Australia's National Basketball League has "locked in the biggest audience of keen basketball eyes signing a deal to show every game this season live in China," according to Russell Gould of the HERALD SUN. Two different broadcasters, Youku -- described as the YouTube of China -- and sports website Sina Sports, "will broadcast all NBL games with commentary and graphics in Mandarin" as the league looks to capitalize on the "huge Asian market." NBL GM Jeremy Loeliger is headed to China this week as the league pushes for "a Chinese team to join." Loeliger said, "The primary commercial driver for the NBL right now is exposure -- number of eyeballs on the game. In the long term, if we are going to be as successful as we want to be, then Asian needs to be a part of that. It was always a lock-step plan -- year one establish our basketball credibility in China, year two start developing a bit of traction so that in year three hopefully when we have a Chinese team in the competition the concept of the NBL is not coming as a surprise to the basketball community in China, that they already know who we are and where to watch." The NBL "made a surge last year," returning to TV on Fox Sports, and has been "boosted this season by the return of a raft of big local names, including Olympians, and the re-inclusion of the Brisbane Bullets" (HERALD SUN, 10/5). The AFP reported Loeliger called it a "new frontier" for Australian sport. He said, "Each of our Chinese media partners individually has a subscriber base that is greater than anything ever experienced by an Australian sport on a regular basis." The NBL, which currently has eight teams, including one from New Zealand, was "struggling several years ago as dwindling crowds, poor TV ratings and a lack of star power threatened its existence." But it has "enjoyed a revival over the past two years, helped by a new digital broadcast strategy" (AFP, 10/5).
