There’s an important economic and political discussion to be had about doing business in China and balancing corporate profits and human rights, but it’s hard to see why it should be different for the NBA than any of the other businesses in the country.
WASHINGTON - The ties between the National Basketball Association and China have become a hot topic in the last few weeks as political partisans,
, question whether the league is chasing money in the country at the expense of caring about human rights., this is an important conversation to have, but even a cursory look at the numbers shows why it should be about a lot more than just the NBA.blew up a few weeks ago when Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, tweeted an image that supported the protests against the Chinese government in Hong Kong.
Morey’s deleted tweet and apology stirred anger at the league for being placing dollars over human beings in China. And this past week the anger grew even sharper when NBA superstar LeBron James said Morey was “misinformed” and “not educated” on China.Last season, roughly 800 million people in China tuned into an NBA game, according to the league. That’s more than twice the population of the United States.
The league is estimated to be worth about $5 billion in China, according to the Sports Business Journal, and the NBA just signed a new partnership agreement with an Internet company in the country worth $1.5 billion. Beijing is home to the largest league store outside of North America, a 15,000 square-foot retail space.Sign Up
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