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The development of NBA in China: a glocalization perspective

Article in International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship · February 2017

DOI: 10.1108/IJSMS-05-2016-0013

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 International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship
The development of NBA in China: a glocalization perspective
Liangjun Zhou Jerred Junqi Wang Xiaoying Chen Chundong Lei James J. Zhang Xiao Meng
Article information:
To cite this document:
Liangjun Zhou Jerred Junqi Wang Xiaoying Chen Chundong Lei James J. Zhang Xiao Meng ,
(2017)," The development of NBA in China: a glocalization perspective ", International Journal of
Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, Vol. 18 Iss 1 pp. 81 - 94
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The
The development of NBA in development of
China: a glocalization perspective NBA in China
Liangjun Zhou
Department of Sport Management and Leisure Studies,
Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China
81
Jerred Junqi Wang Received 2 May 2016
Department of Kinesiology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA Revised 6 October 2016
Accepted 9 November 2016
Xiaoying Chen
Department of Sport Journalism and Communication,
Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China
Chundong Lei
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Department of Sport Management and Leisure Studies,

Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China
James J. Zhang
International Center for Sport Management, Department of Kinesiology,
University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA, and
Xiao Meng
Department of Sport Management and Leisure Studies,
Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China

Abstract
Purpose – Building upon the framework of glocalization, the purpose of this paper is to summarize
the development of National Basketball Association (NBA) in Chinese market, explore its successful and
unsuccessful places, and propose strategies of glocalization for the NBA as well as other overseas sport
leagues.
Design/methodology/approach – The current case study was organized by summarizing the
developmental history of NBA in China, analyzing its current promotional practices, investigating into its
marketing strategies, and extrapolating practical references for other sport leagues aiming to penetrating into
the Chinese marketplace.
Findings – The current case study concluded that when facing the current challenges, the NBA needs to
bring authentic American cultural commodities while adding Chinese characteristics to accommodate local
fans. Meanwhile, the NBA management needs to continue seeking ways to work out and through the
differences in government models and cultural contexts between China and USA. In addition, this study
suggested that the research framework of glocalization would be an ever intriguing inquiry needed for other
sport organizations or leagues seeking expansion to overseas markets.
Originality/value – A thorough case study with the NBA that has achieved huge successes in Chinese
markets will provide valuable implications for sport leagues to broaden their overseas markets.
Keywords Marketing strategy, China, Basketball, NBA, Chinese sport market, Glocalization,
Promotional practices
Paper type Case study

Executive summary
The growing sport industry and 1.3 billion potential consumers in China have been garnering
tremendous attention from more and more overseas professional sport leagues. European International Journal of Sports
Marketing and Sponsorship
soccer has tapped the Chinese market for several years; Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Vol. 18 No. 1, 2017
pp. 81-94
National Football League (NFL) continue their attempts to gain access; and the National © Emerald Publishing Limited
1464-6668
Hockey League has also begun to seek collaboration with Chinese sport organizations. DOI 10.1108/IJSMS-05-2016-0013
 IJSMS Comparatively, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has had remarkable success in the
18,1 Chinese market. From the perspective of sport competition or marketing operations, the
NBA’s achievement in China provides a model for other overseas sport leagues. With the new
national stimulation policy on “Accelerating the development of sport industry and promoting
sport consumption,” the Chinese sport industry has become increasingly favored by the
market capital. This case study was organized by summarizing the developmental history of
82 NBA in China, analyzing its current promotional practices, investigating into its marketing
strategies, and extrapolating practical references for other sport leagues aiming to penetrating
into the Chinese marketplace.
The current case study concluded that when facing the current challenges, the NBA
needs to bring in authentic American cultural commodities while adding Chinese
characteristics to accommodate local fans. Meanwhile, the NBA management needs to
continue seeking ways to work out and through the differences in government models and
cultural contexts between China and USA. In addition, this study suggested that the
research framework of glocalization would be an ever intriguing inquiry needed for other
Downloaded by Mr Jerred Wang At 20:34 26 January 2017 (PT)

sport organizations or leagues seeking expansion to overseas markets.

Globalization is “a process through which space and time are compressed by technology,
information flows and trade and power relations, allowing distant actions to have increased
significance at the local level” (Robertson, 1995, p. 25), which could have been boosted by the
“General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade” in 1947 (Andreff, 1989). Globalization is
arguably one of fundamental forces in shaping and transforming human society (Huang
and Hong, 2015) and also one of debatable phenomena within modern culture (Appadurai,
1996; Hirst and Thompson, 1996; Robertson, 1992). It plays as the basis and consequences of
post-industrial capitalism, economic flows, improved transportation, new media
technologies, and especially the influence of American popular culture on contemporary
social life throughout the world ( Jackson and Andrews, 1999).
When domestic markets reach saturated, corporate companies are gradually driven into
a stage of international expansion in which they usually confront the strategic choice of
standardizing or adapting their marketing mix (Yip, 1989). The strategy of standardization
is the adaptation of a standard marketing mix in all markets; in contrast, the strategy of
adaptation is to customize the marketing mix to accommodate the needs and wants of local
consumers ( Jain, 1989). The debate over these two expansion strategies has lasted for over
three decades (Sinkovics et al., 2007). Many believe that multinational corporations should
combine both standardized and adapted elements to conceptualize globally and act locally,
namely, the strategy of globalization (Tanahashi, 2008). By taking this approach, marketers
can meet the needs of local consumers effectively while still maintaining some extent
of global standardization (Singh et al., 2005). Since the early 1990s, the framework of
glocalization has been gradually employed in many research fields such as culture, politics,
and economics.
The evolution of free market economies, emergence of new cable and satellite television
networks, and sport commercialization have largely accelerated the pace of sport
globalization (Huang and Hong, 2015). For instance, in recent years the Formula One annual
grand prix series have been promoted to several new locations including Singapore,
Bahrain, Malaysia, and South Korea. Japan accounts for the majority of MLB International
revenues from television broadcasting, sponsorships, and licensed products (Klein, 2006).
The NFL has made concerted efforts to penetrate into the European and Asian markets.
European football leagues are now trying to expand their presence in India and China. Golf
and rugby marketers hope that the inclusion of these sports in the 2016 Rio Olympics will
create an effect similar to that of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics for basketball. Recently, the
concept of glocalization has received much scholarly and practical attention to explain the
global circulation and expansion of sport commodities, along with their accommodations to
 local market environment (Huang, 2013). As a representative of American sport commodity, The
the globalization of NBA sets up a typical case in this phenomenon. development of
NBA in China
Trajectory of NBA globalization in China
In the early 1990s, NBA was reaching a saturation point in the American market ( Jackson
and Andrews, 1999). Commissioner David Stern realized the trend of sport globalization
and pointed out that “global development is a certainty with or without us” (Heisler, 1991, 83
p. C1) and “the thing that would make the most sense would be a division in Europe at the
time that it comes […] (but) I don’t see that for another decade at least” (Tack, 2015).
Most European cities showed an overwhelming preference for soccer but not ready for
building a NBA-standard arena (Madkour, 2012). Comparatively, Asia as an increasingly
important base of global sports industry has showed great interest in embracing the NBA
events (Cho et al., 2012). Consequently, in the process of NBA globalization efforts, the
Asian market has been placed with a priority, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region
(Huang, 2013).
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In addition to the rapid growing Chinese economy, the popularity of basketball in

China also make Chinese market one of the most important attractive markets to the NBA.
Since 1980s when China started to implement the “Reform and opening-up policy,” the
Chinese market had been gradually shifting from central planning to a market-oriented
economic system and slowly blending into the global market. Accordingly, American
cultural commodities such as rock music, movie, jeans, and fast food industries have
entered and built up in China. Differing from these industrial segments venturing into a
totally new marketplace, the NBA has actually embraced the basketball which has
maintained one century’s popularity in China. In late 1890s, the Young Men’s Christian
Association in Tianjin brought basketball to China and rapidly became a national pastime
in the Old China. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, basketball
continues to be the most popular sports and a nationwide game at elite, school, and
community competition levels (Huang, 2013). Two testimonies below further highlight the
significance of basketball in China:
Today, basketball is the most influential sport and has the largest number of participants and
stadiums, the highest media coverage, and the biggest potential market among Chinese sports
(Li Yuanwei, Former Director of Chinese Basketball Association).
In China, football is the most salient topic in the media, while basketball remains the No 1 sport in
participation (Xu Jicheng, Assistant Director of Sports, Xinhua News Agency).

There are over 0.65 million basketball courts and 300 million basketball fans in the
country (Li, 2010, p. 265). However, for a long time, the Chinese Basketball Management
Center and the Chinese Basketball Association (known as “One Personnel, Two Boards,”
or “Dual Portfolio”) had focused on winning international games, ignoring the value of
entertainment, economy, and culture of basketball (Li, 2010, p. 186). In the 1990s, Chinese
soccer and basketball leagues began the process of professionalization; the operational
experience of NBA provides practical references for the China Basketball Association
(Huang and Hong, 2015). During this time period, the Chinese television industry
developed rapidly, which provided an impetus for the NBA’s diffusion in China. Huang
(2013) asserted that the NBA’s extensive engagement with Chinese television broadcasters
contributed to its popularity in China. This viewpoint was supported by others with
expertise in Chinese basketball marketing. Xu JiCheng stated that “NBA took advantage
of the rapid development of Chinese television industry which started in 1980s.
Watching TV became the most important entertainment activity in most Chinese
family. The popularization of television broadcast helped NBA rapidly reach millions of
 IJSMS potential consumers.” Bao Mingxiao, the Director of Sport Social Science Research Center
18,1 in China Institute of Sport Science indicated that “NBA has chosen an effective
marketing strategy to promote its games. At the very beginning stage, NBA provided the
free copyright to the Chinese Central Television (CCTV), which I think is a very smart
move.” Overall, the glocalization of NBA in Chinese market involves four stages, as
outlined below.
84
Initial stage (1979-1992)
During the early years of implementing the “Reform and openness policy” in China,
the NBA initiated connections with China. For instance, in 1979, to help meets the
diplomatic needs of the USA, the Washington Bullets traveled to China and played
against the BA YI Rockets. In 1984, David Stern became the Commissioner of the NBA,
at which point he began promoting globalization efforts. In 1986, the NBA, for the
first time, sent video-recorded games of the NBA Finals to CCTV for free broadcasting
(Huang, 2008) as CCTV is the government controlled and most influential television
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network in China. In 1989, the NBA, led by David Stern, offered event content and a
broadcast signal to CCTV without asking for a payment in an effort to promote
collaborations between the NBA and the Chinese media. By taking engaging with CCTV,
the NBA rapidly gained nationwide influence in China (Huang, 2013). In 1992, the Dream
Team, led by Michael Jordan, further heightened the popularity of the NBA in China (Sun,
2010). To facilitate NBA operations in China, the first NBA overseas headquarter was
founded in Hong Kong in 1992.

Rapid development stage (1993-2001)

In the 1990s, to meet the demand of domestic basketball fans, the Chinese media gradually
increased NBA coverage, widening its presence in Chinese markets. On June 8, 1994, CCTV
live-broadcasted the NBA Finals for the first time. In 1996, CCTV began live broadcasting
NBA regular games, playoffs, finals, and the All-Star games (Huang, 2013). In the same year,
the Chinese Basketball Association started the process of professionalization and
maintained frequent communication with the NBA to learn its advanced management
system (Huang and Hong, 2015). In 1998, the NBA began charging China with copyright
fees for live broadcasting. In 1999, Wang Zhizhi was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in the
second round, becoming the first Chinese player in the NBA. In 2001, Kobe Bryant visited
Hong Kong and Beijing to promote basketball through training camps and skill exhibitions
(Huang, 2009). The drafting of Chinese players into the NBA and NBA player visits to China
largely boosted the number of Chinese NBA fans.

Golden years (2002-2010)

In 2002, Yao Ming was drafted by the Houston Rockets, inaugurating the NBA’s golden
years in China. According to the NBA, Yao Ming brought 3.7 billion new viewers to the NBA
(Sina Sports, 2011). In 2004, the NBA arranged two preseason games in Beijing and
Shanghai. The tickets were sold out a couple of months before the event, and Chinese
businesses showed great passion in sponsoring the event, sending a strong signal to the
NBA that entering into the Chinese market held great promise (Huang, 2013).

Steady development (after 2011)

With Yao Ming’s retirement in July 2011, NBA development in China has transitioned to a
stage of steady development. In recent years, the NBA has benefitted from the rapid
development of the internet in China and begun collaborating with multiple new media outlets
(Huang, 2013). Although the viewership for televised NBA events has dropped somewhat, the
 collaborations with Sina and Tencent (Sina and Tencent are two internet giants in China) have The
brought the NBA tremendous economic and social benefits (Zhou, 2014). Given the shortage of development of
Chinese players in the league, the NBA has been trying to find another Yao Ming (Chen and NBA in China
Guo, 2014). In 2012, an American of Taiwanese descent, talented Harvard-educated guard,
Jeremy Lin, pushed the “Linsanity” wave to China. In April 2016, Zhou Qi, a Chinese
Basketball Player, announced his participation in the NBA draft. If he ever joins the NBA, it is
likely to enjoy further NBA elevation in China (Shanghai Daily, 2015). Without a doubt, after 85
more than 30 years of development in China, the NBA has made much progress in many areas
of the Chinese marketplace (Huang, 2013).

Achievement of NBA’s diffusion in China

Sport fans
According to a survey conducted by the NBA, 83 percent of Chinese men aged 15-24 years
are fans of NBA. Among these fans, 40 percent claim that basketball is their favorite sport.
Four of their top five favorite athletes are NBA players. Over 30 million Chinese viewers
Downloaded by Mr Jerred Wang At 20:34 26 January 2017 (PT)

watch NBA events every week, and on average, NBA.com has over three million visits from
Chinese consumers per day (Huang, 2013). Chinese NBA players such as Yao Ming,
Wang Zhizhi, and Yi Jianlian have made the NBA an influential sport league in China.
Even though its popularity has dropped since the retirement of Yao Ming in 2011, NBA
events are still among the most widely attended and viewed sport events in China.
For example, the 2014-2015 NBA season was watched by more than 690 million television
viewers in China (Shanghai Daily, 2015). These numbers outperformed other sport events in
China by far. Besides collaborating with traditional media (e.g. newspaper, radio, and
television), the NBA has also been cooperating within Chinese internet media to capture the
attention of younger fans. On the NBA’s official blog in China – http://e.weibo.com/nba – there
are 27.5 million fans. On the league’s website in China – NBA.com/China – there are 8.6 million
registered fans. On Sina Weibo, Tencent Weibo, Tencent Qzone, and Tencent WeChat, there
are 70 million NBA followers (Zhou, 2014). Li Yuanwei, the Former Director of the Chinese
Basketball Association, once remarked that “NBA stars have become young fans’ idols. There
was one time that I travelled to Tibet for charitable activities and noticed that local kids were
all wearing NBA apparels.”

Revenue
NBA revenue from Chinese markets has primarily come from three major sources:
broadcasting rights, sponsorship and advertising, and merchandise (Zhou, 2014). According to
the former NBA Deputy Commissioner (now Commissioner) Adam Silver, NBA China revenue
estimated at roughly between $150 million and $170 million accounting for roughly a half of the
international revenue (Lombardo, 2010). Even after the retirement of Yao Ming in 2012, this
number still reached around $150 million. In 2013, the NBA maintained a 10 percent growth
rate and is estimated to do the same over the next couple of years (Han and Li, 2015).

Media rights
Since Yao Ming landed in NBA as the first draft pick in 2002, NBA events have become valuable
resources for most Chinese media, leading to a remarkable increase in broadcasting fees. In 2008
and 2009, the revenue of NBA broadcasting rights in China increased to $50 million, accounting
for 70 percent of NBA overseas revenue (Li, 2014). After 2010, NBA online streaming rights were
demanded by multiple Chinese internet media. For example, Sina spent $7.0 million for online
streaming rights from 2010 to 2013. This number was doubled in 2013 when Sina extended its
deal with the NBA (Li, 2014). In 2015, Tencent paid $500 million for exclusive online streaming
rights for NBA programs (Daily Business Network, 2015).
 IJSMS Sponsorship and advertising
18,1 In 2008, the NBA partnered with 17 Chinese businesses and received over $50 million in
partnership fees (Wei, 2008). In October 2014, Anta, a Chinese athletic apparel company,
spent $32.7 million to become official partner with the NBA. In addition, collaboration with
Chinese media has brought the NBA an increasing portion of their advertising revenue.

Merchandise
86 The NBA offers both online and offline stores, covering traditional sport apparels,
equipment, souvenirs, video productions, and video games. Among them, video games
targeting young fans have become the newest growth point in China for the NBA.
The current case study was organized by analyzing its current promotional practices,
investigating into its marketing strategies, and extrapolating practical references for other
sport leagues aiming to penetrating into the Chinese marketplace. The approach of intrinsic
case study and qualitative method was employed to examine the globalization and
localization of NBA in China. It is useful when the research objective to obtain a nuanced
Downloaded by Mr Jerred Wang At 20:34 26 January 2017 (PT)

understanding of the case in question rather than to make generalizations (Stake, 2005).
To examine these complex and diverse interactions, a number of data collection methods
were adopted (Yin, 2003).

Methods
Data collection
One-on-one interview. To obtain in-depth understanding about NBA globalization and
localization in China, we conducted one-on-one interviews with Bao Mingxiao, Zhang Lin,
Tan Jianxiang who were academic scholars and Li Yuanwei, Xu Jicheng, Amnada Liu, and
Victor Liu, who were sport-industrial experts. Bao Mingxiao was a Professor of sport
economics at Shanghai University of Sport and also serves as the Director of the Sport
Social Science Research Center in the Chinese Institute of Sport Science; he has been a
leading member of the research group for the Operation of Basketball Professionalization in
China. Tan Jianxiang was a Professor of sport economics and industry in China at the South
China Normal University. Zhang Lin was a Professor and the former Dean of the College of
Sport Economics and Management in Shanghai University of Sport. Li Yuanwei was the
former Director of Chinese Basketball Association, who launched a commercialization
reformation for the proposed Chinese Basketball Association League, drawing upon the
NBA model. Xu Jicheng was the Assistant Director of the sport segment in the Xinhua News
Agency, a well-known commentator of basketball games on CCTV, and also a leading
member of the research group for the Operation of Basketball Professionalization in China.
Amanda Liu was the Associate Director of Communications and Community Relations at
the NBA China. Victor Liu was the Senior Legal Counsel at the NBA China.
Semi-structured interviews were adopted to explore the themes initially considered
significant in the glocalization in China, which allowed unanticipated topics to emerge. Each
of these interviews lasted between 40 and 70 minutes. During the semi-structured
interviews, participants were asked questions pertaining to a number of aspects of the
globalization and localization of NBA in China.
Focus group interview. Given that focus group allows the intersections among
participants, it suits well for this exploratory research. Two focus groups with six
participants in each group were included in this study. The purposive sampling was used to
select representative participants. Three were middle school students, two high school
students, four college students, and three college graduates, including ten males and two
females. After the written informed consent was collected, the content of 90-minute focus
group interviews was recorded and transcribed verbatim by the researchers. To protect
confidentiality, all study participants were given a pseudonym.
 Data analysis The
A thematic analysis was conducted with the transcripts of semi-structured interviews development of
which followed Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-step approach. First, we read and reread the NBA in China
data. Second, the first author identified codes to systematically identify and organize the
relevant topics, which were then verified by the second author to ensure accuracy. Third,
we organized the codes into appropriate themes, which included the motivation of NBA
globalization, countermeasures, and difficulties of localization in Chinese market. Fourth, 87
we verified the coded data matched the theme and its original context. Fifth, we assigned
clear and appropriate titles to the themes. Sixth, we selected the most appropriate
examples that accurately represented the collected data and effectively linked the data to
the current literature to discuss the results.

Findings and discussion

Glocalization of NBA in China
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Zhang (2007) considered that the factors that influenced the localization of transnational
corporations would include the localization of research and development, channel of
distribution, production, management, and talent; whereas Yang (2003) insisted that the key
of localization for transnational corporations was localization of relationship. Summarizing
these scholars’ viewpoints and considering the feature of NBA, this section will cover the
NBA’s glocalization in China from the following perspectives: product, media, hero (raw
material), management, talent, and public relation.
Product globalization and localization. Based on the integrated global market, the NBA
promotes homogenization of cultural patterns and commodities, and creates a global
“consent” (Shi, 2007). NBA events combine competitions and entertainments, highlighting
fan engagements instead of focusing exclusively on competitive attributes. On one hand,
NBA fills in the shortage of high level of spectator sport in China; on the other hand, NBA
satisfies the demand of consumers for sport entertainment.
Featured as American lifestyles, individualistic heroism, and show-off personalities (Wei,
2008), NBA has been a symbol of western culture in China and a basketball spectacle,
particularly for the younger generation (Huang, 2013). For fans, NBA events provide space
for socialization with friends, family, or business partners (Chen, 2000). To make a
thoroughly authentic environment, NBA China airlifted the wooden floor from the USA.
American NBA legends, cheerleaders, mascots, and dunkers were also flown in (Meng,
2011). The NBA also emphasizes the localization of products. To create a thrilling
and entertaining atmosphere for Chinese audiences, NBA China specially arranged
entertainment activities featuring Chinese characters such as the dancing dragon and lion in
the half-time break of games during the Chinese Spring Festival (Chen and Guo, 2014).
The following is the viewpoint of NBA fans:
Liu: I like watching NBA games mainly because I like playing basketball. I want to see how high-
level players play so as to improve my own skills and ability of controlling the rhythm.
Additionally, I prefer the atmosphere of the NBA to the CBA (i.e. the Chinese Basketball
Association League) games.

Qiu: I like watching NBA games mainly because playing basketball can attract the girls’ attentions.
I can learn a lot of handsome skills by watching NBA games. I want to learn the cooperation among
the players. And then, I think both shooting and dunking are very handsome, and the
transformation between attack and defense is wonderful. What is more, I can learn a lot of tactical
awareness from the NBA games, which can give me great help to understand what the coach teaches
in a basketball training session. Finally, I think that all of NBA teams own a “never give-up” spirit
that makes the event splendid and particularly exciting.
 IJSMS Media globalization and localization. As for the global sport, it is crucial to make use of media
18,1 to educate consumers to become familiar with sporting brands and build identification so as to
make profit (Falcous and Maguire, 2006). For instance, NBA 2002-2003 programming was
broadcasted in 42 different languages reaching a global audience of 750 million households,
which can be seen in 212 countries around the world (Falcous and Maguire, 2006). In China,
NBA made its games localized through all kinds of media. The NBA’s popularity owed to its
88 extensive engagement with Chinese television broadcasters (Huang, 2013). In 1989, Stern
signed a broadcasting contract with CCTV. In 1995, after the establishment of the first sport
channel CCTV-5, this national television station signed a long-term contract with the NBA to
broadcast NBA’s regular, play-off, finals, and All-Star games to at least 90 percent of
households throughout the country (Huang, 2013). CCTV is the longest and proudest
partnership, showing five games a week in China currently. NBA also has a handful of
regional based TV stations like Shanghai Media Group, BesTV, Beijing TV, Guangdong TV,
and Chongqing Satellite TV (Zhou, 2014). However, many Chinese fans prefer to watch
popular TV program for free. Consequently, NBA China has tried to cooperate with local
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companies on free online streaming (Chen and Guo, 2014). Since 2000s, internet and mobile
phone have become two new program carriers for diffusing NBA culture globally (Huang,
2013). NBA China signed a five-year contract with Tencent, which is the biggest internet game
and social media company. Additionally, NBA has paid much attention to its media
programming’s localization. Through the central and local media in China, NBA has made
the NBA culture well known to the Chinese. As NBA’s localization efforts in China need
the support and cooperation from the local broadcasting team, every year NBA would invite
China’s major media organizations to watch live All-Star games or final games and provide
them with much NBA game information. Through these broadcasting teams, NBA games
are localized. For example, some tactical terms such as “Air relay” “Pick and roll” was
translated into Chinese by commentator, eventually becoming buzzwords.
Global hero and local hero. The NBA understands the power of an icon (Huang, 2013).
After the retirement of Michael Jordan, NBA continued promoting other star players, such
as Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, and Tracy McGrady. The globalization of the league had
been aided by the influx of international talents, like Dirk Nowitzki from Germany, Pau
Gasol from Spain, and Tony Parker from France (Chen and Guo, 2014). Global sports
heavily depend on nationalistic elements for attracting local fans (Cho et al., 2012).
Apparently, there has been no one who is as big an Ambassador as Yao Ming who has made
the NBA League further popular, and helped start a Ming dynasty in China (Huang, 2013).
Bao Mingxiao pointed out that “Chinese are crazy about NBA games mainly because of
Yao Ming. Actually, all of them just want to watch Yao Ming, fairly proportion of people
for Yao Ming. No Chinese player is a great loss to the NBA.”
In China, basketball fans care more about superstars such as Yao Ming and Kobe Bryant
than about the game itself (Liu and Pan, 2010). Considering that Chinese fans’ attentions are
strongly tied to the level of exposure of Chinese basketball players, the NBA has consistently
promoted Chinese local heroes by actively importing Chinese basketball players, such as
Bater, Wang Zhizhi, Yao Ming, and Yi Jianlian. After Yao Ming retired in 2011, the desire for
finding the next Yao has become pressing and a recent target has been on a young center
Zhou Qi (Shanghai Daily, 2015). The following are some viewpoints of NBA fans:
Xie: I began to watch NBA games with a group of friends. We liked the Heat, Celtics, and Warriors.
Sometimes we also watch the games that comprise our favorite super stars.
Liu: We mainly care about those stronger teams. The super stars and wonderful games are my
favorite.
Qiu: Sometimes I will imitate skills of NBA super stars. I think the NBA super stars are fashion icons.
 Xie: I like watching NBA games for one reason: I like playing basketball. So, I want to improve my The
skill by watching NBA games. For another reason, Yao Ming entered the NBA. Since then, I began development of
to enjoy watching Rockets and NBA games. It took me many years to study NBA skills, finally
I found that it was unpractical to learn it. I have gradually cultivated the habit of watching NBA NBA in China
games because the games are fierce and wonderful. Additionally, I was influenced by my friends.
Together with them, it will never be boring to watch NBA games.

Global and local management. In order to attain its desired transnational presence, the NBA 89
formed an overseas division, the NBA International, which has established regional offices in
Geneva, Barcelona, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Taiwan, Tokyo, and Toronto. These
regional offices are staffed by business operation, marketing, and international relations experts
for cultivating the league’s visibility overseas through broadcasting and licensed merchandising
deals ( Jackson and Andrews, 1999). In China alone, the NBA International has sequentially
established branches in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and Taiwan (Lombardo, 2010). In 2008,
NBA China was founded, with four strategic partners including the Bank of China Group
Investment, Legend Holdings Limited, Li Ka Shing Foundation, and China Merchants
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Investments, altogether investing $253 million to acquire 11 percent equity of NBA China. This
strategic alliance might have been the best mode of entering China by the NBA. The local
partners’ expertise, resources, and experience would help the NBA to deal with the General
Administration of Sport (GAS), the Chinese Basketball Association, and fan base (Chen and Guo,
2014). The new entity is led by Tim Chen, the former CEO of Microsoft in Greater China, who
has extended experience in promoting products in the Chinese marketplace.
Localization of human resources. The necessity for personnel localization is obvious
because human resources localized not only helps with the adaptation to cultural differences
in different countries, but also contribute to the reduction of the financial cost for
multinational corporations (Li and Wang, 2010). Personnel localization is practiced through
the process from ordinary employee to senior staff (Yang, 2003). According to Li Yuanwei,
although Mark Fischer, the former Director of NBA China, was a Native American, he
married a wife from Taiwan and spoke Chinese fluently. Deeply understanding the Chinese
culture and the Chinese sport management system, he knew how to take advantage of
loopholes. When David Stern, the previous President of NBA, discussed the appointment of
Tim Chen, he said: “what we considered about is not the protection of intellectual property
rights, but his rich experience in dealing with complex issues of Chinese government and
enterprise.” He said that if NBA wanted to root in China in the future, it must have a good
cooperation with the Chinese government (He, 2009).
Localization of public relations. Yang (2003) thought that the key of localization for
transnational corporation was localization of relationship. Through various forms of
cooperating marketing, the transnational corporations keep strengthening the relationship
with consumers, suppliers, competitors, and government agencies by forming strategic
partners or strategic alliances that share benefits and risks. NBA China has made strong
efforts to build a good relationship with the Chinese Government and other entities such as the
Chinese Basketball Association. It starts at the very top. President Xi Jinping visited
Los Angeles Lakers’ games against the Phoenix Suns two years ago. Xi was kind enough to
mention that he thought the NBA is a great sport and an inspirational game. Xi even said he
likes to watch NBA games when he has the time (Zhou, 2014). In 2013, NBA Commissioner
Adam Silver invited Vice-Premier Liu Yandong to watch the Chicago Bull games. The NBA
has surely maintained a good relationship with the GAS of China and the CBA. The NBA has
trained over 600 coaches in the last three years for the CBA and set up the CBA Dongguan
Basketball School to develop elite young basketball talents in China (Zhou, 2014). In 2014, the
NBA and the Chinese Department of Education established a long-term partnership to
promote the development of youth basketball in China. With the help of local companies for
 IJSMS sponsorship, NBA expanded its influence in China (Huang, 2008). The sponsors of NBA in
18,1 China reached 20, including multiple Chinese enterprises: Li Ning, China Mobile, Sohu,
Lenovo, and Mengniu. These sponsors have promoted NBA nationwide through such
activities as making face-to-face communications for the NBA stars and fans (Huang, 2013).

Conflicts in the globalization of NBA in China

90 For many years, the only way the NBA could reach its Chinese fans had been through its
broadcasting programs. In 2004, live NBA preseason games were introduced to China, and
then returned in 2007, named NBA China Games. Since then, the NBA China Games had
become an annual event. Although many Chinese fans hoped that the NBA could bring
regular-season games to China, transportation cost, game schedule, and athlete conditioning
remained big concerns. “Bring regular-season games to China would be very costly. You must
pay a lot for the travel and players. There are some difficulties to achieve this” said David
Stern (Chen, 2010). The ultimate solution to establish a local presence was a NBA affiliated
league in China that is owned and operated by the NBA itself. Meanwhile, the NBA China
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established a joint venture with Anschutz Entertainment Group, planning to operate

12 NBA-standard “multi-purpose, NBA-style sports and entertainment” arenas nationwide in
the next few years, which could lay a solid infrastructure foundation for the future NBA
affiliated league (Chen and Guo, 2014). At the same time, the NBA China planned to launch a
thousand stores in mainland China, dubbed “1,000 Plan” to sell merchandise products.
However, many of these plans have eventually failed (Liu and Pan, 2010). The NBA’s bid for
the operating rights of the CBA and for those of the national team also failed (Li, 2010).
Guy and Amir (2004) found that local (Israeli) soccer remains a symbol for expressing
national or regional identity, which possibly hinders global infiltration. This viewpoint is
supported by Maguire and Tuck (1998), who believed that the close affiliation of sports with
national cultures and identities has the potential to undermine, rather than support, global
integration. As the highest basketball league in China, the Chinese Basketball Association
League is a symbol of nationalism and sovereignty that prevent from NBA’s globalization
(Huang and Hong, 2015). There are some comments from the expert panel.
Li Yuangwei expressed strong concerns that to set up a new league is unpractical as it is
a typical American thinking. It will bring huge negative impact on the Chinese Basketball
Association League and the Men’s National Basketball League.
The upper administration of the CBA believes that the NBA affiliated league cannot be
allowed to enter into the Chinese market; otherwise, the CBA league would face a disaster.
The leading concern is that the NBA is good at marketing and capital operations. If the NBA
sets up an affiliated league in China, what would that do for the CBA?
According to Bao Mingxiao, presumably the different governance models between the
NBA and the CBA have played an important role in NBA’s failure. NBA is a professional sport
league while CBA still remains to be quasi-professional, or at most a professional league with
socialist characteristics (Huang, 2013). In China, most of the decision-making roles are taken
by governmental officers from the GAS and the China Basketball Management Center (Huang
and Hong, 2015). Governmental intervention in Chinese professional basketball exerts
significant impacts not only at national level, but also at the provincial and municipal levels.
This government management model has prevented the NBA’s governance model from being
fully assimilated into China (Huang and Hong, 2015).
Zhang Lin indicated that if western sport organizations want to enter China, they must
understand the sport management system in China. It is much different between China and
European or American countries. We have a national governance system in place; in fact, we
think that we have a sound management chain providing effective administrations for sport
programs ranging from youth sport schools to professional teams, and ultimately to the
national team. Li Yuangwei further explained that NBA’s promotion in China has been
 challenged due mainly to cultural differences between China and the US. Not just the CBA The
administration, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) also reservation about the development of
NBA being bossy, aggressive, disrespectful, and unmanageable. The NBA deals with NBA in China
administrative affairs in its own cumbersome way and uses complicated procedures. This is
one of the reasons why it is hard to work with NBA.
It is certain that the differences between Chinese and American laws and legal systems
would bring complexities and obstacles for NBA’s promotion in China. Victor Liu explained 91
that broadcasting of NBA games constitutes a large proportion of NBA total revenue;
however, whether game broadcasting deserves to be copyrighted remains in doubt by the
Chinese law. For a number of years, the NBA has tried to persuade the judges and scholars
that the copyright of game broadcasting should be protected and yet, little progress has
been made. There were just different voices about this issue. “We think that we spend much
money and energy on broadcasting during the games, so it should be protected. We have
invited some Chinese judges and scholars to watch the broadcasting of NBA games. They
consider that sport games are some fundamental fact that are consequently happened.
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In contrast, we think the broadcasting of the game belong to the game’s product. It should
be protected by the Chinese copyright law.” The main questions and debates actually come
from the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and the GAS in China as they
even question the ownership of the game’s copyright.

Conclusion
Glocalization has become a particularly insightful term when dealing with NBA in China.
Although the NBA has achieved huge successes in the areas of building a large fan base,
increasing media exposure, and garnering net income after its entry to China, it still faces
many challenges. One viable solution for the NBA is to bring authentic American cultural
commodities while adding Chinese characteristics to accommodate local fans. Combining
global hero such as Jordan and Kobe and local hero such as Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, and
Jeremy Lin, NBA games will continue to appeal to millions of Chinese fans. In the meantime,
the NBA management needs to continue seeking ways to work out and through the
differences in government models and cultural contexts between China and USA.
Although the current study focused on NBA in China, to some extent the findings and
implications of this study could be useful for other western professional sport leagues with an
intention to penetrate into the Chinese marketplace; certainly, doing so would require further
investigations into issues unique to a sport league and setting future empirical investigations are
suggested to utilize the findings derived in the current study and also adopt such theoretical
concepts as operational standardization and managerial adaptation to analyzing the NBA’s
diffusion in China and other growing economies with strong potential for the league’s global
growth. Certainly, the topic of glocalization would be an ever intriguing inquiry needed for other
sport organizations or leagues seeking expansion to overseas markets.

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Corresponding author
Liangjun Zhou can be contacted at: cxy66662004@163.com

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