NBA presses ahead with China expansion, eyes India

SHANGHAI — It’s Friday night in the biggest city in the world’s most populous country, and thousands of Shanghai fans are streaming into an arena that resembles a giant flying saucer, ready for a fan-appreciation night hosted by the National Basketball Association.

As the players take the court, the Chinese fans whoop, wave jerseys, scramble for autographs and pose for selfies. Who is in town? LeBron James? Kobe Bryant? No, it’s a warmup for an exhibition match today between the Brooklyn Nets and the Sacramento Kings, two teams with global aspirations.

“I’ve been following the Kings since I was 12,” said Cai Yijang, 22, who sat near the court with two friends waving their favorite Kings jerseys. Cai said he started following the Kings when Chris Webber was a star forward, and now watches the team’s games by streaming them on his computers and mobile devices.

In the past decade, the NBA has made lucrative inroads into dozens of countries, including China, where 78 million people follow the league on social media. The league’s leading ambassador is former Houston Rockets star Yao Ming, whose success further popularized the in China while turning the NBA into a household name.

The NBA now wants to go further, not only in China, but also in India, the world’s second-largest consumer market. Yet in both countries, the league faces challenges, and not just the usual ones of red tape, language barriers and pirating of merchandise. In China’s case, the government has a monopoly over sports franchises and television, limiting potential revenues from broadcasting games.

Possibly the bigger challenge is finding homegrown talent. India has yet to produce a true marquee player, and China hasn’t produced one since Yao, a 7-foot-6-inch center born in Shanghai. Without such a star, say some analysts, the NBA may not be able fully capitalize on the Chinese obsession with pro sports.

“Yao Ming is so important to the Chinese people. When he stepped off the playing court, there was a big vacuum affect. It was like, wow, what is next?” said Terry Rhoads, who runs a Shanghai-based sports marketing agency and has worked in China for 20 years, including nine with Nike.

Rhoads acknowledged that “filling Yao’s shoes is an impossible task.”

“When the NBA sits around and contemplates business plans for next 10 years, they are absolutely grinding their teeth over the lack of Chinese players having the right skills,” he said.

Give it some time, NBA officials and owners say. Vivek Ranadive, an India-born Silicon Valley tycoon who led the purchase of the Sacramento Kings last year for $535 million, says that in a country as big as China, new stars are out there. He added that the NBA and China are partners on several initiatives to tap into the top talent, including basketball camps led by Yao Ming.

In some ways, China’s ossified sports system benefits the NBA. Unlike Amazon.com facing Chinese upstarts such as Alibaba, the NBA doesn’t have domestic competition in a country where young people are increasingly digitally savvy.

During the regular season in 2013, the NBA’s Chinese website registered 4.5 billion page views, 34 percent over the previous year.

Like other NBA owners, Ranadive wants to develop a Chinese-language app for China to broaden his team’s fan base. His perfect app, he says, would let fans see instant replays, crowdsource suggestions for the team and even deliver food and beverages to ticket holders at the press of a button.