Abstract: Thoroughly implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourse on new quality productive forces and the guiding principles of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, and accelerating the integration of sports powerhouse building into national modernization efforts represents pivotal pathways for achieving new breakthroughs in the advancement of sports undertakings through localized, innovation-driven approaches. Using literature research method, historical analysis, and comparative reasoning, we systematically examine the evolution of sports powerhouse building and dive into the inherent logic and actionable pathways of new quality productive forces empowering this endeavor. Findings reveal that building a sports powerhouse has continuously advanced in alignment with the overarching goal of national rejuvenation, while the new historical phase has imbued this endeavor with renewed significance and contemporary imperatives. Developing new quality productive forces in the sports sector through localized approaches can drive high-quality advancement of the sports undertakings by upgrading production factors and their optimized allocation. This process holistically empowers the building into a sports powerhouse through technology-institution-culture synergy. Moreover, the sci-tech innovation-driven productive forces align closely with the mandate in the Outline for Building a Sports Powerhouse to strengthen scientific and technological innovation in key domains, critical challenges, and pivotal contexts. To maximize the supportive role of new quality productive forces in advancing the sports powerhouse construction, strategic priorities should focus on: cultivating next-generation professionals to build a digital talent matrix in sports; developing cutting-edge production assets to achieve self-reliant breakthroughs in sports science and technology; expanding modernized labor objects through smart sports industry ecosystem development; aligning with neo-production relations to drive governance system modernization; and fortifying tech-ethics safeguards to ensure human-centric advancement of sports technology.