NBA to Go Back To China with Multiyear Handle Macau

NBA to host pre-season video games in Macau from 2025

Deal marks NBA’s return to China after 2019 debate

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Macau gambling establishments intending to boost non-gaming profits

(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 signed a multiyear deal to play pre-season games in Macau from 2025, marking the league’s go back to the Chinese market after a years-long absence that followed debate over the 2019 Hong Kong demonstrations.

Local media priced quote NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum as stating the NBA would host two pre-season video games every year for the next five years at gambling establishment operator Sands China’s Venetian arena in Macau, an unique administrative area of China. The first video games, scheduled for October of next year, will pit the Brooklyn Nets versus the Phoenix Suns.

A source knowledgeable about the matter confirmed the regional media reports of the deal. The NBA did not right away react to a demand for comment.

Although China has just recently hosted NBA legends celebrity games, consisting of one arranged for Saturday at the Venetian property, the pre-season offer will mark a return of frequently arranged NBA play to China.

The NBA’s absence followed a firestorm of debate around remarks five years ago by the Houston Rockets’ then-General Manager Daryl Morey, who posted a message on social networks in support of anti-government protests in Hong Kong.

Beijing suspended the broadcast of NBA games following that incident, corporate sponsors to leave and the league to suffer what it explained at the time as significant financial consequences. Pre-season NBA video games in China were likewise ditched.

In February, Joe Tsai, owner of the Brooklyn Nets basketball group and chairman of Chinese tech company Alibaba, stated the event was water under the bridge and that the NBA would love to bring video games back to China and Macau.

Macau is the only location in China where people have the ability to legally bet in gambling establishments.

Its government and Beijing have been advising the 6 certified casinos – Wynn Macau, Sands China, SJM Holdings, Galaxy Entertainment, Melco and MGM China – to increase their percentage of profits from non-gaming.

Macau’s economy is heavily based on the casino industry, which contributes around 80% of regional tax income.

In 2015, Macau’s federal government presented its very first plan centred on a strategy where tourist and leisure are the primary pillars, supported by emerging industries such as traditional Chinese medicine, health, financial services and innovation, in addition to conventions, exhibits, trade, culture and sports.

It intends for non-gaming markets to account for 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)