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Fri,Oct 17,2014
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Business Booms for NBA in China

(People's Daily Online)    10:16, October 17, 2014
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On October 15 2014, the Beijing stage of the NBA China Games was held in the Beijing MasterCard Center. Brooklyn Nets defeated Sacramento Kings by 129:117 in extra time. The NBA League explained that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the NBA China Games. When the NBA arrived in China in 2004, the Kings played the first game with the Rockets. Over the past ten years, the NBA has attached great importance to its Chinese market.

Since 2004, the NBA China Games have been held 8 times, involving 16 matches. The games are still popular, but the fans have grown picky. According to Taihe Entertainment, the operator of the Beijing Station games, the main purpose of the NBA China Games is to give back to the sponsors. NBA China does not care much about the box office. Right now, NBA China has over 20 marketing partners in China. Those Chinese brands choose to cooperate with NBA to attract more publicity.

In fact, China is the biggest overseas market for the NBA, with double-digit profit growth rate every year. NBA has a highly diversified business in China, including broadcasting rights, brand sponsors, and associated products. It has cooperated with Sina, LeTV and other new media in broadcasting NBA games. Recently, NBA chose sports goods company ANTA as its official marketing partner, and they launched co-branding basketball shoes and other associated products. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver values the leading position of ANTA, and ANTA President Ding Shizhong has the confidence to turn the brand value of NBA into business value.

NBA China have gradually realized that with the retirement of Yao Ming, they need to add new Chinese features to their games. Meanwhile, two matches a year are not enough for the Chinese market. David Shoemaker, CEO of NBA China, said during the 2012 China Games that the NBA will build its first Chinese NBA center in Tianjin. The center will cover an area of 12,000 square meters, providing an experience center, a fitness center, children entertainment, interactive games, shopping, catering and other services. The center will launch in 2015. At that point people outside Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou will have the chance to enjoy NBA preseason games. 

The article is edited and translated from《中国赛10年 NBA生财有道》, source: People's Daily, author: Fan Jiayuan.

(Editor:Kong Defang、Zhang Qian)
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