王健林为何爱上铁人三项

The bragging rights. The needlessly expensivebikes. The Lycra. What is there for a middle-agedman not to love about Ironman Triathlons?

吹牛的资本。过分昂贵的自行车。莱卡紧身衣。中年男人有什么理由不爱铁人三项呢?

One middle-aged man loves them more than others. Wang Jianlin, one of China’s richest men,has just paid $650m (via his Wanda group) for World Triathlon Corporation, the company thatruns Ironman. It is just the latest in a line of sporting trophies for Mr Wang — he also ownsone-fifth of Atletico Madrid and Infront Sports & Media, a sports marketing company.

有一位中年男人比别人更热爱这些。王健林，中国最富有的人之一，刚刚斥资6.5亿美元收购了世界铁人公司(World Triathlon Corporation)——通过他旗下的万达集团。世界铁人公司运营铁人三项赛事。这是王健林在体育领域斩获的最新一项战利品——他还拥有马德里竞技足球俱乐部(Atletico Madrid)20%的股权以及体育营销公司盈方体育传媒集团(Infront Sports & Media)。

But can a company that runs a few races (even 141-mile ones) really be worth $650m? Thereare no publicly available figures for sales or profits.

但是，一家运营一些比赛项目(即使是长达141英里的赛跑)的公司真的值6.5亿美元吗?目前没有关于该公司销售或利润的公开数据。

Ironman had 230,000 racers last year, each one paying between $160 and $600. Assume thatit generated race fees of $100m and perhaps twice that in sponsorships (watches, mattresses,perfume — you name it). The price Wanda paid is still over two times those revenues. Thereare no listed triathlon organisers but Live Nation, a US-based events company, trades at underone times revenues.

去年，23万名选手参加了铁人三项比赛，每人支付费用在160至600美元之间不等。假定这能产生1亿美元的比赛收入，而来自赞助(手表、床垫、香水——凡是你能想到的)的收入也许有这个数的两倍。万达支付的价格仍然超出这些营收的两倍以上。目前世界上还没有一家上市的铁人三项比赛运营商，而总部位于美国的活动推广商Live Nation，市销率也才不到一倍。

So Mr Wang must have big plans for Ironman. The aim is to expand the sport in China, from100 amateur Chinese triathletes to 200,000 by 2025. Infront Sport and a reality TV show willpromote it all. State incentives to raise China’s sport revenues from $10bn to $780bn by 2025will help. Mr Wang knows how to take advantage of Chinese growth — he has also invested inshopping malls, theme parks and hotels often in line with state priorities.

因此，王健林必然对铁人三项有着更远大的计划。他的目标是在中国发展该运动，到2025年，将目前100名业余选手的数量扩大至20万名。盈方体育和一个电视真人秀节目将进行推广。旨在推动中国体育产业规模由目前的100亿美元增加至2025年的7800亿美元的国家激励措施，也将有助于铁人三项的发展。王健林知道如何利用中国增长——他还投资了大型购物中心、主题公园和酒店，往往与国家重点产业步调一致。

For anyone watching all this exertion from afar, there are two lessons. First, Mr Wang is still abig believer in the growth of the Chinese middle-class (even if stock market investors arestarting to have their doubts). Second, do not underestimate the business potential of liveevents. They have helped to save the music business when many were predicting its demise.

当人们远观这一切努力时，可以从中学到两点。第一，王健林仍然对中国中产阶级的崛起深信不疑(即使股市投资者对此已经开始有所怀疑)。第二，不要低估现场活动的商业潜力。当很多人预测音乐产业即将终结时，是现场音乐(live music)帮助拯救了它。

Even in the age of mobile phones, tablets and smart watches, not all entertainment takesplace via a screen.

即便是在手机、平板电脑和智能手表的时代，也并不是所有的娱乐活动都通过屏幕来进行。