Infront is the exclusive marketing partner to China’s CBA Professional Basketball League and China’s national basketball teams and Excel Sports is a premiere athlete management company in the US, which represents top NBA players including Jason Kidd (NJ Nets), Paul Pierce (Boston Celtics), Lamar Odom (LA Lakers), and Tyson Chandler (New Orleans Hornets) among others.
This is a long-term agreement, whereby Excel and Infront will partner to develop a basketball representation business in China, where the sport is flourishing and generating more and more players with outstanding potential.
Excel Sports Management Chief Executive Jeff Schwartz, a top NBA agent who represents professional basketball players for full-service management, said: “We are excited to be on the forefront of the basketball revolution that is occurring in China. The growth potential is enormous and we could not ask for a better partner than Infront.”
The objective for the partnership is to build the most professional player representation business in China. It will create a gateway to help promising Chinese players to play overseas, gain valuable experience, as well as encourage foreign players to play in China and provide the necessary introductions and assistance to enable them to do so. As a result, players and coaches in China will enjoy much greater exposure to international basketball.
The agreement entails setting up the infrastructure for the business, as well as training and supervising staff to understand the representation business and identify, sign and handle the professional basketball players in China. Infront will utilise Excel Sport’s top international network of experts to help further develop the sport in China.
The Infront/Excel combination already represents one of China’s most prominent basketball stars and former Miami Heat (NBA) player, Wang Zhi Zhi. Already initial agreements have been reached with the Chinese sports apparel company Voit and China Mobile. Additionally there is interest from high profile NBA players wanting to establish ties to the market in China, especially with the 2008 Olympics being held in Beijing.
John Kristick, Infront’s Executive Director Asia: “Our relationship with Chinese basketball involves every aspect of the game. This partnership will help Chinese basketball to move to the next level by raising the profile and opportunities for the country’s top players. We will be developing the next generation of ‘Yao Ming’s’ and that is an exciting prospect.”
