NBA and partner to bulid huge arenas in China
13/10/2008 17:25
The National Basketball Association and billionaire businessman Philip
Anschutz's AEG entertainment firm have formed a joint venture to develop
NBA-style arenas in China.
The ambitious project, that might feature a dozen
or more arenas in China's major cities, was announced yesterday at the O2 Arena
in London before an NBA overseas preseason game between Miami Heats and New
Jersey Nets.
"NBA China and AEG have formed a joint venture to design,
construct program and operate multi-purpose NBA-style arenas in the major cites
throughout China," NBA commissioner David Stern told a joint press
conference.
"These venues will be state of the art entertainment
destinations, and will anchor those communities and bring to them world class
sports, cultural events and entertainment," he added.
With the NBA China
games three days to go, AEG president and CEO Timothy J. Leiweke said that they
were anticipating more detailed plans soon with local governments and developers
although it is yet to be revealed when and where the arenas and entertainment
will be built.
"We expect within the next few weeks to begin a series of
announcement on opportunities, partnerships and a vision with corporation and
government officials." he said.
Stern said that they had already been
contacted by many local municipalities and governments.
"We'd like to have
the visits first before being able to come up with a list and see where the best
opportunities are. We anticipate that in a relatively short order, we will have
laid out a road map of a dozen buildings throughout China even down to some
small cities."
While AEG said the plan involves construction of 25 arenas,
Stern reduced the number to twelve.
"The scale is going to be over a period
of time, a dozen or so." said Stern.
Most of the arenas will be newly built
rather than remodeling existing ones, according to Leiweke.
Both expressed
confidence in finance despite the world financial crisis at the moment with
Leiweke stressing "we think of this over the next 20 years".
He also said:
"we all recognize the opportunities for growth in China."
"In terms of
finances, we will be making investment decisions on a building-by-building basis
fundamentally based upon our partners involvement," Stern said.
According to
reports in the US, the arenas, which could form the infrastructure of an
NBA-branded league in China, are to be financed largely by local and provincial
governments.
"We won't do this without an economic return over time for AEG
and the NBA," said Leiweke.
Stern said that the league was looking to
capitalize on a growing urban Chinese middle class with increasing disposal
income.
"China is an enormous market with enormous potential, not only for
basketball but for entertainment venues," he said in a recent interview.
The
NBA's business interests in China have been growing for nearly 30 years. The
league now has more than 100 employees in four cities, and 15 marketing partners
in China.
The NBA has had a huge fan base in China through decades of
promotion and marketing and the basketball market in that country is especially
boosted by Houston Rockets all-star center Yao Ming.
Yi Jianlian, China's
newest NBA star, were playing in the London game with New Jersey Nets.
He had
been supposed to turn up in the NBA China games between Milwaukee Bucks and the
Golden State Warriors but the matchup was set up before the trade that sent Yi
Jianlian to the Nets.
Xinhua
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