THE National Basketball Association has returned to China with star-studded games in Macau this week after a six-year absence from the country.
Thousands of fans cheered on Friday as the Phoenix Suns defeated the Brooklyn Nets at the sold-out Venetian Arena with celebrity spectators including David Beckham and Jackie Chan.
This marks the NBA’s first games in China since 2019 when the league was effectively frozen out following a team official’s tweet supporting Hong Kong democracy protests.
Hours after Friday’s preseason match, US President Donald Trump announced additional 100% tariffs on China, highlighting the volatile political backdrop.
NBA stars and the league are rushing back to tap into the post-pandemic Chinese market despite ongoing political tensions.
“One thing a lot of the athletes would say is that everyone read about James Harden coming to China, selling his wine and selling out in like 60 seconds,“ said Michael Lin of sports digital agency Mailman.
Booths near the arena displayed the NBA’s Chinese brand partners including Alibaba, Kuaishou, and Mengniu alongside merchandise targeting younger consumers.
David Leiner of Fanatics Collectibles said the company recently began selling China-specific NBA card packs in over 30 cities with a critical 10 yuan entry price point.
China became an NBA priority in the early 2000s partly due to Yao Ming’s superstardom according to former NBA China managing director Mark Fischer.
NBA China was valued at $2.3 billion around its 2008 formation, growing to over $4 billion a decade later.
The league signed a $1.5 billion deal with Tencent for exclusive online streaming rights in 2019 before the Hong Kong controversy erupted.
The NBA’s Macau return shows Beijing is “opening the side door but not the main gates and red carpet just yet” according to Fischer.
Teams are actively pursuing missed revenue opportunities from the vast Chinese market through targeted marketing efforts.
The Suns hired the marketing team behind American internet celebrity IShowSpeed’s successful China streaming tour.
“We’re going as far as working with them to shoot content around the players eating mooncakes and making sure that the correct terminology around Lunar New Year versus Chinese New Year is used,“ said Andrew Spalter of East Goes Global.
Geopolitics expert Victor Cha warned that China still holds “ultimate form of power over the NBA” and could leverage its market to force self-censorship.
An anonymous sports marketer in China noted that another political incident remains inevitable given the number of people associated with the NBA brand.
Appearing in Macau on Thursday, Las Vegas Sands executives demonstrated Alibaba’s AI technology for translating NBA commentary between English and Chinese.
When Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban asked if he could speak freely rather than reading scripted lines, his host indicated the prepared text would be “the most optimised” approach. – AFP