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TV cameraman films participants during a press conference near a poster
of Houston Rockets Yao Ming Thrsday Sept. 9, 2004 in
Shanghai. (Agencies) |
The parquet is polished. The jumbotrons
are up. The dressing rooms are
getting that homey touch.
Built in the days of Mao Zedong's 1966-76 Cultural Revolution,
Shanghai's rundown city gymnasium is getting the full NBA treatment ahead
of next month's preseason game between the Sacramento Kings and the
Houston Rockets.
The Oct. 14 matchup is the first ever between two NBA teams in China,
25 years after Wes Unseld and the former Washington Bullets visited
Shanghai to play a friendly against the Chinese national team. The Kings
and Rockets will also meet for a second game in Beijing on Oct. 17.
The games are the NBA's latest attempts to harness basketball's surging
popularity in China, boosted by the presence of Shanghai native Yao Ming
in the Rockets lineup.
Fourteen Chinese broadcasters already show up to six of regular season
NBA games per week. NBA stars such as Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant
have visited to promote the league.
The result? While soccer remains widely popular among all sectors of
Chinese society, basketball has become the sport of choice among teenage
boys and men in their 20s. Some 75 percent of males 15-24 consider
themselves NBA fans, according to a 2003 survey.
Along with Yao, four other Chinese are either playing or training with
NBA teams. The latest, Shanghai Sharks star Liu Wei, was invited join the
Kings for training in July and is expected to appear on the floor in
Shanghai and Beijing.
 With the relationship growing ever-closer, NBA officials have
proposed the possibility of holding regular season games in China. Next
month's preseason games will
offer a chance to assess the facilities and reactions among players and
fans.
"This is much more than a basketball game. This is a large cultural and
athletic exchange," Michael Denzel, the league's managing director for
Asia, said Thursday.
Before the players can hit the boards, though, major work needs to be
done to the gym.
That means new lights and video boards, called jumbotrons,
refurbished dressing rooms and
offices, a smoother playing surface and a host of other improvements.
"It's 30-years-old, so we had to import a lot of special materials to
fix it up. We're making good progress though and should be ready," said
Qiu Weichang, deputy head of the city's athletic commission.
Tickets pose another challenge. The gymnasium seats about 10,000, but
with only about 3,000 tickets available for fans to buy, a major crush is
expected when they go on sale Sunday.
And because counterfeit tickets are as so common in China, the actual
tickets are being printed in the United States, with fans given a
reservation voucher to cash in later. Prices run from 100 yuan to 1,980
yuan.
Despite those challenges, Denzel said there really wasn't any question
that the NBA would pick Shanghai. "Given the NBA's relationship with
Shanghai," he said, "there was really only one place to hold the first
game in China."
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-09-09 09:53