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NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

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371–380 of 477 posts

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#371
post #20

The NBA really needs to grow a spine on this one. They have nothing to lose but incremental profits and in the long run China will lose. It will just be one more reminder for the populace that their current government restricts them from luxuries the rest of the world gets to experience. And if that doesn't bother them, good riddance I guess, it's not like China is going to come up with their own basketball league th…

> They have nothing to lose but incremental profits and in the long run China will lose. I don’t understand this. They could lost all their market in China which is not a small number and in return, long-term financially, nothing. It is not like Chinese people can’t live without it. There are more than enough entertainments for Chinese people to enjoy.

Not just the NBA, but every company owned by the 30 plus owners in the NBA could feel pressure.

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#372
post #128

What if this blows up in the other direction ? How many Chinese will pay attention to "whatever those people are doing in Hong Kong" for the first time because of this ? Which is to say, what if lots of young Chinese stand up and take notice that they can't watch world class professional basketball anymore ? I am well aware that there is homegrown professional basketball in China, but the $4B number suggests they wan…

>How many Chinese will pay attention to "whatever those people are doing in Hong Kong" for the first time because of this ?

Most of them are already aware, and due to state ran media and an ultra-nationalistic view, are in full support of CCP and are very much against HK and their protests.

Here is a video from a guy who lived in China for over a decade, is married to a mainland Chinese woman, has family both in Hong Kong as well as Mainland, and how it's destroying his family due to the Mainlander's views of Hong Kong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4wbx9hIN4E

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's weird to hear you describe Xi Jinping's dictatorship as the voice and sovereignty of the people.

You'd be surprised how much support the government has in China, among Chinese people, even if they oppress some of their people. But just because they don't hold public elections doesn't mean they do not draw their legitimacy from the people. And furthermore, if they did not have a legitimate claim to power the people of China can overthrow them, not a foreigner. They don't need the US to install a leader for them.

This is impossible to know because of how censorship works.

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, what would we do though? I mean, start boycotting China, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Rwanda, etc, etc etc. I mean, I guess I should ask, in your view, where would that stop? Boycott every nation in the world with human rights violations?

You could do that, or just boycott the one(s) you feel strongly about. Any action is better than inaction.

>just boycott the one(s) you feel strongly about.

That's the rub.

That's the same thing as saying you don't necessarily mind doing business with human rights abusers, as long as you don't feel too strongly about the people being abused.

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#376
post #72

China presents a huge opportunity for growth to the NBA, and this is a really crucial period for them as it seems like the NFL's stranglehold might be weakening and extra money to reinvest might help that process. I don't understand how people can act like losing the Chinese market is some sort of trivial decision?!? I would love for the NBA to stand up to China on this issue, but it IS NOT AN EASY OR OBVIOUS DECISIO…

[flagged]

To be fair, we only know about organs being harvested from people being executed in the normal criminal courts (with a 99% conviction rate, but still). As yet we have no public numbers on the kill rate of Uighurs, they are quite possibly just doing brutal re-education, old-school Cultural Revolution style.

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Which is to say, what if lots of young Chinese stand up and take notice that they can't watch world class professional basketball anymore ? It is arguably the Young that start this online campaign to call NBA out. The government/brands follow the suits. The tension is high. I think watching NBA is soon to be deemed as unpatriotic by social media, and that will be one of the long-lasting legacy of this event.

I wonder if you'll now lose social credit for watching NBA / wearing NBA products?

Social credit in a public shaming sense maybe.

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's weird to hear you describe Xi Jinping's dictatorship as the voice and sovereignty of the people.

You'd be surprised how much support the government has in China, among Chinese people, even if they oppress some of their people. But just because they don't hold public elections doesn't mean they do not draw their legitimacy from the people. And furthermore, if they did not have a legitimate claim to power the people of China can overthrow them, not a foreigner. They don't need the US to install a leader for them.

> But just because they don't hold public elections doesn't mean they do not draw their legitimacy from the people

Got any other zingers you want to tell me with a straight face?

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#380
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree that the NBA has stand up and to do the right thing, I'm not sure that "incremental" is the correct description of the league's profits. I read an article very recently (NY Times, maybe?) that laid out the numbers, and the amount of money the NBA earns in China dwarfs its U.S. revenue. not like China is going to come up with their own basketball league It already has basketball leagues. And considering…

NBA annual TV revenue: $4B China (CCTV & Tencent) versus $24B USA (ESPN & TNT). Those numbers are outdated and incomplete, but basically describe the relative market size. Maybe you are thinking of rate of growth. EDIT: As tanilama pointed out my numbers are wrong. The USA (ESPN & TNT) TV deal is about ~$2.6B per year. The Tencent streaming deal is ~$1.5B over 5 years. I don't know about CCTV.

> basically describe the relative market size.

pretty sure that basically describes the relative market valuation - given income differences/relative cache of the two different leagues, market size vs valuation would be vastly different.

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