The NBA and billionaire businessman Philip Anschutz's AEG entertainment group agreed a joint partnership to develop more than a dozen NBA-style arenas in China.
Under the plans, the majority of arenas will be newly built in China’s major cities and are likely to be financed largely by local and provincial governments.
AEG president and CEO Timothy J. Leiweke told a press conference they anticipated revealing more detailed plans soon, lthough it is yet to be revealed when and where the facilities will be built.
"We expect within the next few weeks to begin a series of announcement on opportunities, partnerships and a vision with corporation and government officials." he said. "We'd like to have visits first before being able to come up with a list and see where the best opportunities are. We anticipate that in a relatively short order, we will have laid out a road map of a dozen buildings throughout China even down to some small cities."
According to US press reports the arenas are set to form the infrastructure of an NBA-branded league in China. The NBA currently has more than 100 employees in four cities, and 15 marketing partners in China.
