China, with its population of 1.3 billion, has about 300 million people who play basketball regularly, that's equal to the entire population of the United States. How could the NBA overlook such a huge market? In past years the NBA staged many games across China. The summer of 2009 was dubbed the carnival season for NBA fans in China – not only were superstars like Shaquille O'Neal, Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant invited to China, legends like Scottie Pippen, Dikembe Mutombo and Robert Horry also made appearances in the Middle Kingdom.

    According to data from the NBA's China website, the organization held over 100 basketball activities in China during the summer of 2009, including the Mengniu-NBA Ultimate Blueprint for Basketball Players, NBA Caravan, NBA preseason games and more. During the months that 51 TV stations in China broadcast NBA games and related programs, they drew 1.6 billion viewers, a 34 percent leap over the previous season. Such market saturation effectively ensured the organization's fame in China. A study shows that in 11 big cities 89 percent of people aged between 15 and 24 have knowledge of the basketball league.

Following the Tide to China

Dwight Howard, an NBA superstar, made the scene in Beijing in June 2007.                                                                                                  China Foto Press

    The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games significantly expanded Chinese enthusiasm for sports. They are spending lavishly to broaden the scope of top sporting events they can enjoy. Only a decade ago there was little interest in watching things like golf, tennis or snooker, and the English Premier League, Bundesliga and NBA games were the only three events that had big fan bases in China.

    The Olympic experience has also titillated the Chinese appetite for live sports; this translates into considerable commercial opportunities. Though the sport world has suffered gravely at the hands of the global economic crisis, China is a market that keeps on growing.

    "China's sports industry is currently expanding at an annual rate of 15 to 20 percent," said Lin Xianpeng, a professor at the Beijing Sport University and a researcher for the China Institute for Sports Value. Compared to the countries with highly developed sports industries, China's potential is just starting to be tapped.

    According to the China Sports Industry Development Report (2008/2009), earnings of domestic sporting industries stood below US $50 billion in 2007, accounting for only 0.7 percent of Chinese GDP, while the figure in the U.S. exceeded US $1 trillion, making up seven percent of its GDP. Sport ranks sixth among America's top ten mainstay industries, surpassing automobile and IT sectors.

    However, seeing the prospect of huge profits in China, sporting clubs around the world are now shifting their focus to the Chinese market.

    The NBA is one such successful example. In 2008, it set up the first NBA store outside the U.S. in Beijing. So far, it has opened eight stores and more than 30,000 franchised outlets, selling NBA-related products from team uniforms to basketballs, accessories and even electronic appliances. A Coca Cola tin emblazoned with the logo of the NBA Shanghai Game can fetch up to US $14 on the Internet. The sporting giant is rolling into China at full steam. It now has 21 business partners in the nation, nine of them Chinese. So take a seat, the games are about to begin.