How to Turn "Event-Driven Traffic" into "Increased Consumer Spending": An Empirical Study on the Economic Stimulus Effect of the Jiangsu Super League on the Cultural and Tourism Economy

Sporting events can attract large crowds and boost sports participation, city promotion, and tourism. This paper focuses on the 2025 Jiangsu Provincial City Football League, commonly known as the Jiangsu Super League. Using public data from the Jiangsu Provincial Government, audience surveys, input-output analysis, literature review, and case studies, this paper examines how event-driven visitor traffic translates into consumer spending and the conditions that enable this conversion. In the 2025 season, out of 85 games, approximately 2.433 million people were watching live, about 28,600 per game. On home-city match days, the amount of cross-regional cultural and tourism expenditure by UnionPay reached 14.57 billion yuan and increased by 27.1% year-on-year; the reported ticket-based linkage ratio showed that for every 1 yuan spent on tickets, 7.3 yuan were spent on auxiliary services. Based on the above, it is concluded that the main form of this consumption conversion is the spillover effect of match-day visitor traffic into sectors such as catering, accommodation, transportation, tourist attractions and retail; furthermore, continuous promotional activities for events have positively impacted urban image, and relevant industries have been able to handle the increased demand reasonably well. All will increase the conversion rate: an off-site viewing venue model, ticket discounts and cross-departmental public services. Only the publicly available data show a correlation at the same time; they do not prove causality. Whether the event attracts new consumers depends on available consumption opportunities, the city's event management capacity, and the level of collaborative governance.