Lex專欄 王健林爲何愛上鐵人三項

The bragging rights. The needlessly expensive bikes. The Lycra. What is there for a middle-aged man not to love about Ironman Triathlons?

吹牛的資本。過分昂貴的自行車。萊卡緊身衣。中年男人有什麼理由不愛鐵人三項呢？

One middle-aged man loves them more than others. Wang Jianlin, one of China’s richest men, has just paid $650m (via his Wanda group) for World Triathlon Corporation, the company that runs Ironman. It is just the latest in a line of sporting trophies for Mr Wang — he also owns one-fifth of Atletico Madrid and Infront Sports & Media, a sports marketing company.

有一位中年男人比別人更熱愛這些。王健林，中國最富有的人之一，剛剛斥資6.5億美元收購了世界鐵人公司(World Triathlon Corporation)——通過他旗下的萬達集團。世界鐵人公司運營鐵人三項賽事。這是王健林在體育領域斬獲的最新一項戰利品——他還擁有馬德里競技足球俱樂部(Atletico Madrid)20%的股權以及體育營銷公司盈方體育傳媒集團(Infront Sports & Media)。

But can a company that runs a few races (even 141-mile ones) really be worth $650m? There are no publicly available figures for sales or profits.

但是，一家運營一些比賽項目（即使是長達141英里的賽跑）的公司真的值6.5億美元嗎？目前沒有關於該公司銷售或利潤的公開數據。

Ironman had 230,000 racers last year, each one paying between $160 and $600. Assume that it generated race fees of $100m and perhaps twice that in sponsorships (watches, mattresses, perfume — you name it). The price Wanda paid is still over two times those revenues. There are no listed triathlon organisers but Live Nation, a US-based events company, trades at under one times revenues.

去年，23萬名選手參加了鐵人三項比賽，每人支付費用在160至600美元之間不等。假定這能產生1億美元的比賽收入，而來自贊助（手錶、牀墊、香水——凡是你能想到的）的收入也許有這個數的兩倍。萬達支付的價格仍然超出這些營收的兩倍以上。目前世界上還沒有一家上市的鐵人三項比賽運營商，而總部位於美國的活動推廣商Live Nation，市銷率也纔不到一倍。

So Mr Wang must have big plans for Ironman. The aim is to expand the sport in China, from 100 amateur Chinese triathletes to 200,000 by 2025. Infront Sport and a reality TV show will promote it all. State incentives to raise China’s sport revenues from $10bn to $780bn by 2025 will help. Mr Wang knows how to take advantage of Chinese growth — he has also invested in shopping malls, theme parks and hotels often in line with state priorities.

因此，王健林必然對鐵人三項有着更遠大的計劃。他的目標是在中國發展該運動，到2025年，將目前100名業餘選手的數量擴大至20萬名。盈方體育和一個電視真人秀節目將進行推廣。旨在推動中國體育產業規模由目前的100億美元增加至2025年的7800億美元的國家激勵措施，也將有助於鐵人三項的發展。王健林知道如何利用中國增長——他還投資了大型購物中心、主題公園和酒店，往往與國家重點產業步調一致。

For anyone watching all this exertion from afar, there are two lessons. First, Mr Wang is still a big believer in the growth of the Chinese middle-class (even if stock market investors are starting to have their doubts). Second, do not underestimate the business potential of live events. They have helped to save the music business when many were predicting its demise.

當人們遠觀這一切努力時，可以從中學到兩點。第一，王健林仍然對中國中產階級的崛起深信不疑（即使股市投資者對此已經開始有所懷疑）。第二，不要低估現場活動的商業潛力。當很多人預測音樂產業即將終結時，是現場音樂(live music)幫助拯救了它。

Even in the age of mobile phones, tablets and smart watches, not all entertainment takes place via a screen.

即便是在手機、平板電腦和智能手錶的時代，也並不是所有的娛樂活動都通過屏幕來進行。