Here is the top sports business news you need to know from this week:
AC Milan Signs Agreement with Chinese Education Foundation
During AC Milan’s 2017 China Tour, an agreement to promote the development of football in Chinese schools between the club and China Next Generation Education Foundation was officially announced. Following the €740 million acquisition of the club by Chinese businessman Yonghong Li, AC Milan has been far more active in the Chinese market. Read more on AC Milan (English)
Crystal Palace F.C. Announce Donquidi as Official Sleeve Partner
Crystal Palace recently announced that Chinese football app Dongqiudi has become the club’s first ever shirt sleeve partner in a multi-year deal. Dongqiudi’s logo will feature on the left sleeve of the Eagles’ shirt this season, which is the first campaign in which Premier League clubs can advertise on this area of the players’ shirts. Read more on CPFC (English)
CAA China Appointed New CEO
CAA (Creative Artists Agency) China Company recently announced the appointment of Mary Gu as CEO. Mary Gu will lead the expansion of the business in the sports, content, events, TV, music and video production areas. CAA China is a joint venture of CAA and CMC Capital Partners. Read more on Lanxiong (Chinese)
BVB Partners With Sharing Bike Ofo
German soccer side Borussia Dortmund (BVB) have announced a regional partnership with Ofo, the Chinese non-docking bike-sharing company. The marketing agreement will see the Bundesliga outfit collaborate with Ofo on commercial projects and activations in the Asian country, which is a territory that Dortmund are keen to expand into. The partnership was announced during the International Championship Cup (ICC) in the city of Guangzhou, where BVB players rode across the city on Ofo’s famous yellow bikes. Read more on SportsMoney (Chinese)
Junior NBA Partners with SECA
NBA China recently signed an agreement with SECA as an official event partner of the Junior NBA. SECA will help NBA China to develop Junior NBA events and other youth basketball programs. The Junior NBA program is designed to help encourage and support grassroots youth basketball participation and improve the overall standard of youth basketball. This month, NBA stars Stephen Curry, Seth Curry and Jeremy Lin will host Junior NBA clinics in China. Read more on Lanxiong (Chinese)
NHL China Games Tickets Released
Tickets for the first NHL games ever to be held in China are now on sale through ticketing platform damai.com. The NHL announced in March that the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks will play two preseason games in September. The first game will be played on the 21st at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai and the second on the 23rd at the Huaxi LIVE Wukesong’s Arena in Beijing. Read more on NHL.com (English)
The Banana Summer Open is an international slopestyle snowboarding competition in China. The upcoming event will be held from 22nd – 23rd July in Harbin. Harbin Beer announced this week that they will be the official beer sponsor of the event. Besides Harbin Beer, Monster, GoPro and Burton are also official partners for Banana Open. Read more on SportsMoney (Chinese)
Qiaodan Sues Michael Jordan
China-based sports brand Qiaodan Sports Co, whose name sounds like the Chinese pronunciation of Jordan, filed a 1.1 million yuan ($162,800) lawsuit against the ex-basketball player on Wednesday for infringement of reputation. In April, Jordan authorised the Shanghai Fangda Law Firm to issue a letter to the organising committee of the 13th National Games of China, citing intellectual property rights and urging the committee to stop using Qiaodan as a major sponsor for the event. Read more on Global Times (English)
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