Ice hockey to be bigger than football by 2022?!

The Chinese were ahead of me. As usual. The new Canadian Premier, youthful, urban family man that he is, has created a buzz way above expectations. It's not just his politics that have piqued Canadians' interest, but his openness to China. The 90 plus delegation of Chinese businessmen and billionaires striding around Toronto and other Canadian cities last week drove a very strong stake in the ground that the Chinese have listened hard and acted fast on Xi Jinping's recent Canadian tour. They were also a very visible confirmation of my assertion, to clients and colleagues from Grant Thornton's Canadian firm, that the Chinese are coming. In fact they were already there!

Canada is no stranger to the Chinese and there has been a long, if not sometimes dark history to Chinese immigration and involvement in the country. In the Toronto suburb of Markham, where my main presentation was held, English is a minority language with most if not all signs in Chinese. The Chinese restaurants would not be out of place in Beijing or Shanghai and the serving staff spoke Chinese first and English second.

I have to admit feeling a little more than nervous sitting there in front of people with whom I'd just been making small talk in Chinese. I was there to talk about China and updating attendees on economic and social developments from an 'on the ground' perspective.

The after presentation questions and subsequent discussions were particuarly interesting. Apart from Brexit which continues to fascinate people outside, as well as inside, the UK I was asked some questions about the current obsession the Chinese seem to have buying, or buying into, English football clubs.

I suppose it's my own fault as I have written and spoken widely on this topic recently and am involved in some interesting commercial conversations about it.

However, given we were in Canada, where the national obsession is ice hockey talk soon turned to that sport.

People particularly wanted to talk about the news of Chinese businessman visiting a number of National Hockey League (NHL) clubs as well as the stories circulating of high level meetings with the various businesses that support this huge industry. These included media and production houses as well as retailers and branded goods businesses. What was my view? Did it signal a likely Chinese swoop on the NHL? Somehow I doubt that, at least not yet. However, in my mind, the reason is simple. Beijing is hosting the Winter Olympics in 2022 and China has set itself the challenge of putting on the best Winter Olympics ever, certainly better than their friends to the North!

That means understanding how winter sports management really works, what sort of stadium is needed, the facilities management, setting up enduring and legacy earning capacity, from junior leagues to ice skating centres, how you deliver an exceptional fan experience - everything. Just as they did when they hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008 which set the bar for all that followed. so where do the Chinese go for the know how? The best place on earth for Winter Sports and 'cold stadia' management. Canada. 

And that is China.

The Chinese are not interested in anything less than winning and absolute focus is required.

When Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, returned to China from visiting top English premier league clubs late last year it was announced that China will become a global football superpower by 2050. Almost immediately, Chinese clubs began buying some of the top players in the world for extraordinary amounts of money and shortly after that, Chinese consortia began buying English clubs. 

So the 2050 objective is on target to be met - and it will be. Reference the recent announcement over last weekend that Lippi has been appointed as head coach for the Chinese national team. Watch out for more action and appointments in the next few months. 

But 2022 is much closer and my Canadian colleagues are very excited to see what this does for the growth of ice hockey globally and commercially.

Although I am not sure it will be get to be bigger than football globally but one thing is certain, the Beijing Winter Olympics will re-define the standard in every way. 

And I might need to learn about ice hockey as I have had to learn about football. HELP!