IASE presence in China

The 2022 Chinese National Sports Industry Conference & 1st International Forum on Sports and Urban Development hosted by Chinese Sports Industry Association (CSIA) in collaboration with the International Association of Sports Economists (IASE) were successfully held on Nov. 18th in Xiamen, China. The event started with an opening ceremony and keynote speeches in the morning, followed by an international forum in parallel with oral presentations on different sub-themes in the afternoon. In total, over 200 presentations were accepted for the conference from 350 paper submissions.

IASE President Professor Joel Maxcy delivered a virtual address at the opening ceremony, welcoming the conference attendees on behalf of IASE. Professor Maxcy also made a presentation on Sport and Urban Development in Philadelphia PA, USA at the 1st International Forum on Sports and Urban Development. Themed A Better Life through Sports, this inaugural forum seeks to bring together academics and practitioners to discuss sustainable development of sports and improvement of life quality through sports.

As a highlight of the conference, IASE Vice President Professor Dongfeng Liu released the inaugural 2022 Global Sports Cities Index (2022 GSCI) and made a keynote speech interpreting the index. Developed by a research team led by professor Liu through extensive international collaboration, the GSCI aims to rank the top 50 sport cities around the world on an annual basis along four dimensions, i.e. sports history and tradition, major sports events, international media exposure and impact through sports, and professional sports. Despite the disruption of the Covid-19, the postponed 2020 Olympic Games held in 2021 still helps Tokyo to take the lead edging out London and Los Angeles, which take second and third place respectively. New York comes in fourth and Paris takes fifth place. Following them, Chicago ,Berlin, Sydney, Melbourne and Lausanne also break into top 10 global sports cities