The Globalization of the NBA

 

Minggao "Magic" Peng is a prospective Cornell student who works as a sports writer in his native China.  Magic covers the local soccer club for his provincial newspaper, as well as the previous World Cup. Along with soccer, he is most interested in basketball and general sports business.  Look for his column, "The Magic Touch", to appear regularly on the blog.

 

“NBA games are coming to China!” My father shouted with joy one afternoon when he came home. I thought he was joking. After all, at that time, when I was just eight years old, the NBA seemed as unlikely to play in China as it was to host a game on the moon. The lack of internet access and limited TV broadcasts of NBA games made seeing a live game seem like a pipe dream. However, my father’s words were true: the NBA was coming.

Two weeks later, my father and I waited outside the box office all night, hoping to buy the tickets to the first NBA game in China (the Rockets were playing the Kings) and I could not contain my excitement. Nothing would stop me from seeing it with my own eyes—not even the cold I got from waiting outside in the chilly night.

This scene happened in 2004, and fortunately, I witnessed this milestone, a historic step for NBA to enter China.

Now this October, almost ten years later, the NBA pre-season overseas games have come to China seven times, with the Lakers and the Warriors playing two matches in Beijing and Shanghai. At the same time, several other games, such as the Washington Wizards vs. Chicago Bulls, are being played in Europe, South America and other Asian countries.

The NBA overseas games were started in 1978. That summer, the Washington Bullets faced Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel signaling the start of rapid NBA globalization.  The McDonald's Championship, a European tournament tha lasted from 1987-99 that pitted the NBA champion against the best teams from around the world, also gradually expanded the market in Europe. Since the 1990s, more and more matches were organized in Japan, China and other Asian countries.

Looking back over the international expansion of the NBA under Commissioner David Stern, it is clear that the NBA has become an international entertainment association and an important American cultural identity, which helps the development of the NBA.

Globalization has helped the NBA in many ways. Below is a list of how I believe the NBA benefited from globalization. Promote the Image of the NBA and Teams During each series of overseas games and activities, not only the NBA but also the participating teams and players can promote their images and greatly enhance their relationships with fans.

I. Promoting the image of the NBA and its teams

During each series of overseas games and activities, not only the NBA but also the participating teams and players can promote their images and greatly enhance their relationships with fans.



Through several high-level games and community activities with fans, teams can stimulate enthusiasm and interest from locals and gain more followers, especially those who have never watched the live NBA. For example, after Chinese fans experienced the live NBA games for the first time in 2004, many people started to wear the Rockets and the Kings jerseys on the street, which would have been considered unusual before the game.

II. Expanding the International Market

While expanding its global influence, the NBA actually cooperates with different local organizations substantially at every chance, mainly aiming to negotiate broadcasting contracts and take more shares of markets. The NBA games first appeared on the television screens in 1953-1954 season, and because there were only 13 games in that year, NBC spent just 39,000 dollars on broadcasting all the games.

However, since 1980s, with the globalization of the NBA and increased enthusiasm of fans around the globe combined with the rapid development of new sorts of media, such as the Internet, the multi-level expansion of the broadcasting has become much faster and more mature. According to the statistics, in 2003-2004 season, the NBA games were broadcast by 151 televisions stations in more than 42 various languages all over the world and the figures have been still increasing since then.

In the webcasting field, since 2001, when the first NBA game was broadcast on NBA.com (Dallas Mavericks vs. Sacramento Kings), the webcasting has advanced constantly in a global context. In 2006, the NBA cooperated with two Chinese websites, nusports.cn and sohu.com to broadcast 59 games in that season. This helped establish a popular NBA online community in China with more updated news, statistics, and fantasy NBA manager games.

On the other hand, the derivative products, such as the sports clothes, toys, equipment, household electronic appliances, video games and even collected cards, of the NBA are also enjoying brisk sales. More than 100,000 NBA stores are across six continents today, and approximately 30% of the NBA revenue is from the market outside the United States.

III. Attracting More International Players

Nowadays, it may seem like common sense that players from other countries are playing for NBA teams, but this trend should be credited for the globalization of the NBA starting in the 1980s. When the NBA label was implanted in many countries, lots of talented players were inspired to play basketball in United States. After the first foreign player, Vlade Divac, a center from The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, was signed by the Lakers in 1989, more and more international players came to the NBA and became famous. In 2003-2004 season, 73 players from 34 various countries were playing for 29 teams in the league, and many players like Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash and Yao Ming had already become super stars in the NBA.

The search for international basketball talents continues, with the basketball camps sponsored with Nike held in a wide range of places around the world annually. These international players not only have enhanced the strength and competitiveness of the NBA, but also have expanded the influence of the NBA in their own countries further, showing the significance of these players and the globalization.

Besides the benefits the league has obtained over these years, it is widely acknowledged that the popularization of basketball globally is the biggest contribution of the globalization of the NBA. By entering many countries, the NBA has excited several generations of sports fans to play basketball, exerted positive impact on many countries’ training level and athletic ability because of its advanced and innovated ideas, methods and equipment, and even encouraged local basketball leagues as an exemplary model.

Conclusion

These aspects certainly promote the basketball industry, sports culture and a healthy lifestyle for human beings. In conclusion, the globalization of the NBA is a win-win situation. There is no doubt that the NBA is the main profiting part, and many foreign companies also raise their popularity and gain a competitive edge in an international context with the help of the NBA- on a global platform. In fact, the NBA is still an industry working for fans, and because of the successful globalization of the NBA, international basketball fans like me are surely the happiest ones.