Research on the Transformation of China’s Role in the Restructuring of the Global Sports Industry Chain

Amidst profound global changes, the restructuring of the global sports industry chain has unveiled inherent structural contradictions, prompting a redefinition of China’s role within this system. Through literature research and case analysis, this study delineates the evolutionary trajectory of China’s role in the global sports industry chain, examines the mechanisms underlying role conflicts, and proposes strategic responses for role transformation. The findings indicate that throughout the formation and evolution of the global sports industry chain, China has transitioned from a passive participant and selective participant to a foundational participant and, ultimately, an active contributor to global development, making substantial contributions to the sport industry’s globalization. As the global sports industry chain undergoes systemic restructuring, China’s shifting role has disrupted the inertia of the Western-dominated order, resulting in misaligned expectations between China and Western nations and triggering multidimensional role conflicts across supply, spatial, and value chains. These role conflicts generate impetus for transformation, while role transformation serves as an institutionalized resolution to such conflicts, representing an essential pathway for China to reconstruct its role in the realignment of the global sports industry chain. The concept of a global community of shared future embodies a vision of building responsibility, interest, and value communities within the sports industry, offering a methodological framework for advancing China’s role transformation. China should pursue a threefold strategy: 1) Further “stabilize openness, foster dialogue, and demonstrate accountability” to uphold its responsibility as a major power in ensuring the stability of the global sports supply chain; 2）expand domestic demand, enhance coordination, and promote cultural vitality to position itself as a supply-demand nexus within the global sports spatial chain; 3） strengthen discursive influence, drive innovation, and build brand equity to achieve an autonomous hierarchical ascent in the global sports value chain, ultimately realizing a reconstructed and elevated role.