China's Wanda Group "put pen to paper on a partnership deal" with the Abbott World Marathon Majors on Wednesday, in an agreement that will see "three major marathon events held in Asia within the next 10 years," according to Spencer Musick of XINHUA. The new series of events will include one "yet-to-be-decided marathon in a first-tier Chinese city." Such an event in China would "mark the first time for a WMM event to be held in a developing country." London Marathon Event Dir Hugh Brasher said that the earliest that China's event could "feasibly" be held, given all the "moving parts that need to come into place," would be "2019 or 2020." Despite the "large number of details that remain to be hammered out," Brasher said that he has "high expectations for the agreement and for the prospect of a major marathon event being held in China." He said, "What we are excited about is that the series has the potential to expand." Rather than replacing an event already on the calendar, the China event, according to Brasher, "will mark an expansion of the global major marathon series." He said, "This would be an expansion of the global series. If a city meets the requirement, then it will be incorporated into the world marathon majors" (XINHUA, 4/26). CHANNEL NEWS ASIA reported many Chinese cities have hosted marathons in recent years, "but none attracted significant numbers" of int'l participants. WMM is the world's largest marathon series. The financial terms of the agreement between Wanda and WMM "are unclear" (CNA, 4/26). REUTERS' Xu & Miller reported pollution is "an element that needs to be addressed to hold a race," Brasher said, but "other criteria, including financial and political support, are required." Wanda has helped lead China's push into organized sports and sports marketing, as the government "advances its goal" of turning the sector into a 5T yuan ($725.6B) business by '25. Wanda said that it plans to create at least 10 major int'l sports events in China before '20 (REUTERS, 4/26).
