5th Symposium: Sport Development & -Business in Times of Crisis: Challenges & Perspectives, 2020

At a longer time delay to the last German-Chinese symposium took placed in Beijing, the Institute of European Sport Development and Leisure Studies (IESF) was again joined and involved as the co-organizer with a group of five speakers at a virtual symposium supported by the modern technology, based in a central-southern region of the PR China (about 1,055 km away from the capital Beijing). This made it possible to geographically expand the series symposia of IESF, which have their counterpart in corresponding events at the Beijing Sport University (partner university of the German Sport University Cologne). During the five-hour live conference, around 396,000 spectators were attracted and ask their topic-specific questions directly to all participants or all speakers.

Under the situation of the global COVID-19 pandemic, this symposium focused on the new challenge that recreational sports, sporting activities, major sporting events, and the entire sports sector faced. Four Chinese and two German speakers from universities and sports organizations tackled two predetermined topics from different viewpoints and positions: Impact of the epidemic on the hosting of sports (major) events and the impact of regional sports policies on regional economic development regarding the spread of the epidemic. Moreover, they reported on the current status of the Beijing Winter Olympic Game’s preparation works and television broadcasting in German professional sports. During the discussion sessions, these topics were further commented and expanded upon by other speakers. Besides, two speakers from sports business sectors in China were also involved and offered fruitful experiences in view of sport-related policy development. To conclude, it was clear to see that the sporting and the social behavior in both countries are strongly re-formed and shaped by the permanent burden of the pandemic; at the same time, different policy in sport can also result in different consequences in the sports sector and different implications of regional economic development. The five-hour live-streamed session of presentations and discussions has attracted a wide audience from China via the streaming platform.

From the perspective of IESF, it was a great success to maintain and expand the organization of scientific series symposia even in different locations in the PR China under the difficult conditions. The success of this symposium can be regarded as an essential addition to the cooperation of sport sciences between Germany and PR China.

Agenda

Date: November 16, 2020 from 9.00 to 14.00 (CET) / 16.00 to 21.00 (CST)

Person in charge:
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mittag (GSU Cologne), Prof. Dr. Jingbo Sun (HUST)

Organizational matters:
Dipl.Sportwiss. Rui Jin (GSU Cologne), Junyi Zheng Ph.D. (HUST)

Registration via email to:
r.jin@dshs-koeln.de (for interested parties from Germany)
jillz@hust.edu.cn (for interested parties from China)

The activation code for participation via zoom will be sent out shortly before the conference.