"Shengchao" events kick off intensively, boosting the sports industry’s attention, with multiple companies expected to see high growth in performance.

April 8 in the early session: Influenced by the easing of the situation in the Middle East, the three major stock indexes in A-shares opened sharply higher. The sports industry sector became active again; Yue Media hit the daily limit after a straight-line surge within 2 minutes, recording two consecutive limit-up boards. Inbody sprinted toward the daily limit. Several other stocks followed higher, including Binglun Environment, Lingnan Holding, Sunway Group, and Chunfeng Power.

On the news front, the “Super League” curtain-raiser is about to kick off, and with the upcoming World Cup involving the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, market attention toward the sports track has clearly heated up recently.

Football Super League: Dense Opening in April

On the afternoon of April 6, the 2026 Zhejiang Provincial City Football League (“Wuyue Cup”) started the whistle, announcing the arrival of the 2026 season of the in-province “City Super” league.

Last year’s Jiangsu Provincial City Football League (“Super League”) was wildly popular and became a breakout hit, turning into an event brand that promotes the integrated development of football, cultural tourism, sports and commerce, and humanistic economics. “Gan Super,” “Xiang Super,” “Meng Super,” “Chuan Super,” “Yu Super,” “Qiong Super,” “Dian Super,” and others followed one after another, forming a vivid picture of China’s “ultra-large-scale market” in the realm of mass sports and event-driven economics.

This coming Saturday (April 11), the top-tier event “Super League” will reignite its battlefire, starting one month earlier than the inaugural edition; the curtain-raiser match of the 2026 Hubei Provincial City Football League (“Chu Super”) will also be officially launched this coming Sunday. In addition, the leagues newly held this year in Guangdong and Fujian, as well as Shandong’s “Qilu Super” competition, will all begin in April, setting a new record for the broadest coverage of all provincial football event history.

Industry insiders point out that as service consumption supply-side reforms deepen, residents’ demand for consumption is expected to be further released, and cultural tourism sports events are the most typical segment among them. Cultural tourism events represented by “Super League,” through a “government-market-society” three-way coordinated model, while improving operational efficiency, unlock the vitality of cultural tourism consumption and remove supply bottlenecks for high-quality cultural tourism events.

Sports industry expected to accelerate its upgrade

With the acceleration of integration among digitalized communication, consumption upgrades, and policy support, the direct economic value and social value of sports events have become increasingly prominent. From “Super League,” the Tour of Guangxi, to F1, sports events are not only entertainment experiences; they are also important platforms driving coordinated development among cultural tourism, consumption, and industry.

In a previous research report, Dongguan Securities mentioned that the global sports market size has already exceeded $600 billion, among which the event-related industrial chain contributes the most, and it is becoming a key area of attention for investment institutions and city development.

The institution further noted that, drawing on experience from the U.S. and European markets, the commercialization of sports events will continue to drive the expansion and upgrading of the industry. China’s sports industry has reached a trillion-level scale, but the level of sports industry commercialization still has much room for improvement compared with the West. China’s sports events are currently at the intersection of policy intensification, consumption upgrades, and marketization. In the long run, it is expected that multiple IPs driven by sports industry upgrades will emerge.

CITIC Jian Investment said that in recent years, the social externalities of popular sports events such as “Super League,” the Winter Olympics, and F1 have been demonstrated. By stimulating economic vitality through new ways such as event-economy, ticket-stub-economy, and first-launch-economy, the feasibility of promoting consumption cycles has been continuously verified, and the sports industry is expected to become an important vanguard in modern service industries.

Goldman Securities stated that the “Super League” model has already verified the commercial value of cultural tourism events. New events such as horse-racing competitions are expected to replicate its successful experience and benefit related sports and cultural tourism targets. It recommends focusing on sports and cultural tourism companies with strong capabilities in operating quality sports event IPs, abundant resources for sports venues and equipment, and the ability to integrate the entire industrial chain.

Multiple stocks are expected to achieve high growth in performance

The Oriental Fortune concept sector shows that currently, there are more than 70 A-share companies involved in sports industry concepts, with a combined total market capitalization exceeding 800 billion yuan. Stocks such as Gold Dragon Fish and Shanghai Port Group each have market caps over 8B yuan; three companies including Huali Group and Chunfeng Power each have market caps above 30 billion yuan.

Since 2026, sports industry concept stocks have seen alternating gains and losses. The share price of Shua Sports has doubled; Jinling Sports has surged by 60%; the gains of Yue Media, China Sports Industry, and Tilly Explorer have all exceeded 30%.

From a capital perspective, according to Oriental Fortune Choice data, over the past week, 14 sports industry concept stocks received net purchases through margin financing. Provincial Media Group and Shanghai Port Group both increased their positions with leveraged funds by more than 40 million yuan; China Sports Industry, Vatti Shares, Binglun Environment, and Yue Media all had net financing purchases of more than 15 million yuan.

Regarding future growth potential, based on consistent forecasts from three or more institutions, there are 12 sports industry concept stocks expected to achieve performance growth of 30% or more this year. Among them, institutions expect that the performance of Kevin Education will improve significantly. Halas, Lisheng Sports, and China Youth Travel net profits are all expected to achieve “doubling.” For six stocks, including Huayang Racing, Tilly Explorer, and Lingnan Holding, the predicted net profit growth rate is expected to range between 58% and 70%.

（Source: Oriental Fortune Research Center）