The National Basketball Association (NBA) has signed a multimillion-dollar agreement to stage preseason games in Macau, taking the sport to the doorstep of its biggest potential market as it struggles at home to regain the mass viewership it enjoyed before the Covid-19 pandemic.
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The NBA plans to host two preseason games per year over the next five years at The Venetian Arena operated by Sands China in Macau, the former Portuguese territory near Hong Kong and the Chinese city of Zhuhai. The Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns will kick off the partnership by playing on October 10 to 12 next year, according to the NBA’s deputy commissioner Mark Tatum.
“We are combining our resources with the NBA, and not just doing it for a year, but entering into a multi-year strategic collaboration where we have a series of landmark events at a certain time during the year for several years to come”, said Grant Chum, the CEO of Sands China, in an interview with the Post in Macau. “That brings not just the right content for our visitors, but also enhances the reputation and profile of Macau as an international tourism destination that combines the best of entertainment, hospitality and sports.”
Macau, which returned to China’s sovereignty in 1999, is pushing hard to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on casino gambling.
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Basketball viewership has been in steady decline since 2019 in the United States. The 2019 NBA Finals saw an average viewership of 15.14 million, rising to 18.34 million when the Toronto Raptors played the Golden State Warriors in June that year, 8 million of which viewed the game in Canada.
The following year, viewership halved as the Covid-19 pandemic roiled public events and gatherings all over the world, sinking to as 5.9 4 million in late October 2020, when cases reached their fourth-highest daily total in the US.