The NBA’s loss of revenue typically generated from China this season is estimated to be at least $200 million, according to Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.
Issues between the league and China began last October, when Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey sent out a tweet supporting Hong Kong protestors fighting for democracy.
China’s government-run CCTV ceased airing NBA games soon after Morey’s tweet. Chinese streaming service Tencent continued to broadcast NBA games, with the exception of games involving the Rockets.
The NBA’s relationship with China has been a source of constant scrutiny from fans and both sides of the political aisle. That was especially true following a wide-ranging ESPN report detailing player abuse at NBA training academies in China.
Along with that, it has been repeatedly reported that the Chinese government is guilty of multiple human rights infractions, including the detainment of more than a million Muslim Uighars in concentration camps.
It has been said that no sports league in history has profited as greatly off its business relationship with China as the modern NBA.
“As the years have gone on, the NBA has increased its presence in China but always, until very recent history, at the encouragement of the State Department, of various administrations again from both sides of the aisle, that it was viewed as a really positive thing — that we were exporting American values to China through the NBA,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver recently said during an interview with CNN.
“There are definitely tradeoffs there. And somebody can say, you know, given the system of government in China, you, the NBA, should make a decision not to operate there.”
