Sports economy in Vietnam, a neglected 'gold mine' Don't waste important resources

If properly exploited, sports economy will become an abundant financial resource to help Vietnamese sports take off.

C DON'T KNOW HOW TO EXPLOIT IT

According to data released by the Vietnam Sports Administration, the budget for Vietnamese sports from 2024 to 2030 is estimated to reach 5,800 - 6,100 billion VND, mainly from the state budget. For many years, the story of Vietnamese sports living off the "milk" of the state budget is no longer new. Although there have been many seminars and projects on socializing sports to find new directions, including the goal of mobilizing more social resources (people, businesses) to promote sports development, but so far very few sports know the concept of sports economics to be able to turn this new field into a source of finance for their own development.

The Vietnamese school basketball system is changing with many new tournaments.

PHOTO: Organizing Committee

The draft decree replacing Decree 152/2018 dated November 7, 2018 of the Government regulating a number of regimes for coaches and athletes during training and competition periods, chaired by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (assigned to the Vietnam Sports Administration to draft and collect opinions from ministries, departments and branches to complete before submitting to the Government), has proposed to increase the salary, bonus, allowances... for coaches and athletes by 2-10 times. This information quickly brought joy to the sports world. However, the additional amount in the draft that the sports industry is researching and collecting opinions on is still mainly... requested from the budget.

Basically, if the draft is passed, coaches and athletes will have more money. However, the money-making mechanism of Vietnamese sports remains almost unchanged: it is still a one-way relationship of asking and giving, where sports have not yet created an active money-making machine. In other words, sports economics seem to be quite unfamiliar to Vietnamese sports. That is why Vietnamese sports have not yet been able to promote the strength of sports economic resources, have not yet known how to turn sports economics into a breakthrough for comprehensive development from facilities, training conditions, improving the lives of coaches and athletes, improving the quality of training and competition, thereby raising the level of athletes to ASIAD or Olympic standards.

Meanwhile, the sports economy in developed countries always creates a close two-way relationship between economy and sports. To win the 2016 Olympic gold medal in the 100m butterfly event thanks to Joseph Schooling, Singapore sports had to mobilize millions of dollars from the government and businesses so that Schooling could study and train properly in the US. Similarly, Carlos Yulo (Philippines) and Panipak Wongpattanakit (Thailand) also won the Olympics thanks to investments of hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. That is an investment that Vietnamese sports never dared to dream of.

Although a list of sports and athletes that need key investment has been made, the word "key" is still not enough to ensure that Vietnamese sports stars are taken care of in the same way as the international community is doing. The 2016 Olympic men's 10m air pistol champion Hoang Xuan Vinh and many generations of shooters used to practice with paper targets and were not often exposed to modern equipment, so they were bewildered when they set foot in major arenas. A key athlete in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore can be invested in as much as an entire sport with dozens of Vietnamese athletes. If resources from businesses could be mobilized and the sports economy could be exploited well, perhaps Vietnamese sports would not be so disadvantaged and at risk of falling behind at the ASIAD or the Olympics.

WHERE IS THE KEY?

Unlike the outdated mechanism of asking and giving, the sports economy contains a mutually beneficial relationship. The machine can only operate if a good enough mechanism and bridge are created so that businesses clearly understand the benefits and know what they will receive when investing in sports. After all, sports are still an essential need (including the need to watch and practice) of society, have a strong influence, inspire and contain national pride. However, for businesses and brands to invest money, Vietnamese sports must have attractive enough products. They must know how to follow the rules of the market: find a potential customer base, make good products, then find a distribution channel to sell those products, listen to feedback to build and perfect. According to expert Doan Minh Xuong, the "product" of sports is a professional, fair and transparent competition system in both elite and mass sports. "The sports competition system is like the quality of food, it must be attractive in both taste and appearance to attract diners," Mr. Xuong analyzed.

However, currently, there are very few sports in Vietnam that produce quality products for sale, while the rest have not really joined the economic game. According to a sports industry leader, whether the sports economy can be effective in Vietnam or not depends largely on the thinking of federations and associations.

For sports that are more focused on competition for achievements and not popular, it is still possible to ask for budget to maintain. However, the federations in charge of community-oriented sports need to change their old thinking, boldly innovate the movement, open up investment, systematically build a training system from school to professional level, and create a neat image like what basketball, eSports, etc. are doing. Only by renewing themselves and perfecting every small detail can Vietnamese sports attract social resources.

When sports have achieved success, the opportunity for businesses to promote their image through athletes, television copyrights, and movement building is also expanded. Vietnamese women's volleyball is an example. Thanks to many businesses investing in the national women's volleyball championship, the quality of the tournament has increased, and teams have money to train a series of good players for the team. And then when the team competes successfully, the image value of women's volleyball is upgraded and spread, the audience will watch more, and businesses benefit from the spread of their brand.

Or most recently, pickleball. Thanks to its "huge" appeal to millions of players, businesses, groups, and individuals have continuously spent money to build courts, organize tournaments, and stir up the movement. On that fertile land, Trinh Linh Giang won the men's singles championship at the Malaysia Open (the first tournament in the PPA Tour Asia system). At the Hong Kong Open, Vietnamese pickleball won 1 youth championship, 2 silver medals, and 1 bronze medal. That achievement is a push back for pickleball to continue to receive strong investment. (to be continued)

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/kinh-te-the-thao-o-viet-nam-mo-vang-bi-bo-quen-dung-lang-phi-nguon-tai-nguyen-quan-trong-185250904235010315.htm