A marathon in China could bring a profit of over six million yuan (US$942,014) to its organizer, local media revealed amid rising outrage over the Gansu ultramarathon disaster that killed 21 contestants.

Wisdom Sports, a Hong-Kong listed Chinese which provides venue operation and sports services for large-scale sports events, recorded gross profit of 78 million yuan in 2017, representing an 80% increase year-on-year, Beijing Youth Daily reported, citing the company’s financial reports.

Sports services accounted for 67% of the total profit including the revenue from competitions, the sales of broadcasting channels and individual consumption.

Marathons have become increasingly popular in China in recent years. In 2017, the Chinese Athletic Association organized 1,102 races with a total of 4.98 million participants, more than double of the 2016 figure.

In 2019, a total of 1,828 races were held, 247 more than the year prior, according to the 2019 China Marathon Big Data Report.

Wisdom Sports also shifted the focus of its business development to marathons in 2017 and started to harvest big profits from the sports events.

The company owned the copyright of the national marathon series “Run China” and operated 16 races, as well as the 16th Asian Marathon Championships, and other international marathon competitions in Shandong and Hunan provinces.

But its performance declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of copyright of “Run China” event in 2018 amid fierce market competition.

Its 2020 revenue stood at 8.94 million yuan, but most of which were gains from investment products, the latest financial report showed.

China has around 317,000 registered sports event companies to date, including 40,000 newcomers recorded in the first five months of 2021.

The large number of new companies set up was likely due to growing support from local governments, which moved to dish out more subsidies for marathon races in a bid to attract tourism resources.

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