NBA to return to China with multiyear deal in Macau (updated)

Sands China

06/12/2024 10:06

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      NBA to host pre-season games in Macau from 2025
    

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      Deal marks NBA's return to China after 2019 controversy
    

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      Macau casinos aiming to boost non-gaming revenue
    

  
 (Rewrites to add context that deal marks NBA's return to China)
    By Farah Master
       HONG KONG, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The National Basketball
Association (NBA) has signed a multiyear deal to play pre-season
games in Macau from 2025, marking the league's return to the
Chinese market after a years-long absence that followed
controversy over the 2019 Hong Kong protests.
    Local media quoted NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum as
saying the NBA would host two pre-season games annually for the
next five years at casino operator Sands China's Venetian arena
in Macau, a special administrative region of China. The first
games, scheduled for October of next year, will pit the Brooklyn
Nets against the Phoenix Suns.
        A source familiar with the matter confirmed the local
media reports of the deal. The NBA did not immediately respond
to a request for comment.
        Although China has recently hosted NBA legends celebrity
games, including one scheduled for Saturday at the Venetian
property, the pre-season deal will mark a return of regularly
scheduled NBA play to China.
    The NBA's absence followed a firestorm of controversy around
comments five years ago by the Houston Rockets' then-General
Manager Daryl Morey, who posted a message on social media in
support of anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
        Beijing suspended the broadcast of NBA games following
that incident, prompting corporate sponsors to flee and the
league to suffer what it described at the time as dramatic
financial consequences. Pre-season NBA games in China were also
scrapped. 
        In February, Joe Tsai, owner of the Brooklyn Nets
basketball team and chairman of Chinese tech company Alibaba,
said the incident was water under the bridge and that the NBA
would love to bring games back to China and Macau.     
     Macau is the only place in China where citizens are able to
legally gamble in casinos.
     Its government and Beijing have been urging the six
licensed casinos - Wynn Macau  1128.HK , Sands China  1928.HK ,
SJM Holdings  0880.HK , Galaxy Entertainment  0027.HK , Melco
 0200.HK  and MGM China  2282.HK  - to increase their proportion
of revenue from non-gaming.
    Macau's economy is heavily dependent on the casino industry,
which contributes around 80% of local tax revenue.
    Last year, Macau's government rolled out its first blueprint
centred on a strategy where tourism and leisure are the main
pillars, supported by emerging industries such as traditional
Chinese medicine, health, financial services and technology, as
well as conventions, exhibitions, trade, culture and sports. 
    It aims for non-gaming industries to account for around 60% 
of Macau's GDP by 2028 versus 50% pre-pandemic in 2019.      

    

 (Reporting by Farah Master; Additional reporting by Brenda Goh;
Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Nicholas Yong and Edmund Klamann)
 ((farah.master@thomsonreuters.com; +852 3462 7709;))