Menu
Leagues and Governing Bodies

Fans In China Eat Up NBA Global Games, With Country's "Insatiable Appetite" On Full Display

The NBA in China is "one bastion of American capitalism and culture that no one is shy about supporting," and during this year's NBA Global Games, the country’s "insatiable appetite for American basketball was on display," according to Becky Davis of the N.Y. TIMES. The annual series of preseason games "are greeted in China as the sports equivalent of the Academy Awards." The NBA "averages five million viewers a game in China for its television broadcasts, three million more than for its cable broadcasts" in the U.S. last year. The league "has 80 million followers on its Chinese social media accounts, making it the country’s most popular sports league by that measure." With "preseason pilgrimages" like the one the Nets and Kings last week took to Shanghai and Beijing, the league "hopes to cultivate new audiences and cash in on its growing Chinese fan base." Nets CEO Brett Yormark: "For anyone that wants to go global, you have to be relevant in China." He said that the team was "was close to developing three or four other major partnerships with Chinese companies" (NYTIMES.com, 10/16).

GRASS ROOTS: NBA China today announced a multiyear partnership with the country's Ministry of Education to incorporate a fitness and basketball development curriculum in elementary, middle and high schools. This marks the NBA’s first-ever collaboration with China’s education authority, as well as and the Ministry of Education’s first partnership with a U.S. pro sports league. As part of the curriculum, current and former NBAers and coaches will visit Chinese schools to conduct basketball clinics and provide specialized instruction to Chinese coaches and physical education teachers (NBA).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2014/10/17/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/NBA-China.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2014/10/17/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/NBA-China.aspx

CLOSE