An English summary of the 2026 guide: why dwell time drives mall footfall, five cooperation models, four retrofit thresholds, and investment and payback ranges.
Shopping malls are in the business of footfall and dwell time, and a digital sports hall changes both. This summary covers the traffic logic, the cooperation models, the retrofit conditions and the payback references set out in the full 2026 guide.
Key points
Traditional retail floors commonly hold a visitor for 20 40 minutes; a digital sports hall commonly holds them for 60 120 minutes, and that extra time spills into food, retail and cinema on the same floor.
Floor area decides the format: 300 800 sqm suits community and regional malls as a supporting experience offer, 800 1500 sqm suits city level malls as an anchor, and 1500 3000 sqm and above suits cultural tourism complexes and full retrofits of existing property.
Five cooperation models run from fixed rent, minimum rent plus a percentage of revenue, revenue sharing, joint investment, to EPC plus operation for government and state owned property.
Fixed rent is the simplest for the mall but puts all operating risk on the venue; minimum rent plus a percentage is the structure most used for new venues, with commissions commonly in the 8 20% range of revenue.
An existing building has to clear four hard thresholds before it can be converted: clear height, floor loading, fire design and approval, and power capacity.
For an 800 1500 sqm mall venue, equipment, fit out and opening costs commonly fall in the 3 8 million RMB range, with payback commonly at 18 36 months.
Revenue is a mix of tickets, membership and stored value, group bookings, events and venue partnerships, not tickets alone.
How to read the ranges
The figures in the guide are industry ranges, not commitments. Performance varies with city tier, the mall traffic base, the equipment mix, ticket pricing and operating capability, and the same brand can differ by more than double between two projects. The article argues that a mall negotiation works better when footfall is split into four measurable figures: daily visitors, average dwell time, monthly repeat visits and attach rate spending. It also separates the venue's own revenue per square metre from the traffic and sales it generates for the mall, because the first decides whether the venue survives and the second decides whether the mall keeps giving it favourable terms.
The full 2026 guide is published in Chinese; contact SPORTS ANT if you need it explained for your project.