunteers serve foreign tourists, reflecting the concept of “co-construction and co-governance”.
3. Rapid policy response: Many places have moved their home stadiums to the Olympic Sports Center due to the surge in spectators (such as Nantong’s expansion to 20,000 seats), and the railway department has opened a “fan train” (Nanjing-Huai’an high-speed rail) to ensure the experience.
⚠️ VI. Challenges and inspirations: the transition from phenomenon to IP
Despite its popularity, the Scottish Premier League still faces sustainability challenges: it needs to continue to innovate to fight aesthetic fatigue, crack down on scalpers hoarding tickets, and improve youth training and industrial chains (such as derivative product development). But its core revelation is that the essence of sports is to return to the people, and the highest level of marketing is to make the masses content producers and city spokespersons.
💎 Conclusion
The fire of the “Scottish Premier League” is the comprehensive result of “universal ticket prices open the door + regional culture ignites emotions + cultural and tourism integration monetizes traffic + communication revolution breaks the circle + mass co-governance builds the foundation”. It proves that when sports are truly rooted in the cultural genes and life scenes of the people, a piece of grass can grow a whole forest.
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