If TEDA (Weibo) Club in Tianjin hadn't announced the mascot, I'm afraid not many people knew that there was a mascot named "Shi Jing" in Beijing Guoan (Weibo).

Recently, TEDA Club of Super League Tianjin launched its own mascot "Nezha", which also made many Beijing Guoan fans whisper: Does Guoan have its own mascot? What mascot should Guoan choose?

In fact, as early as 2003, Guoan had its own mascot-"Shi Jing". However, due to the objective conditions of football matches and the difficulties in commercial promotion, it has not been vigorously developed by the club and is not well known by fans.

Yesterday, the reporter learned from Guoan Club that with the coming of the 20th anniversary celebration of the club next year, "Shi Jing" is likely to meet fans on various occasions.

Mascot daoyuan

Born in 2003, he looks like Zakumi.

Recently, Tianjin TEDA Club announced that Nezha has become the mascot of the team, which also triggered the discussion of the mascot among Guoan fans.

Many fans in Beijing said that Guoan should also have a mascot that conforms to the image of the team. However, the fans later discovered that Guoan had already determined the "Beijing Lion" as the team's mascot.

The image of "Shi Jing" is a cartoon lion dressed in green and pedaling football, and its name comes from the homonym of "Shi Jing". Its confident expression, vigorous body and great affinity; The outstretched thumb not only means that the Guoan team thanks the fans for their support and support, but also means the team slogan of "Guoan always strives for the first place".

According to the staff of Guoan Club, "Shi Jing" was born around 2003. At the time of press release, a set of products including dolls and key chains was released, which was shelved due to poor sales.

Nowadays, the mascot that accompanied Guoan for 9 years can't be found even in the showcase of Guoan Club and the franchise store of Guoan fans.

In terms of body shape, the "Beijing Lion" has many similarities with Zakumi, the mascot of the World Cup in South Africa, whether in skin color, hair or uniform, but when it comes to influence and popularity, the "Beijing Lion" is not as good as Zakumi.

The mascot was left out in the cold

Piracy is so rampant that sales have to lose money.

Why can't Shi Jing be released on a large scale? Poor economic benefit is the most important factor.

Yesterday, the staff of Guoan Club told reporters that the development of domestic Super League fans' supplies is in a relatively backward state.

Since winning the championship in 2009, Guoan has been committed to the development of fan products, but many products, including commemorative stamps and commemorative T-shirts, have not achieved satisfactory results.

Among them, the purchasing power of fans is one aspect, and more importantly, piracy is rampant. Take the most common fans' cheering clothes and watching scarves as examples. The official price of genuine products is more than 100 yuan, while the piracy on the street is only tens of yuan, which has caused a huge impact on genuine products.

The staff responsible for commercial development of Guoan Club calculated an account for the reporter. If a set of mascot dolls is issued, the design cost is not counted, and the production and sales cost alone will reach 20 to 30 yuan, and at least thousands of pieces will be made in a batch.

After listing, pirated goods with a price of only a few yuan will be launched immediately, and the sales of genuine products will also drop sharply, at least bearing tens of thousands of economic losses.

Not only that, even if it is genuine, some merchants sell it through informal channels such as the Internet, and the price is only about half of the regular price.

Next year, Guoan will celebrate its 20th anniversary, and the club plans to launch a set of commemorative products. At present, Guoan is committed to using various means, including laws, to crack down on piracy and informal sales channels.

The utilization rate is too low to be popularized.

The staff of the club told reporters that compared with basketball games, the positioning of mascots in football games has inherent disadvantages.

The popular wave of competitive sports mascots originally originated from the NBA in the United States. This form mainly depends on the unique characteristics of basketball games, such as small venue area, close distance between the stadium and the audience, and many intermissions during the game. Therefore, during the intermission of the competition, the group composed of mascots and cheerleaders played a positive role in the atmosphere.

CBA has achieved good results after introducing mascots following the example of NBA, and Shougang's mascot "Beijing Duck" is also widely recognized.

Because of the difference between football match and basketball match, there is no time and space for mascots to move in the stadium, only a certain amount of time is available at half-time and before the opening, but it is restricted by factors such as too large a venue.

Another function of the mascot is to distribute prizes to fans on the spot, such as throwing the mascot of the NBA stadium into the stands. At present, the prizes of Guoan's home games are distributed in the form of lottery tickets. If the prizes are distributed by mascots, the probability that the fans in the front row will get the prizes will be much greater than that in the back row, which is somewhat unfair.

Even internationally, the activities of promoting mascots by football clubs are rare. In 2006, AC Milan (Weibo) Club of Serie A, which has made great achievements in European competitions, launched the mascot "Milanello" with the same name as its training base. Although it appeared in the competition, it disappeared only after a short time because of its poor effect.

Mascots of some teams in Super League

Liaoning Hongyun (Weibo): Tiger.

Similar to the cartoon character Tigger, he appeared in the league this season.

Changchun Yatai (Weibo): Dragon.

Changchun used a cartoon character of "Little Dragon Man", thinking that this mascot symbolizes strength, auspiciousness, enterprising, courage and fearlessness, and implies hope, flying and ambition.

Dalian Shide (Weibo): Tiger.

It embodies courage, strength, speed, wisdom and confidence, and has the meaning of optimism and enterprising.

Shanghai Shenhua (Weibo): Leopard

Once active on the court, at the beginning of the 2008 season, the mascot disappeared after stepping on the opposing team's jersey.

Opinions of mascots and fans

Most people don't recognize the expectation of the new version.

If Guoan issues mascots to commemorate goods, will fans buy them? The reporter asked some fans in Beijing about this matter, and they all said that they would choose to buy as long as the price was reasonable, but the fans also raised two questions.

One view is that the low popularity of "Shi Jing" is related to its image. Things ten years ago can't keep up with the trend of the times, so it is imperative to revise them. In addition, fans have also raised some questions about the image of "Beijing Lion". They think that this image is a bit old and looks not fashionable and powerful enough.

Some fans even said that the characters in The Journey to the West, which are rich in traditional China culture, can be used as mascots. In The Journey to the West, King Tota and the Monkey King were both mentioned as candidates.

However, according to insiders of Guoan, the club has no idea of modifying the mascot at present. If the mascot is to be modified, the opinions of the society and fans will be sought.

In addition, the fans are more worried that after buying the mascot, they can't enter the stadium through the seat belt. Fans said that the main purpose of buying mascots is to cheer for Guoan, and it will be more memorable if players can sign after the game.

Workers' physical security is very strict, and mascots are likely to be prohibited from being brought into the venue as sundries that can be thrown into the venue.

As for the modification of the mascot, Guoan Club has not yet made a final decision. One view is that the "Beijing Lion" has existed for many years and has been recognized by some fans, and its image is more in line with the requirements of the club.

Mascots of some teams in Super League

Henan Jianye (Weibo): Xiang

Henan is the hometown of Asian elephants since ancient times! Although the climate changed later and the elephant moved south, the essence of the elephant has been deeply left in this thick soil. The elephant is heavy and steady.

Hangzhou Greentown (Weibo): Dog

This dog named Kaka is all green, with bright eyes and drooping ears. The overall image is healthy, progressive and friendly, which symbolizes the high fighting spirit and vigorous vitality of Greentown football team on the court.

TEDA: Nezha.

Tianjin TEDA chose Nezha because of a legend: In China mythology, the location of Inanao Sea is said to be located at the mouth of Sancha River in Tianjin.

Now, TEDA Club has painted the image of Nezha on the team bus. As a mascot, Nezha will also appear in the future TEDA Stadium.