Mark Simon | Growing Hockey in China

In this episode of The Negotiation, we speak with international hockey consultant Mark Simon. Mark spent 15 years in the Chinese hockey industry, doing everything from coaching to program creation to on-the-ground operations. He has also collaborated with numerous media outlets on navigating the Chinese landscape from a marketing perspective. Mark is a key member of the leadership team for China Hockey Group, the country’s largest organization dedicated to running high-level adult and youth hockey programs both locally and on the world stage. He is also the founder of Hockey Hands, a non-profit organization teaching English and hockey to orphans, migrant children, and children with disabilities. Obviously, this is a hockey-centric discussion, but the business and cultural nuances are plentiful as we explore the game’s growth and future; the players including kids, women and adult participation; the geography of hockey in China including where the arena’s and rinks are located and why; we look at the ancillary participants such as referees and fans, and lastly we look at what a professional league in China might look like; and what it would take for becoming a professional hockey player to be an economically-viable career path. Enjoy!

Show Notes

Topics Discussed and Key Points:

●      China’s hockey culture versus that of America

●      How China’s youth is typically introduced to hockey

●      Hockey leagues and training programs available for adults in China

●      Active recreational rinks in China

●      A geographical layout of hockey in China

●      The business of sports development in China from a Westerner’s point of view

●      Chinese parents’ motivation for getting their kids involved in hockey

●      Chinese hockey referees

●      Hockey fans in China

●      Professional hockey in China

 

Episode Summary:

Today on The Negotiation, we talk with international hockey consultant Mark Simon. He has spent 15 years as an expert in the Chinese hockey industry, from team coaching to program creation to on-the-ground operations. He has also collaborated with numerous media outlets on navigating the Chinese landscape from a marketing perspective.

Mark is a key member of the leadership team for China Hockey Group, the country’s largest organization dedicated to running high-level adult and youth hockey programs both locally and on the world stage.

He is also the founder of Hockey Hands, a non-profit organization teaching English and hockey to orphans, migrant children, and children with disabilities.

Hockey’s popularity in China is nowhere near that of Canada or the U.S., nor is there much of a “grassroots” movement around the sport. Mark points out that the youth largely treat hockey as just another “class” rather than as a genuinely fun activity they voluntarily engage in, not to mention the fact that enrolling a child in hockey is a particularly expensive endeavor in China.

Teenagers who do develop passion and demonstrable skills for hockey end up migrating elsewhere to be able to pursue their sport in a country with an established hockey scene. As for adults, ex-pats make up a large majority of local hockey players and enthusiasts as hockey remains a minor sport in China.

Mark gives his thoughts on the role of guanxi in any business interaction among the Chinese, hockey and sports, in general, being no exception. He also notes the glaring lack of professional teams in the country, especially amid the pandemic, and what the future of hockey might look like going forward.

 

Key Quotes:

“There isn’t much of a hockey culture in China, unfortunately. It doesn’t enter the zone of the common person at all. It’s really only the hockey parents—the hockey families—who end up learning anything about the sport.”

 

“In China, it’s very much about relationships—guanxi. [...] I had to learn that you can’t just be as honest as you’d like to be because, typically, Chinese people don’t want to have a confrontation.”

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Despite being the world’s most potent economic area, Asia can be one of the most challenging regions to navigate and manage well for foreign brands. However, plenty of positive stories exist and more are emerging every day as brands start to see success in engaging and deploying appropriate market growth strategies – with the help of specialists.

The Negotiation is an interview show that showcases those hard-to-find success stories and chats with the incredible leaders behind them, teasing out the nuances and digging into the details that can make market growth in APAC a winning proposition.