Representatives from many of the country’s most popular sports leagues convened in Congress on Tuesday to discuss the world of broadcasting and streaming services across the sports landscape.
While the ever-changing world of sports streaming is both interesting and important from a business perspective, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) used her time in the committee hearing to discuss a much larger piece of the puzzle: the NBA’s relationship with China.
The NBA has had a longstanding relationship with the communist country, one that continues today, but their ties together reached a boiling point in October 2019 when then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey shared a tweet that read “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”
Morey’s post was one expressing his support of the major pro-democracy protests surrounding an extradition bill introduced in April of that year. His anti-communist China tweet set off a firestorm that led to press conferences and media availability being canceled for the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers preseason game set to be played in Shanghai at the time.
China’s state-run television network then announced the preseason games would not be televised, and then extended the suspension of televising NBA games for nearly a full year before bringing them back on air during the 2020 NBA Finals. The NBA would later return to China for preseason games in 2024.
In other words, China bullied the NBA, mocked free speech, and damaged the authenticity of the league, yet the league complied simply because money talks. The league and team owners were able to hide behind the idea of ‘growing the game,’ albeit in an oppressive land, while boosting their products, teams, and bottom lines.
Fast-forward nearly six years since Morey’s tweet and China’s dominance of the NBA, many have forgotten the ridiculousness of the situation, but not Sen. Blackburn or the American people who pay attention to more than just a box score.
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In 2020, NBA commissioner Adam Silver stated the league was facing $300 million in losses due to the NBA television ban in China. Something has changed between then and now, which is what Sen. Blackburn wanted to discuss with NBA executive Bill Koenig on Tuesday, but he didn’t exactly seem comfortable having that conversation.
Sen. Blackburn asked Koenig, the NBA President of Global Content & Media Distribution, how much the NBA television rights in China are worth and how much team owners have invested in China.
“The NBA does have a very long history distributing our games and content in China for more than 30 years,” Koenig answered, which has nothing to do with broadcasting deals or money involved.
“The NBA does not comment publicly on the financial terms of our relationships in the U.S. or abroad,” Koenig said when Sen. Blackburn asked again. Koenig then followed that up by explaining that the NBA did not “cut a deal” with China to get games back on state-run television or mend the relationship between the country and the league.
Koenig also stated that the NBA did not make any concessions regarding free speech as it pertained to the NBA becoming buddy-buddy with China again.
Morey shared his pro-Democracy tweet on October 4, 2019, and while he was not disciplined by the NBA, the Rockets announced in October 2020 that he would be stepping down as general manager after holding the position for 13 years. He is currently the president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers.
