By Joyce Zhou
MACAU (Reuters) -The National Basketball Association (NBA) returned to China on Thursday for the first time since a controversial parting of ways in 2019, staging two games in Macau and announcing a multi-year partnership with Chinese technology giant Alibaba.
The NBA is due to play two pre-season games in the Chinese special administrative region on Friday and Sunday, part of a five-year contract with Las Vegas Sands’ Macau unit Sands China.
The games mark the first time the NBA is playing in Macau, the world’s largest gambling hub, and follows a years-long absence amid controversy over the 2019 Hong Kong protests.
The Macau games aim to bolster the NBA’s profile in China, where around 300 million people play basketball, at a time of rising political tensions between the United States and China.
The NBA’s absence followed a firestorm of controversy around comments made six years ago by the Houston Rockets’ then general manager Daryl Morey, who posted a message on social media in support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests.
In the aftermath, Beijing suspended the broadcast of NBA games, 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.
“The China fans, I feel like are some of our biggest supporters,” Brooklyn Nets player Michael Porter Jr told a media conference at the Venetian.
“There’s so many fans out here. So I think coming out here and being able to play in front of them is definitely a blessing for us and for them.”
NBA EXPERIENCE
The NBA games are being held at Sands Venetian property along with a five-day free-to-enter music, fashion and technology exhibition showcasing the NBA brand. Shaquille O’Neal is among NBA celebrities attending the event, the league said.
The Brooklyn Nets, owned by Alibaba chairman Joseph Tsai, will play the Phoenix Suns at sold-out games in the arena.
Sands owner, the U.S. billionaire Adelson family, also own the Texas-based NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks.
The casino operator announced its collaboration with the NBA in December 2024 and said it wanted to bring elite basketball directly to Chinese fans.
The announcement by Alibaba Group said it would provide artificial intelligence and cloud computing services with the NBA and enhance fan experiences on the NBA app in China.
Alibaba Cloud will be the official cloud computing and AI partner of NBA China, it said.
NON-GAMING SPEND TO GROW
Macau’s casinos, which include Sands, Wynn Macau, SJM Holdings, MGM China, Galaxy Entertainment and Melco Resorts, have been mandated to increase their non-gaming businesses as a proportion of their overall business.
They have pledged to collectively invest more than $13.5 billion in non-gambling infrastructure and projects over the next decade.
Macau is the only place in China where Chinese citizens are legally allowed to gamble in casinos.
A Portuguese colony until 1999, its economy remains heavily reliant on the casino industry, which contributes around 80% of government tax revenues.
Macau’s non-gaming offerings have historically focused on retail and dining with a smattering of entertainment such as Melco’s nightclubs, Galaxy’s cinema and Sands themed European properties.
Melco on Monday announced the opening of a hospital inside its Studio City resort. It said the medical facility was to support the government’s aim to position Macau as a centre for international medical tourism.
(Reporting by Joyce Zhou in Macau, Liam Mo in Beijing, Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Writing by Farah Master; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Kate Mayberry)
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