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NBA to open first overseas store in Wangfujing

By Liu Baijia (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-29 11:04

The National Basketball Association (NBA) will open its first overseas store in Beijing on Wangfujing Street, according to sources close to the decision.

Heidi Ueberroth, president of international business operations with the NBA, said the company would open its first overseas store in either Beijing or Shanghai as China becomes the biggest market in its fast growing international business.

Sources, however, said the location will be on Wangfujing, Beijing's Fifth Avenue, where the NBA already has a US outlet.

The league, which said it wants to increase its connection with Chinese fans, believes stores and restaurants are "an interesting new opportunity."

Ueberroth said the NBA's international operations contribute only 10 per cent of total revenue, but it's the fastest growing part of the business with an annual increase of 30 per cent.

More than 300 million people in China play basketball, according to official statistics. The NBA is the most popular sports league in the country, according to a survey by the European research company TNS. It found 83 per cent of males between 15 to 61 years old are interested in the game, up from 75 per cent last year.

The NBA's revenue in the 2005 fiscal year ending August was US$3.2 billion and overall growth was 6.7 per cent, according to financial website Hoover's Online.