The 18,000-seat Zhuji Basketball Center main hall is built with a steel structure and is the largest basketball center in the province. The ambition behind this small town
Zhuji wants to make a big basketball dream come true.
Recently, the steel structure of the main hall of the Zhuji Basketball Center project was successfully roofed. This largest basketball center in Zhejiang is expected to be completed by the end of this year and put into use in June 2025.
With a capacity of 18,000 seats, it is enough to meet the needs of hosting the FIBA Basketball World Cup and the National Basketball League (NBA) China Games.
What is the concept of 18,000 seats? It is the largest in Zhejiang Province and leading in the country——
It has about 500 more seats than the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium, and about 5,000 more seats than the Ningbo Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium; it is not inferior to the country, Shanghai Mercedes-Benz Cultural Center Gymnasium, Beijing Cadillac Center Gymnasium (Wukesong) , Guangzhou International Sports and Performing Arts Center Gymnasium, etc. have a seating capacity of about 18,000.
It is understood that in this spring season, relevant personnel of the Zhuji Basketball Center under construction are already planning to connect with international basketball events, and some top domestic competition teams have also expressed strong interest in hosting games here.
Hot football market and famous reputation
Zhuji has a permanent population of more than 1.2 million. Someone must ask: “Generally speaking, such a large basketball center has requirements for city size and resident population base. How can Zhuji, a county-level city, be used as a ‘conspicuous package’?”
In response to such questions, Zhuji people smiled slightly: Zhuji has always been very famous in the basketball world.
People know Zhuji through CBA, in addition to being the capital of socks industry and the hometown of Xi Shi. Zhuji is the only county-level city in CBA history to host both CBA full season events and All-Star Weekend.
Zhuji was once the home city of the original Zhejiang Wanma Basketball Team and Zhejiang Guangsha Basketball Team. Since 2018, it has hosted nearly 900 CBA games, covering not only all-season games, but also successfully held All-Star Weekend events. This is It is unique among county-level cities.
Zhuji is also famous for its popular football market. It was once called the “devil’s home court” and a gold medal football market by CBA fans. From 2000 to 2004, Zhejiang Wanma Team once played its home court in Zhuji. The Zhejiang Wanma team had a poor record that year, but every game in the Zhuji division was full. In the 2018-2019 season, when the Zhejiang Guangsha team moved its home court from Hangzhou to Zhuji due to venue renovation, every game was packed.
Fans in Zhuji are not afraid of expensive tickets, but they are afraid that tickets will be difficult to grab. He Tiefeng, a villager in Kuanting Village, Anhua Town, went to many popular CBA games in Zhuji and was willing to buy expensive tickets worth 700 to 800 yuan. He said: “In Zhuji, tickets for various basketball games sell out very quickly. I heard that the basketball center will be completed by the end of the year. If there are games in the future, I will definitely take my son to watch it.”
There are also people who not only want to be spectators, but also want to experience the joy of playing in top basketball venues. Wang Shuiyong, a villager in Yaojiang Town, loves playing basketball. When the CBA is held in Zhuji, he often buys tickets to watch it. He came to look forward to “playing a game there.”
The main venue previously used for basketball events in Zhuji was the Jiyang Sports Center Basketball Hall, which has only about 6,000 seats.
In recent years, many CBA teams have moved into large stadiums with more than 12,000 seats. For example, the Liaoning Men’s Basketball Team moved from the 6,000-seat Benxi Stadium to the 12,000-seat Liaoning Stadium; the Xinjiang Men’s Basketball Team moved into a stadium that can accommodate nearly 13,000 people. Urumqi Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium…
On the one hand, it is the support of the basketball market, and on the other hand, it is the “unfolding” of external forces. Zhuji has thought about it and wants to play a basketball card.
Love basketball and have tradition
Zhuji is well-known in the basketball world. Behind the booming basketball market is the long-lasting and deep passion of local people for basketball.
Many people don’t know that basketball in Zhuji has a history of hundreds of years. According to the “Zhuji County Chronicle”, before 1911, basketball classes were offered in Zhuji’s new schools, making it one of the first places in my country to develop basketball.
Because the masses love basketball, there are courts almost everywhere from remote mountainous areas to busy cities and towns, from government agencies to schools, from the army to factories, mines, enterprises and institutions. At every temple fair or material exchange meeting, basketball games have become a must-have event. The scenes are lively and spectacular, and traditional folk customs have gradually formed.
Since the reform and opening up, Zhuji’s economy has developed rapidly and it has become a leading economically powerful county in the country. With the improvement of people’s living standards, various sports events in Zhuji have become increasingly rich. Since 1981, Zhuji employees’ Class A, Class B, and Class C basketball games have officially started, and various events such as basketball games, invitational matches, and friendly matches organized by farmers have also continued continuously. By 1999, Zhuji had 1,408 basketball venues.
In 2000, the State Sports General Administration named the first batch of “National Basketball Cities”, a total of 8, and Zhuji was the only one on the list in Zhejiang Province. In recent years, Zhuji has invested more than 80 million yuan to renovate and upgrade 2,251 basketball venues.
Now, almost everyone in Zhuji knows about penalty kicks, everyone loves football, and there are basketball events for men, women, and children to participate in.
Every year, various basketball activities are held in primary and secondary schools, rural areas, enterprises and other fields in Zhuji. There are 3,000 mass basketball events, forming a “daily activities, monthly competitions, seasonal climaxes, and year-round continuous activities”. “National basketball atmosphere.
Zhuji people love to play and watch football. Wherever there is a football match, it is a hot spot in the city; where there is CBA, there is a gathering place for Zhuji people.
Last year, Zhuji held the first “Village BA”, and the scale of mobilized basketball fans reached a new height. Almost all of the city’s more than 1.2 million people have turned into die-hard fans, cheering for their teams.
The entire “Village BA” season lasted for 70 days from April 9 to June 18, 2023. Nearly 4,000 people signed up, 281 teams participated, and 681 “fierce battles” were held, and the venues were full. Yang Biwen, deputy director of the Yangjialou Village Committee, said: “The Yangjialou Village Basketball Hall has 800 seats. Every game requires a few circles of stools on the sidelines, and many people can only stand. Finally, in the Jiyang Sports Center The finals held were also packed with seats.”
Polish the basketball city brand
In fact, Zhuji’s basketball craze is boiling further as its economic vitality increases. The latest data shows that in 2023, Zhuji ranked eighth among the top 100 counties (cities) in comprehensive county competitiveness in the country. The economic foundation determines the much-anticipated Zhuji Basketball Center, which carries the confidence and ambition of Zhuji people: “polishing” the basketball city brand.
Huang Shenghua, vice chairman of the Zhejiang Basketball Association and chairman of the Zhuji Basketball Association, said: “It’s time for Zhuji to have a national first-class basketball center! It should not only be a landmark, but also become a golden business card for Zhuji’s basketball career to break through.”
Basketball is also a productive force, and Zhuji knows this very well. If we want to apply to host high-level basketball commercial events such as the World Cup, Asian Cup, and NBA China Games in the future, we must have a large basketball stadium.
Chen Chuming, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Education and Sports Bureau of Zhuji City, said: “We are actively connecting with the Chinese Basketball Association and the Chinese Basketball Federation (Beijing) Sports Co., Ltd. to plan the establishment of a professional event operating agency, start the introduction of top resources from Deep Blue Sports, and promote the development of China’s three-person basketball team. Top domestic basketball events with high brand awareness and broad market prospects, such as the National Basketball League and the China University Basketball League, have settled in Zhuji. At the same time, we have established the medium- and long-term goal of hosting higher-standard and higher-grade basketball events such as FIBA and NBA China Games.”
Basketball is the glue. In Zhuji, the villagers, village communities, and cadres and groups have become more harmonious because of playing ball, and the nostalgia has become more intense. Last year in the “Village BA”, many players drove back to Zhuji from Hangzhou to play, and some came from other provinces such as Guangdong to play with the mission of “bringing glory to the village.”
It has become a common practice in Zhuji for social forces to participate in running sports. Basketball has increasingly become an important carrier of Zhuji’s corporate culture. Companies such as Shenshi Lei have been opening corporate indoor arenas to the public free of charge for more than 10 years. Companies such as Zhonglei give priority to recruiting students with basketball expertise when recruiting employees… In 2019, Xiangxian invested The construction of an 800-seat Yangjialou Village-level basketball stadium with a scale of 150 million yuan was rumored to be a good talk for a while.
Through a basketball, Zhuji people unite their emotions and realize the leap from material prosperity to spiritual prosperity. In last year’s “Village BA”, most of the bonuses received by each team were used for charity. According to incomplete statistics, the total donation amount during the entire competition was more than 500,000 yuan.
The charm of basketball is so diverse, as Yao Ming said in the cheering video recorded for Zhuji “Village BA”: “This form will further highlight the charm of basketball and show the basketball culture we love.”
2024-03-10 23:50:15
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