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NBA Sinks Its Teeth into China China is one of the NBA's fastest-growing markets and most Chinese males consider themselves NBA fans. Knowing that China can be a huge market for its future development, the league has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong, and launched , its official website, in the Chinese language.NBA also teams up with a lot of partners to further popularize the game in China. 中国是NBA发展最快的市场。大多数中国男性都认为自己是NBA的球迷。意识到中国是其未来发展的一个巨大市场，美国篮球联盟将自己的办事处设到北京、上海、台北和香港，并且推出汉语官方网站——。NBA还同许多合作伙伴协作，在中国推广这项运动。 The first NBA game in China was played in Shanghai, between Sacramento Kings and Houston Rockets that Yao Ming, China's most famous player, played for.The tickets for the game were sold out within a few hours, and some people waited in line overnight just for one ticket.The tickets available in the black market were priced at 500% of their face values.① 在中国的第一场NBA球赛在上海开打，参赛的两支队伍是萨克拉门托国王队和中国最著名球星姚明现在所效力的休斯敦火箭队。球赛门票在几个小时之内就被售光，还有很多人通宵排队购票。在黑市上，可买得到的门票价格被标到票面价格的五倍。 A game between Houston Rockets and New York Knicks in 1994 was the first NBA Finals televised live in China.While CCTV Sports broadcasts NBA games to the national audience, NBA fans in Shanghai, where Yao starred with a Chinese team before moving to the NBA, have more opportunities to watch NBA games on TV.②The bosses should be rather unhappy as many male office workers like to keep an eye on important NBA games via the Internet!③ 1994年休斯敦火箭队对战纽约尼克斯的比赛是在中国第一次现场转播的NBA总决赛。虽然中央电视台体育频道面向全国观众转播，但是上海作为姚明转入NBA之前曾出色效力过的球队所在的城市，当地的球迷有更多的机会在电视上观看NBA的球赛。那些老板们肯定相当不高兴，因为很多男性员工都会通过网络密切关注重要的NBA赛事。 But before Yao Ming became the world's most recognizable Chinese sports star, the NBA didn't pay much attention to China — neither did many other big-time sports leagues.④Six years later, the NBA is leading the charge of professional leagues trying to get a piece of China's seemingly infinite marketing pie. 但是在姚明成为世界公认的中国体育明星之前，NBA跟其他许多一流的赛事联盟一样，并没有较多地关注中国。六年后，它却率领其他的赛事联盟打入中国，希望能在中国这个巨大的市场上分一杯羹。 Bolstered by Yao's superstardom and China's preexisting interest in basketball, the NBA's head start in establishing itself here has turned into a one-horse race.The foundation has been laid for the NBA to not only host more events like last year's wildly successful NBA China Games, but to join forces with the CBA or even possibly run its own Chinese basketball league.⑤ 在姚明这个体育巨星影响力的感召之下，再加上中国民众早就具有的对篮球的兴趣，NBA在中国市场由领先变成一枝独秀。这样所奠定的基础使其不仅能继续去年的成功，举办更多的NBA中国赛，而且能同CBA合作，甚至可能建立NBA自己的中国篮球联盟。 An NBA-run league in China became even more likely this week when it was announced that five new partners had bought up an 11 percent stake of the newly formed NBA China, an entity already estimated to be worth more than $2 billion.⑥Among these partners is the Walt Disney Co., which owns sports television channel ESPN, one of the main broadcasters of NBA games in the US. 有消息指出，本周5个新合作伙伴购买了新成立的NBA中国的股份，占有了这个估值超过20亿美元的商业实体的11%的股权。这些都使得NBA在中国主导篮球赛事联盟更为可能。华特迪士尼是这些新合作伙伴之一。这一公司旗下拥有ESPN体育频道，并且也是NBA在美国的主要转播商。 This is leading up to an announcement expected to come later this month that the NBA has reached a joint agreement with global sports presenter AEG to book and manage Wukesong Indoor Stadium, the newly built venue for Olympic basketball events.⑦Marc Ganis, president of sports marketing firm Sports Corp Ltd., told the Sports Business Journal last month that this is "the first step in a long-rumored NBA effort to own or control a Chinese basketball league". 这一消息将引出会在本月稍晚时候发布的公告：NBA和全球体育推广商AEG集团达成共同协议，预定使用并且管理为奥运篮球赛事新建的五棵松室内体育馆。体育产业行销公司——体育公司——的总裁马克?甘尼斯在上月接受《体育商业杂志》访问时说，这就是人们传言已久的NBA拥有或控制中国篮球赛事的第一步。 If and when such a league becomes reality in China, it will no doubt be one of the hottest advertising platforms in sports.⑧But advertisers aren't waiting for all the logistics to get worked out — they want to cash in on China's hot fans now. 如果这一联盟在中国变为现实，那它届时毫无疑问会变成最炙手可热的体育赛事广告平台。但是广告商不会等着所有筹划准备完成，它们现在就想在中国狂热的篮球迷身上大捞一笔。 Houston has been reaping the benefits of Yao's marketing pull for several years now, but Milwaukee is just starting to get a taste of what Yi Jianlian has to offer.⑨ Chinese companies like Peak have already thrown advertising dollars the Bucks' way.Now the Bucks are starting to see the cash flow the other direction as American companies begin using them to advertise across the ocean.⑩ 休斯敦依靠姚明的市场吸引力在这几年之内获利丰厚，但密尔沃基却刚刚尝到易建联带来的利润。中国的公司如匹克已经开始将大笔的广告费投入到雄鹿队身上。现在雄鹿也开始看到美国的公司反过来花钱将广告做到大洋对岸的中国。 This week the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation Inc. has begun advertising courtside during Bucks' games — in Chinese."We're doing this solely to target our Chinese customers," Rockwell spokesman John Bernaden told the paper.Rockwell's ad, which rolls across the scorers' table during each game for maybe a minute of cumulative exposure, cost Rockwell six figures to place.But with an estimated 150 million potential customers watching each Bucks game in China, the price seems more than worth it.