By Luke T. Johnson (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-01-18 09:29

Before Yao Ming became the world's most recognizable Chinese sports star, the NBA didn't pay much attention to China - neither did many other big-time sports leagues. Six years later, the NBA is leading the charge of professional leagues trying to get a piece of China's seemingly infinite marketing pie.

Bolstered by Yao's superstardom and China's preexisting interest in basketball, the NBA's head start in establishing itself here has turned into a one-horse race. The foundation has been laid for the NBA to not only host more events like last year's wildly successful NBA China Games, but to join forces with the CBA or even possibly run its own Chinese basketball league. Talk about marketing dollars.

An NBA-run league in China became even more likely this week when it was announced that five new partners had bought up an 11 percent stake of the newly formed NBA China, an entity already estimated to be worth more than $2 billion. Among these partners is the Walt Disney Co, which owns sports television channel ESPN, one of the main broadcasters of NBA games in the US.

This is leading up to an announcement expected to come later this month that the NBA has reached a joint agreement with global sports presenter AEG to book and manage Wukesong Indoor Stadium, the newly built venue for Olympic basketball events. Marc Ganis, president of sports marketing firm SportsCorp Ltd, told the Sports Business Journal last month that this is "the first step in a long-rumored NBA effort to own or control a Chinese basketball league".

If and when such a league becomes reality in China it will no doubt be one of the hottest advertising platforms in sports. But advertisers aren't waiting for all the logistics to get worked out - they want to cash in on China's fervent hoops fans now.

Houston has been reaping the benefits of Yao's marketing pull for several years now, but Milwaukee is just starting to get a taste of what Yi Jianlian has to offer. Chinese companies like Peak have already thrown advertising dollars the Bucks' way. Now the Bucks are starting to see the cash flow the other direction as American companies begin using them to advertise across the ocean.

This week the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (jsonline.com) reported that Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation Inc has begun advertising courtside during Bucks' games - in Chinese. "We're doing this solely to target our Chinese customers," Rockwell spokesman John Bernaden told the paper. Rockwell's ad, which rolls across the scorers' table during each game for maybe a minute of cumulative exposure, cost Rockwell six figures to place. But with an estimated 150 million potential customers watching each Bucks game in China, the price seems more than worth it.

The paper's report says the Bucks are seeking out more Chinese-language advertisers. As the NBA gains steam in China, finding them should not be difficult.