Chinese tycoon showers cash on football

By Nick Mackie
In Chongqing, China

Yin Mingshan is prepared to keep spending money

The Chinese football season does not start until May, but this soccer mad country is hoping a new Premier League will give the game a much needed lift.

Improvements are much needed, both on and off the pitch.

China's World Cup performance was dismal and the sport is tarnished by rigged matches and bribed officials.

And after 10 years of professional football, there is still no sound investment environment.

Sporty firm

Despite this, some business people are still willing to throw money at the game.

One of them is Yin Mingshan.

The 66-year-old high-profile politician prides himself as a winner.

He owns Lifan, China's number one motorbike exporter.

And he is a soccer club supremo who paid $6m for the local side six years ago, and then named it after his firm Chongqing Lifan.

Well, why not?

China's soccer league attracts a TV audience of nearly 4 billion viewers annually.

Limited income

While soccer in China can help market a manufacturer, the clubs themselves are something of an investors' nightmare.

China's soccer stars may offer little to investors.

Due diligence has yet to catch on and accurate numbers are hard to come by, but it is widely accepted that every club here burns cash.

Match attendances are low, often under 10,000, with tickets a dollar a head.

Prime advertising around the pitch is reserved for China's Football Association and TV revenues are minimal.

Key season

Footballers, on the other hand, enjoy six-figure salaries, up to a hundred times more than their fans.

Team coaches also rake it in.

And so do referees.

The game here is in disrepute with rigged matches and hired whistles.

Fans question the credibility of more than half the games in the 2003 season.

And 2003 was a key year.

The much criticised Chinese Football Association wanted a reform.

The 15-club First Division would be replaced by a new 12-club Premier League.

With three clubs set to drop, about $50m was spent on players and games were bought and sold.

Saving face

Chongqing Lifan failed to qualify.

And Yin Mingshan, who maintains his hands are clean, was distraught.

How could his beloved Chongqing, western China's economic capital, not have a top flight team?

In China, losing face should be avoided at all cost.

So Mr Yin solved this dilemma in a very Chinese way.

He travelled 800 kilometres south to Kunming and paid the Hongta tobacco giant a reported $4m for Yunnan Hongta, which has qualified to play Premier League football when the new season starts in May.

Now comes the twist.

Yin Mingshan moved his new team to Chongqing.

And as well as a new city, Mr Yin wants to give the team a new name - and you've probably guessed it: Chongqing Lifan.

The relegated team has been sold on, moved on and also renamed, though for just $1m.

But for Yin Mingshan, he has saved face.

Chongqing is flying high again and he can look forward to another season of burning cash.

But at least he will be burning it in China's Premier League.