NBA Market Entry To China

3 Pages 745 Words

Since its inception in 1946, the National Basketball Association has transformed itself from an 11 team league to a global phenomenon that transcends national borders. The league is composed of 29 teams, divided into Eastern and Western conferences, and includes one Canadian team. The league also operates and manages the recently established Women’s National Basketball Association, WNBA, in addition to a six team developmental league, the NBDL. NBA games and programming are shown in 212 countries in 42 different languages. The most recent NBA season featured 67 international players from 33 countries and territories on team rosters, resulting in global media coverage and increasing fan interest from across the globe.
The NBA is a recognized leader in global sports with 13 offices located worldwide, and annual sales revenues of over $2 billion. Through NBA Entertainment, the league operates a 24 hour NBA television network, weekly programming, as well as the official websites, NBA.com, WNBA.com, and NBDL.com, which is readily available to fans across the world. Further exhibiting the NBA’s global influence and impact overseas sales account for approximately 30 percent of all NBA merchandise sales. In addition, 51 percent of Internet traffic on the leagues official website, NBA.com, comes from outside the United States.
In 1898 basketball was introduced to China by U.S. Christian missionaries in the city of Tianjin, a couple years later after it was invented in the United States. Mainland China’s population is 1.3 billion with 210 million involved in basketball either in coaching, playing, or basketball activities. China has a huge basketball following especially with the younger generation who has a greater “western” following. The sports industry that our venture will be competing in is the Professional Sports teams in China; soccer, ping pong, badminton, Canada Basketball Association, or any other U.S. profession...