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Corporate players unveil NBA China

NBA China, a new company that plans to conduct all National Basketball Association business in the world's most populous nation, was unveiled on Monday with major US and Chinese corporate support.

Five companies, including the Walt Disney Company's ESPN sports division, have invested a combined US$253 million for an 11 percent equity stake in the NBA's business in a nation that adores the league and the sport.

"The opportunity for basketball and the NBA in China is simply extraordinary," NBA commissioner David Stern said.

China's Yao Ming, the 2.26m center for the Houston Rockets, became Asia's first NBA star and Chinese rookie Yi Jianlian of the Milwaukee Bucks has been even more popular as he hones his game ahead of August's Beijing Olympics.

Spending big to back the NBA in China are Disney and four Chinese groups -- Bank of China Group Investment, Legend Holdings Limited, Li Ka Shing Foundation and China Merchants Investments.

"The expertise, resources and shared vision of these immensely successful companies will help us to achieve the potential we see in the region," Stern said.

"Strategic investment from these companies will allow us to continue working with the General Administration of Sports and Chinese Basketball Association [CBA] to grow our sport."

Tim Chen, a former Microsoft Greater China chief executive who joined the NBA three months ago, will be the chief executive of NBA China, which has a board of directors with investor representatives plus NBA officials.

NBA directors at the start will be Stern, club owners Herb Simon of Indiana and Glen Taylor of Minnesota, NBA chief operating officer Adam Silver and global marketing partnership president Heidi Ueberroth.

"With the support of its strategic investors and additional investments in China, I think the NBA and the CBA can expand upon our past cooperation to further develop basketball in China," said Li Yuanwei, CBA secretary general.

The NBA became the first US sports league to stage games in China in 2004 at Beijing and Shanghai and returned this season for pre-season games at Shanghai and Macau.

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 relations with 51 Chinese telecasters, including a 20-year deal with national broadcaster CCTV.
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