Asia Sports Business Weekly | 1st November

⚽ Hisense Partners with FIFA Club World Cup 2025 🏆 | ⚾ MLB World Series Breaks Records 📈

Hello Industry Friends, here is the very latest news and insights from Asia.

📰 Headlines: Hisense partners with the FIFA Club World Cup, MLB World Series sets new viewership records, IOC eyes two-cycle India rights deals, Cui Yongxi makes NBA debut, Yao Ming steps down as CBA President, Hong Kong’s Kai Tak gets off to a winning start, and the 2025 League of Legends Championship to be hosted in China.

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🗞️ Key Industry News

Hisense Partners with the FIFA Club World Cup

The Chinese consumer electronics company will become an ‘Official Partner’ of the revamped tournament, in what FIFA claims is the first of a series of commercial announcements. The competition, featuring 32 club teams, is scheduled to be staged across the US between June and July next year. Read more on SportBusiness (English)💡 Our Take: Hisense has become a regular fixture at big global sporting events as the brand continues to invest large sums of money outbound. The newly revamped FIFA World Club Cup will certainly be of interest to global football fans, and with Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami now confirmed to take part, that expected audience just got bigger, meaning more eyeballs for Hisense.

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World Series Sets Japanese Records

Japan continues to post historic viewership numbers for MLB’s postseason, setting two more audience records to begin the World Series and further showcasing the league’s accelerating international growth. After the home country of Shohei Ohtani registered average game totals of 12.9m and 12.1m during key parts of the National League Division Series and NL Championship Series, respectively, Games 1 and 2 of the Fall Classic performed even better. Read more on Front Office Sports (English)

IOC Eyes Two-cycle TV Rights Deal in India

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has targeted the stability of a two-cycle media rights agreement in the Indian subcontinent after a succession of one-cycle deals with different broadcasters. The inclusion of Twenty20 cricket at Los Angeles 2028 and its possible involvement at Brisbane 2032 have delivered the IOC a strong negotiating hand as it prepares to go to market in the region next year. Read more on SportBusiness (English)

China’s Cui Yongxi Makes NBA Debut with Brooklyn Nets

Cui Yongxi made his NBA debut in the Brooklyn Nets' home victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, becoming the seventh Chinese player to play in an official NBA game. Cui's debut marked the first appearance of a Chinese player in the NBA in six years. Read more on China Daily (English)

💡 Our Take: During the same week Yao Ming stepped down as President of the CBA, a younger Chinese basketball star is following in his giant footsteps. Cui Yongxi is looking like he could be the face of Chinese men’s basketball for years to come, and playing for the Joe Tsai-owned Brooklyn Nets, means he has a big role to play bridging Chinese and US basketball. 

Yao Ming Quits as CBA President

The legendary NBA star has quit as president of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), local media reported. The news quickly went viral in mainland China, becoming the No 1 trending topic on the social media platform Weibo, while #yaomingresigns had 16.35m views within 30 minutes of it being made public. Read more on SCMP (English)

Reddentes Sports Lands Badminton Asia Rights

The Singapore-based sports media rights consultancy has acquired exclusive worldwide broadcast rights to the Badminton Asia Championships. The deal runs from 2025 to 2027 and includes coverage of all editions of the Badminton Asia Championships and Badminton Asia Team Championships. Read more on SportBusiness (English)

LA Hat Shop Prociety Drops Exclusive Korean Dodger Caps

The LA Dodgers officially greenlit exclusive Korean merchandise to be produced and sold by Prociety, a custom baseball hat business headquartered in Los Angeles. The hats recently sold out, but will be restocking soon. A pre-order form will soon be available so fans can get their hands on the hot commodity. Read more on Abc7 (English)

💡Our Take: The Dodgers’ collaboration with Prociety to produce Korean merchandise highlights Korea's commercial appeal, despite its smaller population. This move also suggests Korean merchandise could attract non-Korean customers, as K-pop’s global popularity has introduced Western consumers to Korean products. It will be exciting to see Korean cultural elements evolve from niche interests to mainstream acceptance in Western markets, similar to Japanese culture's success.

Outdoor Sports Market in China Thrives: Report

The outdoor sports consumer market in China has thrived from 2023 to 2024, according to the China Outdoor Sports Industry Development Report (2023-2024). In 2023, among the participants in outdoor sports, individuals born in the 80s accounted for the highest proportion at 37.13 percent, followed by those born in the 90s at 35.17 percent. Read more on China Daily (English)

China Squash Open Launches in October

The highly anticipated 2024 China Squash Open will kick off at the SPD Bank Oriental Sports Center Crescent Lagoon in Shanghai from Oct 30 to Nov 3. Over 100 elite athletes, coaches, and staff from countries and regions including Egypt, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Malaysia and Hong Kong will participate in the tournament. Read more on China Daily (English)

Adidas Sees Strong Sales in China as it Opens More Stores

Adidas saw strong growth in Greater China in the third quarter. The German sportswear brand's performance in China contrasts with rival companies that are struggling with weak consumer demand and a likely longer wait for government stimulus measures to boost confidence. Read more on Reuters (English)

Harbin Hits 'Home Stretch' for Games

With venues ready, volunteers recruited, and testing events underway, Harbin is nearly ready to take up its hosting duties for the 9th Asian Winter Games, with preparatory work almost done entering the 100-day countdown. Read more on China Daily (English)

SportsBreaks Launches in China

SportsBreaks offers ticket-inclusive packages to top sporting events, providing sports fans access to approved tickets, travel, and accommodation, all in one place. Read more on Destination Sport (English)

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🤔 Opinion

Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Sports Park Off to a Winning Start

The new $3.9bn Kai Tak Sports Park was put through its paces with a football match. By most measures its first trial run was a success, allowing authorities to breathe a sigh of relief. Within 10 minutes of the final whistle for the match between Sai Kung and Wong Tai Sin, some 1,500 spectators had dispersed from the 5,000-seat Youth Sports Ground near the main stadium. Read more on SCMP (English)

Exploring the Boom and Challenges in China’s Outdoor Sports Industry

Justin Downes, President of Axis Leisure Management spoke to CGTN Europe about China’s outdoor sports industry. Watch here (English)

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🎮 Esports

2025 League of Legends Championship to be Hosted in China

Riot Games announced that it has extended and expanded its global partnership with China-based mobile phone manufacturer OPPO and that its League of Legends Esports Championship (Worlds) will be held in China in 2025. The news was announced at a launch event for the OPPO Find X8 series of phones in China, where Riot Games President of Mobile and Head of China Leo Lin was in attendance. Read more on Esports Advocate (English)

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