NBA China is finally a reality!

Hmm, no doubt that China has growing interest in basketball, but I wasn't that impressed with the press release, due to its vagueness. What is the purpose of NBA China - creation of a a feeder league? player development? revenue source for the NBA through merchandising? broader broadcast exposure in China/Asia? more exhibition or regular season NBA games in China?

lordstanely, basketball is huge in China and Taiwan. The NBA will probably do just as well there as in the states. It may possibly do better, with a potential fan base 4 times that of the U.S. (and without having to deal with all the controversial and spoiled players here). You're right, the article is fairly vague. I'm not sure if it'll act completely independent of the U.S.'s NBA (I assume it will). I have a feeling the majority of players will be from China...possibly from the existing China league. It'll definitely be interesting to see how it takes shape in China!

Oh no doubt, Calkins, about market potential. I'm not knocking the idea of an NBA China, and groups like Goldman Sachs are no dummies. I'm just curious what they have in mind - a WNBA model, an NFL Europe model, or just a tool for promoting the core NBA. I just couldn't tell from the article whether NBA China is a new league or just a new business entity. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I hear baseball is trying to do the same thing over here. I actually made attempts to work for them about a year ago, but nothing panned out. Apparently (as of like a year or so ago) MLB approved on a 17 million dollar per year budget for China. They DO have one Chinese speaker on the major league level (Chien-Ming Wang for the Yanks), and they think that the talent pool could be endless (and they are right).

Given the large Chinese population in Vancouver and how well that demographic supported our NBA Grizzlies before the team slinked off to Memphis, maybe Vancouver will be granted a franchise in NBA China! Just as long as Stu Jackson (aka 'worst GM in NBA history') has nothing to do with it. Interesting, Clay, I wasn't aware of the MLB investment until you mentioned it and then I Google'd it. But I'd rate the prospects for MLB taking off in China as pretty poor. True, Chien-Ming Wang is almost as big in Taiwan as Yao Ming is in China, Taiwan has a long history of Little League success and drew tens of thousands of people to outdoor viewings of the Olympics and last year's World Baseball Classic, and Taiwan has had a (gambling-plagued) pro league since the early '90s, but elsewhere in the Chinese-speaking parts of Asia I believe the game is virtually unknown. With relatively complicated rules compared to soccer or basketball and with it being harder to get pick-up games together, it looks pretty tough at the grassroots level too. And as far as a Chinese national team, I would imagine the government would rather funds sports that can yield more than one medal at the Olympics. But that would be wild if baseball could somehow make inroads in China - the sport has benefited from the Japanese and Korean inputs at the MLB level over the past decade.

Of course my hopes is that the NBA China will only have Chinese players and not become the D-legue 2 for Amerian players. My gut feeling though, is that given the immense popularity of Basketball in China, the league is going to be made up of Chinese players, then of course we'll see more Chinese players like Yao Ming and Yi Jian Lian coming over here to join the American NBA.