Front Sports Act Living. 2026 May 19;8:1804002. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2026.1804002. eCollection 2026.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Against the backdrop of deepening regional economic integration and the rapid development of the sports industry in China, this study systematically investigates the impact of the sports industry on regional economic development. Specifically, it identifies the industry’s direct effects and spatial spillover effects while analyzing regional heterogeneity in influence mechanisms, thus addressing an existing research gap related to spatial connectivity.
METHOD: Based on panel data from 21 provincial-level regions in China spanning 2015-2024, this study employs fixed-effects panel models and spatial Durbin models to analyze the relationship between the sports industry and regional economic development, while testing the underlying mechanisms.
RESULTS: First, the development of the sports industry significantly promotes regional economic growth, and this conclusion remains robust across multiple model specifications and robustness tests. Second, the impact of the sports industry on regional economic development shows clear regional heterogeneity: it is significant in the eastern region but not statistically significant in the central and western regions; Third, the spatiotemporal evolution of the sports industry and regional economic development shows similar patterns, characterized by low-value clustering and high-value polarization in eastern regions. Fourth, regional economic development exhibits a significant positive spatial correlation. Fifth, results from the spatial Durbin model indicate that while the sports industry promotes local economic growth, it produces significant negative spatial spillover effects on neighboring regions, forming a pattern characterized as “local promotion and neighboring suppression.”.
DISCUSSION: Empirical findings confirm the endogenous driving role of the sports industry as an emerging service sector in regional economic growth; however, its spatial effects are not uniformly positive. Negative spatial spillover effects may arise from the concentration of resources and associated “siphoning effects” during sports industry development, as well as interregional competition over event hosting, industrial layout, and factor allocation. This finding indicates that, in promoting the high-quality development of the sports industry, greater emphasis should be placed on enhancing regional coordination mechanisms and cross-regional industrial specialization systems. Such an approach would enhance local economic benefits while offsetting negative impacts on surrounding areas, thereby fostering coordinated regional economic development.
PMID:42239740 | PMC:PMC13226622 | DOI:10.3389/fspor.2026.1804002
