Five esports events were featured in a report listing the most impactful 15 sports events held in Shanghai in 2020. The report was released by The Shanghai Sports Bureau (SSB).
The League of Legends World Championship 2020 (Worlds 2020), the biggest esports event of 2020, was ranked #2 in the report, behind the 2020 Shanghai Marathon. In addition, multi-title esports event Esports Shanghai Masters, Peacekeeper Elite World Champion Cup, and League of Legends Pro League (LPL) Spring and Summer Split were ranked #6, #7, #10, and #13, respectively.
SSB explained that the key indicators of the impact index are notability (40%), professional level (40%), and contribution (20%). For Worlds 2020, SSB pointed out that the event contributed over ￥30M RMB ($4.6M USD) in direct economic effect and ￥3.21M ($483K) in tax effect. In comparison, Shanghai Marathon contributed ￥49.4M ($7.66M) in direct economic effect and ￥5.28M ($818K) in tax effect.
Thanks to the rising popularity of esports and the suspension of traditional sports events during the pandemic, esports competition has become one of the major sports contributing to the economy through travel, shopping, and entertainment in the city. In SSB’s 2019 report, the top three sports events were the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000, F1 Chinese Grand Prix, and Shanghai Marathon, which contributed 70% of the total direct economic effect of all 12 sports events of 2019.
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