Posted on Oct 13, 2019
How the NBA's rift with China laid bare the cost of free speech
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The world’s premier basketball league has spent decades cultivating the multibillion-dollar Chinese market, but the fallout from a single tweet has threatened to upset it all
Patrick Hruby
Sat 12 Oct 2019 04.00 EDTLast modified on Sat 12 Oct 2019 04.40 EDT
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NBA China Games
Workers remove a banner on Wednesday advertising the forthcoming NBA China Games between Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers from a building in Shanghai. Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters
For Lisa Delpy Neirotti, the surest sign of the National Basketball Association’s booming business in China came during her morning commute.
It was two years ago, and Delpy Neirotti, a sports management professor at George Washington University, was guest lecturing at Beijing Sports University. Riding the subway on her way to campus, she noticed other passengers watching NBA contests live on their smartphones.
Patrick Hruby
Sat 12 Oct 2019 04.00 EDTLast modified on Sat 12 Oct 2019 04.40 EDT
Shares
66
NBA China Games
Workers remove a banner on Wednesday advertising the forthcoming NBA China Games between Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers from a building in Shanghai. Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters
For Lisa Delpy Neirotti, the surest sign of the National Basketball Association’s booming business in China came during her morning commute.
It was two years ago, and Delpy Neirotti, a sports management professor at George Washington University, was guest lecturing at Beijing Sports University. Riding the subway on her way to campus, she noticed other passengers watching NBA contests live on their smartphones.
How the NBA's rift with China laid bare the cost of free speech
Posted from theguardian.com
China
Basketball
Business
Money
Freedom of Speech
Posted 5 y ago
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The NBA is not the only organization that has succumbed to the allure of the world's largest market. Businesses in China have to adapt their business to the realities of functioning in a Communist nation. This has forced them to be silent on issues there that they are very vocal on in the US
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