Potential sponsors are turning their backs on next year’s Asian Games in Guangzhou because of the global recession, an official Chinese newspaper reported yesterday.
A dearth of sponsorships from Chinese exporters is hampering game preparations, including the construction of venues, although organizers hope foreign firms will pick up the slack, the China Daily said.
Sponsors have so far pledged about 2 billion yuan (US$292 million), or two-thirds of the expected amount, the paper said.
Organizers are facing “some difficulties developing stadiums and finding sponsors,” the paper quoted Guangzhou Mayor Zhang Guangning (張廣寧) as saying.
The Games are not the only event suffering amid the downturn. Next year’s World Expo in Shanghai — expected to be the biggest ever — may also go without a US pavilion as organizers struggle to raise US$61 million from private sponsors. China is helping underwrite the event by building joint pavilions for poorer countries.
The Asian Games, featuring countries ranging geographically from Saudi Arabia to Japan to Indonesia, comes two years after the Beijing Olympic Games, on which the central government lavished billions of dollars. While much of that was spent on infrastructure upgrades, Beijing has struggled to find uses for leftover sports facilities.
The 41-sport Asian Games competition runs from Nov. 11 to Nov. 27 next year.
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