Tag Archives: NHL

Xi to stay on, Wanda to get out, Tmall turns to F1 and more Milan misery

Here’s a summary of what you can find in my weekly China Digest for SportBusiness:

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Wigan Athletic takeover, AFC open to offers, China’s Olympic-sized delegation and more

Here’s a summary of what you can find in my weekly China Digest for SportBusiness:

Continue reading Wigan Athletic takeover, AFC open to offers, China’s Olympic-sized delegation and more

Carlos the Jackass, CFA on trial and the search for the new Li Na goes on

Here is today’s China Sports column for SupChina, which you can read in full here. Below is a summary of what went on this week. 

Continue reading Carlos the Jackass, CFA on trial and the search for the new Li Na goes on

10 questions on the Chinese sports industry

US-based sports marketing guru Joe Favorito reached out and asked me to do a Q&A for his site on various aspects of the Chinese sports industry. Given that his weekly industry newsletter is distributed to well over 30,000 people, I was more than happy to oblige. Joe published the results in two parts – here and here – which are reprinted below. 

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Why the Mavs have struck gold in China

In a marketing stroke of genius, the Dallas Mavericks are asking their Chinese fans to choose a new (Chinese) name for the team. Here’s why having a good Chinese name for your brand, product or even sport can be the crucial difference between standing out in the world’s largest market or going unnoticed. 

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Is La Liga really coming to China?

Real Madrid and Barcelona now appear to be closer than ever before to playing regular La Liga games in China – but just how soon could that become a reality, what obstacles still lie in the way and what sort of impact would that have on global sport? 

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Why the NHL will make it in China – and why it won’t

A large contingent of NHL executives made the trip out to China this week to announce the league’s first initiatives in the country: preseason games between the LA Kings and the Vancouver Canucks in Shanghai (Sept 21) and Beijing (Sept 23), kicking off an eight-year slate of games, which could be upgraded to regular season match-ups as early as 2018. Let’s take a look at some of the factors that might help the NHL in China, as well as the obstacles that lie ahead.

Why hockey will make it in China

1) The timing is right. With less than five years to go to the 2022 Olympics, the government is making a serious push to develop winter sports, and it’s no accident that Chinese President Xi Jinping has been featured in very lengthy segments on the national nightly news touring Olympic venues on more than one occasion this year. As I told the Globe and Mail after the announcement was made, there are actually a lot of indications that the government is moving away from soccer at the moment, and making winter sports its No. 1 priority within the sports industry.

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Long road to NBA for Chinese duo

Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin become first Chinese players drafted for nine years, but both face an uphill battle to play in the NBA.

A year ago, ice hockey player Song Andong was touted as China’s next big sporting star after being drafted by the NHL’s New York Islanders, then swiftly promoted as one of the faces of China’s 2022 Winter Olympic Games bid campaign. This spring, it is the turn of two Chinese basketball players, Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin, who were drafted by the NBA’s Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies, respectively.

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Beijing set to unveil new KHL club

China’s winter sports push continues with arrival of professional ice hockey franchise in the capital.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in Beijing this weekend and is set to sign around 30 new deals with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but the most interesting of all from a sporting perspective will be fresh details about Beijing’s new franchise in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Russia’s answer to the NHL.

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10 sporting questions for the Year of the Monkey

After a breathless few weeks during which the entire sporting world has been talking about Chinese football (with yours truly quoted by AFP three timesFT twice, El Pais, Hicimos, Vice Sports and interviewed by CCTVBBC and Al Jazeera among others), let’s take a look at a few stories that could be cropping up over the next 12 months…

funky-monkey-soccer

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