For the first time since the epidemic, the NBA chose to open in Japan, which is a symbolic "starting point".
On September 30 and October 2, the Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards played two preseason games in Saitama, Japan, the first time since the pandemic that the NBA has played outside the United States and Canada.
The Warriors and Wizards players were warmly welcomed by local fans as soon as they landed, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson also played with Japanese sumo wrestlers, but they had no "overwhelmed" power in the face of absolute power, but provided good entertainment material for the media and fans.
In this year's NBA Japan Tournament, there will be a full house at the scene of the game, and 13 sponsors such as Rakuten and Dongfeng Nissan will "attend", setting a record high. From the perspective of the effect and effectiveness of the game, the NBA has indeed chosen the right place. The reason for inviting the Warriors and Wizards this year is not complicated. Rakuten has in-depth cooperation with the NBA and the Warriors, and Japanese player Hachimura plays for the Wizards, who are undoubtedly the best protagonists of this Japanese match. But digging deeper, the NBA chose to play in Japan not just to satisfy sponsors and local fans.
In 1978, the Washington Bullets (the predecessor of the Wizards) played in friendly games in Israel, China and the Philippines, which was the beginning of the NBA international. Looking at the international market, the NBA is at the forefront of attracting the attention of local fans through teams and games, and the first overseas games of the NFL and MLB were not held until 1986 and 1996, respectively. Of course, at that time, the NBA in terms of influence, attention, team valuation, etc., are difficult to compete with the NFL and MLB in the local market, and seeking more development opportunities from the international market may also be a helpless move.
In the process of opening up the international market, Japan is an important turning point in the NBA's overseas game entering a new stage. On November 2, 1990, the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz played a regular season game in Tokyo, the first time an American professional sports league such as the NBA had held a regular season outside of North America. Since then, Japan has hosted 12 NBA regular season games, the most recent NBA regular season games in addition to the United States and Canada. As one of the key locations of the NBA's overseas games, the league has chosen to "restart" in Japan, which may also mean a new start.
Borrowing the audience's national complex and compatriot friendship to quickly enhance the popularity and attention of the event brand in the local market has always been a weapon for the NBA to open up the international market, and this strategy can also be summarized as finding their "Yao Ming" in those countries. Yao Ming is undoubtedly a "stimulant" for the rapid development of the NBA in the Chinese market, and such experiences and models can be copied to other markets.
J.R. Henderson Henders) played for the Vancouver Grizzlies (the forerunner of the Memphis Grizzlies) before moving to the JBL League in Japan and joining the Japanese team through naturalization in 2007, changing his name to JR Sakuragi. In an interview with The New York Times in October 2018, he said: "There is no difference between Japanese and American basketball fans, but outside of basketball circles, you may be hard pressed to find someone who knows who Carmelo Anthony is." If there were Japanese players who could play in the NBA for two or three years, it would be very different. ”
Prior to that, Mr. Takuya was the first Japanese player to enter the NBA, having been cut in 2004 after playing four games for the Suns. In June 2018, Yuta Watanabe was again unfortunately unsuccessful in the draft. But by the 2019 draft, Hachimura was selected by the Wizards with the 9th pick in the first round, becoming the first Japanese player to enter the NBA through the draft, and was eventually selected to the rookie second team. Yuta Watanabe entered the league through the Grizzlies' two-way contract, and later joined the Toronto Raptors in 2020, with a brilliant performance in limited playing time, and joined the Brooklyn Nets this offseason, which is also a recognition of the league's strength.
Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe, who are like Japan's "Yao Ming", have become powerful tools for the NBA and their respective teams to open up the Japanese market. After the 2019 draft, the Wizards formed a digital content team for the Japanese market, providing Japanese fans with content products related to Hachimura and the team, such as the "Wizards Player Diary", which received 8 million views and more than 50 million interactions in two months.
For superstars, their bonuses will be more pronounced. In the MVP vote for the 2021-22 season, the top three were Serbia's Nikola Jokic, Cameroon/French dual citizen Joel Embiid and Greece's Giannis Antetokounmpo, all of whom were not born in the United States, making NBA history.
It is worth mentioning that in May this year, NBA Vice President Tan Huimin revealed in an interview with the Financial Times that in the hometowns of Jokic, Embiid and Antetokounmpo, the subscriptions of NBA League Pass increased by 17%, 40% (the entire African region) and 9% respectively compared with last year. In addition, Tan Huimin also revealed that the total revenue of the 2021-22 season is expected to reach 10 billion US dollars, and the proportion of international regional revenue is expected to be about 10%, and in the past 15 years, the proportion of international regional revenue has more than tripled. The superstars emerging from international players can not only help the NBA and teams expand the international market, but also directly drive the league to increase revenue.
In the 2013-14 season, the Bucks set a new record in team history with a record of 15 wins and 67 losses. Under these circumstances, New York-based hedge fund owners Wes Edens and Marc Lasry are willing to spend $550 million to buy the "distressed asset" from Herb Kohl. Bucks president Peter Feigin was even more blunt: "From every dimension, this [team] is probably the most dilapidated asset in professional sports." And according to Sports Media Watch, Milwaukee, with a population of no more than 1 million, is the third smallest city in the league.
But Antetokounmpo's appearance brought the Bucks back to life, and he went from obscurity to helping the team win the championship, winning countless attention for the small city of Milwaukee and becoming a representative figure of the NBA international players. Soon after, the NBA will host its first preseason in Abu Dhabi, and the Bucks will also be the league's vanguard in opening up new markets. Without Antetokounmpo, such a good thing might be hard to get their turn involved.
In addition to preseason games in Japan and Abu Dhabi, the NBA will also hold regular season games in France and Mexico in the new season. The NBA will move the game to overseas markets, while promoting the brand and the game, may also hope that there are small players who are infected by the atmosphere of the scene and plant a dream seed in their hearts to enter the NBA. However, this kind of "all by fate" expectation completion rate is obviously not high, "basketball without boundaries training camp", Jr. NBA project, African basketball league and other initiatives are the NBA's main way to find and cultivate "Yao Ming" in the international market.
In the 2021-22 season, the NBA has 121 international players from 40 countries participating, setting a new record. Among them, the African continent has produced a lot of good players, Embiid and Pascal Siakam have realized their NBA dreams through the "basketball without boundaries training camp". The African Basketball League, which starts in 2021, provides more performance stages for international players, giving them the opportunity to show their strength and impact the NBA.
As Tan Huimin said in an interview with USA Today: "China, India and Africa have about 60% of the world's population, and we have spent a lot of time and energy hoping to be the number one movement in these regions." To do this, the NBA needs to find their own "Yao Ming" in those markets, and if not, then help them cultivate through their own resources.