NBA to
host pre-season games in Macau from 2025
Deal marks NBA's return to China after 2019 controversy
*
Macau casinos intending to
boost non-gaming earnings
(
Rewrites to add
context that
deal marks NBA's go back to China)
By Farah Master
HONG KONG, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The National Basketball Association (NBA) has actually signed a
multiyear deal to
play pre-season video games in Macau from 2025, marking the league's return to the Chinese market after a years-long lack that followed debate over the 2019 Hong Kong demonstrations.
Local media priced
quote NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum as stating the NBA would host 2 pre-season games every year for the next five years at gambling establishment operator Sands
China's Venetian arena in Macau, a
special administrative area of China. The very first video games,
scheduled for October of next year, will pit the
Brooklyn Nets against the Phoenix Suns.
A source knowledgeable about the
matter verified the
local media reports of the deal. The NBA did not right away react to an ask for comment.
Although China has just recently hosted NBA legends star games, including one set up for Saturday at the Venetian home, the
pre-season deal will mark a return of
regularly scheduled NBA play to China.
The
NBA's absence followed a
firestorm of debate around
remarks 5 years back by the Houston Rockets' then-General Manager Daryl Morey, who published a message on
social networks in assistance of
anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
Beijing
suspended the
broadcast of NBA games following that occurrence, prompting
business sponsors to run away and the league to suffer what it explained at the time as
remarkable monetary repercussions. Pre-season NBA video games in China were likewise scrapped.
In February, Joe Tsai, owner of the
Brooklyn Nets basketball group and
chairman of Chinese tech
business Alibaba, stated 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
location in China where people are able to
legally bet in casinos.
Its federal government and Beijing have been advising the 6
certified gambling establishments - Wynn Macau, Sands China, SJM Holdings, Galaxy Entertainment, Melco and
MGM China - to increase their
proportion of revenue from non-gaming.
Macau's economy is greatly dependent on the gambling establishment industry, which
contributes around 80% of
regional tax income.
Last year, Macau's federal government presented its first blueprint centred on a method where tourist and
leisure are the primary pillars, supported by
emerging markets such as traditional Chinese medication, health, monetary services and technology, in addition to conventions, exhibitions, trade,
culture and sports.
It aims for non-gaming markets to represent 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)
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