Provincial football leagues such as Jiangsu's "Su Super League," Zhejiang's "Wuyue Cup," Hubei's "Chu Super League," Fujian's "Min Super League," and Guangdong's "Yue Super League" have recently commenced. These events, affectionately dubbed "Super Leagues" by fans, have evolved beyond mere athletic competitions into festivals that invigorate their respective cities. The question arises: Is the "event economy" merely a fleeting phenomenon driven by attention, or can it serve as a sustainable engine for genuine urban development?

From an economic perspective, the impact of a sports event IP on urban development hinges on constructing a value loop that integrates "event—city—consumption." This represents a concrete application of attention economics within a specific context. Sports events generate traffic and emotional engagement, the city provides the setting and cultural foundation, and consumption drives the transformation of industrial value. An attractive sports event not only generates direct economic benefits but also stimulates synergistic growth across multiple sectors, including retail, hospitality, catering, and transportation.

However, this model faces three key sustainability challenges. First, the law of diminishing marginal returns. As events become routine, novelty wanes, and the ancillary consumption driven per ticket sold may gradually decline. Second, the transience of identity. When the viral buzz of slogans like "competition first, friendship fourteenth" fades, and the passion of a new season gives way to habitual viewership, can spectator attention be sustained? How can the temporary surge in local identity awakened by the event avoid becoming merely "seasonal"? Third, homogenized competition. As every city attempts to replicate the narrative of a "champion city," where does its differentiated core competitiveness truly lie?

For attention economics to translate into sustainable urban development momentum, it must move beyond simply extending the "event +" industrial chain and advance towards an ecological restructuring of "city ×." This can be deepened across four dimensions.

First, cultivate local identity to create new urban cultural landmarks. Transform match days into city-wide rituals by systematically designing ceremonial elements that forge an emotional connection between the event and the city. Deepen the integration between teams and city IPs, encouraging team involvement in public welfare, community service, and youth training, making teams feel like "one of us" to local residents.

Second, activate cultural integration to facilitate the transformation of tradition and modernity. Promote initiatives like "One Event, One Intangible Cultural Heritage" to revitalize intangible cultural heritage and amplify the vibrancy of sports. Embrace entertainment culture by building a "sports +" trend ecosystem, collaborating with local artists, and incorporating more youthful elements, thereby transforming event IPs into composites of sport and entertainment carnival.

Third, innovate integration mechanisms to build a full-time value loop. Deepen institutional designs for "ticket stub economics," exploring unified electronic ticketing systems to achieve one-stop "ticket—tourism—consumption" services. Promote the standardized and branded operation of events within commercial districts, streets, and scenic areas, forming a full-day cycle of "sightseeing and shopping by day, watching games by night." Construct digital consumption platforms to enable comprehensive data tracking of audience spending.

Fourth, foster an ecosystem that encourages participation and sharing. Lower the barriers to entry for organizing events, encouraging broader societal participation to create a win-win scenario of "government building the stage, enterprises putting on the show, and the public benefiting." Promote regional coordination by proactively aligning with urban cluster integration strategies, exploring options like hosting preseason games or sports carnivals in neighboring provinces. Establish an event impact assessment system with scientifically selected quantitative indicators, regularly publishing evaluation reports to provide a basis for continuous optimization.