Building an event system that brings customers back

An English summary of the 2026 events playbook: five event tiers, per event budgets, entry fees, prize pools, sponsorship, annual scheduling and the metrics th…

Most halls treat a tournament as a one off weekend promotion, and the crowd disappears three days later. The full 2026 guide treats events as a system: a fixed calendar of competitions, each tier aimed at a different level of commitment. This page summarises the parts that decide whether events add traffic and repeat revenue.

Key points

Five tiers: free daily leaderboards, weekly events in a fixed slot, monthly paid events with a prize pool, quarterly brand named events, and one annual final.
Direct budgets commonly run RMB 3,000 15,000 for a small in hall contest, RMB 15,000 60,000 for a monthly event and RMB 60,000 300,000 for a quarterly event or final.
Entry fees sit in three bands: 0 29 for acquisition, 39 99 for weekly and monthly events, 129 299 for premium tiers with gifts and privileges.
Entry fees usually cover only 30% 60% of a single event cost; sponsorship, prize swaps and on site secondary spend cover the difference.
Competitors and their companions commonly spend 1.5 2.5 times an ordinary walk in that day, and member conversion can rise 15% 40% on event days.
A reference calendar is 48 weekly, 12 monthly and 4 quarterly events plus one annual final; a new hall starts with one or two small events a month.
Prize pools are built in thirds: cash, partner prizes, and venue benefits such as stored value cards.

Events are not the profit centre

The article is explicit that few halls earn their margin from entry fees. Value sits in three places: a fixed reason to return, low cost ceremony and content material, and turning walk in guests into members of a community. It also warns against large events before basics are stable: a hall should first fill weekly events with 16 32 regulars over three to six months, then move to monthly and quarterly tiers.

Timing, staffing and what to measure

Scheduling follows traffic that already exists: densify community events on weekday evenings and quiet season weekends, and use holidays to host groups rather than to pull new traffic. Execution stays simple: rules explainable in a sentence, a two hour ceiling per event, two or three staff doubling as referees, and reusable signage. Performance is judged on repeat visits and new members over the next 30 days, not on entry fees taken on the day.

The full 2026 guide is published in Chinese; contact SPORTS ANT if you need it explained for your project.