Chapter 737: Chapter 737:
Of course, not being able to buy tickets is a normal situation.
Because the ticket prices for this locally-driven league are really too cheap.
Although the number of sponsors for the Super League has achieved a 200% growth, even surpassing the domestic league.
But the Super League’s ticket prices remain consistently cheap, averaging around ten yuan per game.
And for the finals held at Jinling Olympic Sports Center, the ticket price for regular seats is only around twenty yuan.
Nowadays, watching a movie costs fifty to sixty yuan, but watching a football match is just over twenty.
Who wouldn’t want to go watch it?
However, the finals are tomorrow; tonight Chen Yiyang was invited to attend the sponsor meeting organized by the hosts.
Chen Yiyang isn’t too interested in this gathering, but there are also some local officials in attendance.
Chen Yiyang is interested in talking about investment.
Before coming, he had Yang Chengru introduce him to an official here.
"Director Su." Chen Yiyang shook hands and chatted with the director responsible for investment at the gathering.
"Mr. Chen, seeing you attending the Super League finals is quite surprising."
Director Su was quite surprised to see Chen Yiyang attending the finals of such a local league.
Because mega-rich individuals like Chen Yiyang typically don’t prefer directly dealing with local officials.
"I’m interested in the development potential of the future location of the Super League,"
Chen Yiyang said sincerely, "I’ll be candid with you. I’m very optimistic about the development of the cities where the Super League is located after the canal opens."
"We also see it that way." Director Su nodded.
When it comes to canals, most people’s impression is of the ancient Grand Canal used for transporting grain from Beijing to Hangzhou.
And in some novels featuring protagonists who travel back to the Ming Dynasty, a key task they undertake is promoting maritime shipping to reduce dependency on canals.
So, most people think of canals as an ancient, reluctant choice due to the inadequacy of maritime capabilities at the time.
But in fact, with the emergence of containers, not only did maritime shipping rise quickly, but the significance of canals also increased.
In the past thirty years, Huaxia’s major seaports have developed from weak to strong, reaching their peak.
Yet, the development of inland canals has been somewhat slow.
This is not because canals aren’t important, but because their priority was slightly lower.
But now that maritime shipping has reached its peak, the priority of inland canals has risen.
A series of major projects targeting canals are either being studied or have already commenced.
This is genuinely strategic-grade engineering.
Once all major inland canals are operational, manufacturing and transportation costs in many domestic areas will further decrease.
Yiyang Automobile and Yiyang Flash Sale, industries under Chen Yiyang’s control, have a competitive edge partly due to cost optimization.
If future canals open up and inland canals can facilitate large-scale container ship transportation, Chen Yiyang could further optimize his costs.
"If Mr. Chen has the time, you could visit some canal cities within our province; our river transportation is also developing rapidly. There are even many people living aboard boats."
"I happened to see such a video."
Chen Yiyang had seen this while browsing Douyin.
Some bloggers who live on boats have homes equivalent to a finely decorated two-bedroom apartment.
And this home can freely move along the canal.
Such cases aren’t isolated.
Chen Yiyang noticed that modern canal boats don’t need to dock for supplies.
Previously, boats had to dock to purchase daily essentials.
But now, due to the multitude of boats on the canal, a unique industry has emerged: supermarket boats.
That’s right, supermarkets onboard boats.
These supermarket boats cruise fully loaded along the waterways daily.
If you want to buy something, you can just call them over.
Apart from daily necessities, they also carry fresh vegetables and even ready-to-eat meals.
And some floating gas stations can even deliver food orders, using drones for delivery.
On the Yangtze in Jinling, there’s a fleet of supermarket boats.
This fleet uses cargo drones for delivery within a ten-kilometer radius; if you need anything, they deliver it by drone.
If a true recluse can’t even tolerate neighbors, he could buy a boat and drift on the canal.
That way, he wouldn’t have any interpersonal interaction when purchasing items; just call for drone delivery.
We can anticipate that with the inauguration of major canals, the future canal system will become even more developed.
In the future, Chen Yiyang could establish factories along the canals, reducing transportation costs and optimizing production costs.
After talking with Director Su, the two exchanged contact information.
Chen Yiyang didn’t attend the subsequent activities, and instead, took the accountant out to have fun.
Jinling’s weather isn’t too hot or cold at the moment, making it the ideal time for shopping.
Except for the crowded New Street Outlet that’s packed to death, other places are perfect for wandering around.
The following day, the Super League finals commenced.
Before the match, the stadium’s big screen lit up with the attendance number: 62,329.
The accountant, who had never watched a football match, turned to Chen Yiyang for inquiry, "Is this attendance high or low?"
"Let’s put it this way," Chen Yiyang said to the accountant, "The domestic league’s attendance record, achieved during the ’Golden Yuan Era’ of massive real estate investment, was over 65,000.
And the highest attendance for the domestic league over the past two years has generally been around 61,000.
Meaning, this local league’s attendance record is already comparable to the domestic league."
"Does that mean the Super League is on par with the domestic league?" the accountant asked in surprise.
"That’s not exactly true," Chen Yiyang replied, "In terms of influence, the domestic league is still bigger, and the ticket prices for the domestic league are dozens of times higher than the Super League.
However, for the locality and city, the future economic benefits of hosting the Super League might be similar to those of the domestic league.
Chen Yiyang was speaking the truth.
For the league officials, a 200-yuan ticket and a 20-yuan ticket represent a tenfold difference in revenue.
But even in the domestic league, the earnings are not substantial. Local support for football development isn’t about ticket money, but the tourism and consumer income generated by the matches.
Twenty-yuan tickets still encourage spectators to buy food and spend on local tourism.
Therefore, ticket revenue isn’t crucial for localities.
What matters is the additional income driven by increased foot traffic.
And today’s Super League finals attendance signifies that the local league’s influence, at least within the province, can rival the domestic league.
