"Zhejiang is full of passion." Jiangsu Bank sponsors the "Jiangsu Super League", and China Zheshang Bank sponsors the "Wuyue Cup"... The model of banks sponsoring provincial-level football leagues is being implemented in depth, creating a full-chain ecosystem.
Since May, several rounds of the "Provincial Super" leagues in many places have been completed, and the seasons have entered the middle stage. The popularity of the events has also created favorable opportunities for banks to promote wealth management businesses. Su Yin Wealth Management and Zhe Yin Wealth Management have successively issued a number of featured theme wealth management products.
After the "Jiangsu Super" league sponsored by Jiangsu Bank became extremely popular last year, the enthusiasm of banks to sponsor "Provincial Super" leagues has significantly increased this year. Currently, the number of sponsoring banks has reached 8, and the sponsorship model has also been deepened and solidified, creating a full - chain ecosystem of "finance + sports + culture and tourism + consumption".
“Provincial Super” theme wealth management products are successively issued, and banks actively sponsor sports events
On May 22, the "Wuyue Cup" theme products, Congjian Fuchun No. 173 and No. 174 wealth management products under Zhe Yin Wealth Management, were officially launched. As of now, the company has issued more than 15 "Wuyue Cup" theme products, and all product types are fixed - income products.
In April this year, Su Yin Wealth Management launched the "Jiangsu Super Win Together" Hengyuan Minimum 7 - day Holding Public Welfare No. 1 wealth management product, becoming the first "finance + sports + public welfare" wealth management product in the market. According to the first - month report card recently disclosed by Su Yin Wealth Management, as of May 8, the scale of the product exceeded 3.6 billion yuan, the number of participants reached 13,000, the average annualized rate of return since its establishment (from April 3, 2026, to May 8, 2026) reached 2.04%, and the accrued donation amount reached 52,940.17 yuan.
The featured theme wealth management products issued by the two wealth management companies are mainly sold on a commission basis by their parent companies, Jiangsu Bank and Zheshang Bank. In April this year, Jiangsu Bank sponsored the "Jiangsu Super" league, and Zheshang Bank sponsored the 2026 Zhejiang Provincial Urban Football League (Wuyue Cup). As the schedule progresses, the steadily increasing popularity has also created favorable opportunities for banks to promote wealth management businesses and issue featured theme products.
According to local media reports, on May 16, after 3 matches in the sixth week of the "Jiangsu Super" league, the total number of spectators exceeded 100,000. A total of 100,514 spectators flocked to the first round of 5 matches of the "Wuyue Cup"; in the ninth - round match held on May 17, the confrontation between Taizhou Team and Jiaxing Team attracted nearly 25,000 spectators.
After the "Jiangsu Super" league became extremely popular on social platforms last year, the enthusiasm of banks to sponsor provincial - level super leagues has significantly increased this year. Based on comprehensive public information, there are currently 8 banks sponsoring "Provincial Super" leagues. In addition to the aforementioned ones, China Construction Bank sponsors the 2026 Jiangxi Provincial Urban Football Super League, Industrial Bank sponsors the 2026 Fujian Provincial Urban Football League, Hubei Bank sponsors the 2026 Hubei Provincial Urban Football League, Sichuan Bank sponsors the 2025/2026 Sichuan Provincial Urban Football League, Hengfeng Bank sponsors the 2026 Shandong Qilu Football Super League, and Fudian Bank sponsors the 2025/2026 Yunnan Provincial Urban Football League, etc.
"The intensive sponsorship of 'Provincial Super' leagues by banks represents a fundamental change in the customer - acquisition logic," said Tian Lihui, a finance professor at Nankai University. Traditional online traffic is becoming increasingly expensive and fragmented, while the "Provincial Super" leagues are rooted in communities. The participating teams and fan groups have a strong sense of regional belonging, which exactly overlaps with the core customer groups of regional banks. Last year, the "Jiangsu Super" league leveraged 2.2 billion online exposures with an investment of 8 million yuan, verifying the leverage effect of "achieving more with less" in grassroots events. More fundamentally, under the policy guidance of national football revitalization and expanding domestic demand, sponsoring provincial - level super leagues is not only a social responsibility but also a strategic move for banks to find new growth points in the integration of culture, business, tourism, and sports.
It is worth noting that previously, banks in the sports event field mostly favored national - level professional events such as the Chinese Super League and CBA or high - end niche projects such as golf and equestrian. In recent years, they have gradually shifted to grassroots events, including city marathons, bridge card games, and mass - based basketball and badminton. For example, Bank of Beijing sponsors the 2026 Beijing Sub - center Marathon and Tongbei Marathon, and Nanhai Rural Commercial Bank sponsors the 12th Town (Street) Men's Basketball Super League in Foshan City.
In this regard, Dong Ximiao, the chief economist of Zhaolian and the deputy director of the Shanghai Finance and Development Laboratory, analyzed that the high customer - acquisition cost forces banks to re - explore the value of offline scenarios. Against the background of the peak of online traffic dividends and the continuous increase in customer - acquisition costs, large - scale offline activities such as marathons and city football leagues have become "scarce resources" for banks to accurately reach potential customers.
"At the same time, sports events naturally have brand genes of youth, vitality, and the spirit of hard work, which can help traditional financial institutions break the public's 'stereotyped' and'serious' perception and shape a more warm and vibrant brand image. Especially for small and medium - sized banks, sponsoring local events is an effective means to improve brand penetration in the local market and build regional emotional connections," said Dong Ximiao.
Build a full - chain ecosystem, and the bank sponsorship model is deepened and solidified
In April 2025, four departments, including the People's Bank of China, the General Administration of Sport, the Financial Regulatory Administration, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Financial Support for the High - quality Development of the Sports Industry", proposing 16 specific measures from three aspects: increasing financial support for key areas of sports industry development, enhancing the professional ability of financial services for sports industry development, and strengthening organizational implementation and guarantee.
Under the policy guidance, the form of bank sponsorship of sports events has gone beyond simple brand marketing. Instead, through financial and non - financial services, banks are committed to building a full - chain ecosystem of "finance + sports + culture and tourism + consumption".
Taking the bank's sponsorship of the "Provincial Super" activities as an example, in addition to the "Jiangsu Super Win Together" wealth management product, Jiangsu Bank has also set up a "Jiangsu Super" section in its App, providing one - stop viewing services, such as the ability to view the schedule, team standings, etc.; it also offers welfare such as lottery draws for event tickets, cultural and tourism preferential activities, and life - related benefit packages.
Jiangsu Bank has also issued a "Jiangsu Super" city co - branded debit card with multiple exclusive rights and interests, including lottery draws for "Jiangsu Super" tickets, "Jiangsu Super" peripheral gifts, and life - related benefit coupon packages from JD, Meituan, Qingju, etc. Class I card customers can also enjoy a 25 - yuan discount on the Jiangsu tourism annual card, covering all scenarios of viewing, traveling, and consumption.
In addition, the "Travel in Jiangsu with 'Jiangsu Super'" cultural and tourism section has been launched on the Jiangsu Bank App, becoming the first one - stop smart cultural and tourism service platform centered on a provincial - level football league IP in the country. This section deeply integrates the cultural and tourism resources and financial service functions of 13 prefecture - level cities in the province, bringing together nearly 1,000 official cultural and tourism activities and more than 600 preferential measures, and linking high - quality hotels, scenic spots, and OTA platforms to build a full - link ecosystem of "viewing + traveling + playing + consuming".
In addition to bank wealth management products, Zheshang Bank has also set up a "Zheli Is Hot Enough" section for the Wuyue Cup in its App, launching activities such as watching games for 1 yuan and winning prizes by guessing. Industrial Bank has innovatively created the "Industrial Bank Supports Fujian Super, Financial Benefits for the People" Fujian Super Market, popularizing practical financial knowledge to fans on - site through interactive games such as "Guessing the score of Fujian Super", "Football ring - tossing", and "Penalty kick challenge". At the same time, it has issued football - themed debit cards and credit cards, using featured financial products as a fulcrum to explore new paths for the integration of "finance + sports + culture and tourism + consumption" scenarios.
In Tian Lihui's view, the upgrade of banks from simple sponsorship to full - scenario ecological empowerment sends two key signals: First, financial competition has shifted from the product level to the competition for "life entrances", and banks need to embed services into users' daily routines through events; second, retail transformation must be driven by both "emotionalization" and "digitization".
Tian Lihui further pointed out that future financial service innovation of banks in the event field can focus on three aspects: First, deepen data linkage and customize credit products based on the portrait of viewing behavior; second, expand B - end empowerment and provide supply - chain financial services for participating teams; third, build a public - welfare closed - loop, convert consumption points into sports public - welfare funds, and achieve the co - existence of commercial value and social value.
Dong Ximiao straightforwardly said that currently, the cooperation between most banks and sports events still remains at the level of sponsorship and marketing, and the penetration of financial services into the upstream and downstream of the sports industry is insufficient. He suggested that financial institutions provide integrated comprehensive financial services of "investment, loan, insurance, and leasing" around the entire industrial chain of sports events, sports manufacturing, sports venues, sports training, and sports tourism.
On the other hand, although banks have intensively sponsored "Provincial Super" leagues this year, compared with the popularity of the "Jiangsu Super" league last year, the overall popularity this year has declined. At the same time, in addition to city commercial banks, state - owned large - scale banks and joint - stock banks have also started to sponsor "Provincial Super" leagues. Against the background of declining traffic and intensified competition, how should banks, especially small and medium - sized banks, respond?
"In the face of the ebb of traffic and the dimensionality - reduction competition from giants, the way out for small and medium - sized banks lies not in competing in scale but in competing in conversion efficiency," Tian Lihui believes. The coping strategies can be summarized into three points: First, conduct vertical in - depth development, abandon the "big and comprehensive" approach, customize regional - featured benefit packages based on local cultural and tourism resources, and precipitate event traffic into a local consumption closed - loop; second, precipitate communities, operate small - scale sports communities around branches for a long time, upgrade customer relationships from transactions to emotional connections, and build high - trust private - domain assets that large banks are difficult to replicate; third, be data - driven, focus on one or two core scenarios such as parent - child sports for precise services, and replace the scale disadvantage with professional barriers. Fundamentally, "cultivating one place and serving the local people" is the real "moat" for small and medium - sized banks.
This article is from the WeChat official account “China Fund News” (ID: chinafundnews), written by Zhang Ling, and is published by 36Kr with authorization.