Origin and Purpose of Chinese Martial Science Part 34
中国拳法之起源与意义
三十四
Pro Sanda in
中国职业散打停滞不前
2005
is a totally stagnant year for professional Sanda in
Confucius said:
"Do not seek to do things hastily, nor have eyes only for minor profit; more haste means less speed, and seeking only minor profit will never allow you to accomplish great things."
Since the King of Sanda tournament started 5 years ago in 2000, it has found notable success in its commercialization. However the good times could not last forever; last year (2004) this popular Chinese fighting sport was suspended indefinitely with the bankruptcy of its main sponsor, the Delong Group. Soon after that, the most watched commercial international challenge - Sanda VS Muaythai has also been dropped after 4 years due to a lack of sponsors. Although the Wushu Association of China held other commercial tournaments here & there, which gained minor success, but the suspensions of 2 of its most important competitions reflect some serious problems in the Association's management of resources. These problems would eventually destroy pro Sanda if left unsolved.
Problem
1 lies in the failure of organizing the Sanda VS Muaythai challenge last year.
The first challenge was started in 2001 in
Which brings us to problem 2.
Although on the surface the failure of the tournament is due to a lack of
sponsors, but the true cause lies in the lack of widespread interest in pro
Sanda itself. Both the organizer and the purveyor, due to various reasons,
could not put in enough resources to cultivate the market and enhance the
presentation of this tournament, ultimately resulting in its failure. As the
organizer, all the Wushu Association contributes to the tournament are
resources it monopolizes, like the fighters themselves. The purveyor, however,
has to bear nearly all the business risks. As the costs for setting up this
tournament is by no means low, and adding to the fact that the organizer
refuses to lower the costs of its monopolized resources to help the purveyor,
it is not difficult to understand why the tournament could not materialize.
Success would need both organizer & purveyor to cooperate in cultivating
the market as well as sell endorsement rights to attract the sponsors. Relying
merely on ticket income would make it nearly impossible to earn a profit. In
order to save costs, the purveyor would also be hesitant to pump in cash to
enhance the packaging and advertising of this tournament. This directly affects
the ticket sales as well as the garnering of sponsorship, creating a negative
cycle. In recent years, the various Sanda VS Other Styles kind of tournaments
rarely generated any significant profit and it was considered lucky if they did
not lose their capital. This type of situation is viewed differently by people
in different positions. The Wushu Association conveniently pushes the blame on the
purveyor whereas the purveyor in turn pushes the blame on overbearing costs,
the sluggish market as well as the lack of prospects in pro Sanda.
The
last problem is indeed the lack of prospects. This year, there has not been a
single commercial tournament on schedule that could be confirmed. On the local
side there is only the North & South Sanda All Stars tournament held in
Given all the obstacles facing pro Sanda on both the local and international arena, it is very difficult to predict the future of this Chinese fighting sport. Will the King of Sanda & Sanda VS Other Styles tournaments die a premature death? We certainly hope not. It will take a combination of more selfless effort from the Wushu Association of China as well as more stable purveyors & sponsors to keep pro Sanda alive. More importantly, the fans themselves, whether local or overseas, must not give up on pro Sanda, otherwise this 5 year old dream will really come to an untimely end!
*This
article is extracted & translated from a past
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