http://www.broadbandnewsnet.com/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=4343&z=1ESPN joins NBA's push into China
Wire Reports - AFP
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN and four Chinese investors agreed to pay $253-million (U.S.) to acquire an 11-per-cent stake in the National Basketball Association's operations in the country.
ESPN, one of the NBA's broadcast partners, along with Hong Kong mogul Li Ka-shing, Bank of China Ltd., China Merchants Bank Co. and Legend Holdings Ltd., will join the NBA in forming NBA China, the league said in a statement.
NBA China, valued at about $2.3-billion, is being run by former Microsoft executive Tim Chen, who was appointed in September. It will be governed by a board of directors that will include representatives from the investors, as well as current NBA team owners and league officials. NBA China will have the right to create teams in the country, and own all broadcasting and merchandising rights.
"The opportunity for basketball and the NBA in China is simply extraordinary," NBA commissioner David Stern said in the statement. "The expertise, resources and shared vision of these immensely successful companies will help us to achieve the potential we see in the region."
The NBA's popularity has grown in China with the success of Yao Ming, the NBA's top draft pick in 2002. The Chinese sports ministry says basketball is played by 300 million people in the country and is the most popular sport with youths.
The NBA has 16 marketing partnerships with Chinese-based corporations and U.S.-based companies doing business in China. It opened an office in Hong Kong in 1992 and employs 100 people in four offices in China.
The NBA became the first U.S. sports league to stage games in China in 2004 at Beijing and Shanghai and returned this season for preseason games at Shanghai and Macao.
An NBA office in Hong Kong opened in 1992 and the league employs 100 people in four offices throughout China.
Regular training clinics in China for players and coaches are a mainstay of NBA-China interaction, which also includes 16 marketing partnerships and relationships with 51 Chinese telecasters, including a 20-year deal with national broadcaster CCTV.
