Any benefits probably wont be seen this season, but depending on the success and uptake of it in those countries, we could see more deals that will be made that will generate some revenue in the long run.

It is certainly better than sitting around not doing anything worthy like past management of the league.

7 million annually from LK to try things doesn't hurt either..

http://www.afr.com/business/sport/china-could-be-big-business-for-basketballs-larry-kestelman-20161007-grxfoi

I'm all for it, but in order to sell the product, we'll need to see scores in the 80's or more.

The first couple of games were pretty disappointing.

Perhaps 48 minutes to come back, or at least 44 as a compromise, in the coming seasons.

#doit

I would guess the aim is to try to create an awareness on the NBL in heavily populated countries. If the interest becomes strong then there may be some interest from TV networks in those countries in buying the rights to broadcast. The NBL is a great product but it not well known ( even in Australia) so LK is trying to get as much exposure as possible to create the awareness, hoping the awareness creates demand.

It's purely exposure to massive markets to generate sponsorship $$ (in my opinion). It requires a very low market share in order to generate $$ that are going to have an impact on the viability of the NBL going forward.

LK is great in terms of the money he is sinking in to the sport, however at some point he'll be wanting to see a return on investment and if the NBL gets some level of popularity in those markets it'll help a lot.

Whether this actually happens or not is another matter of course.

It's purely exposure to massive markets to generate sponsorship $$

Just a starting point. If the product already exists, then selling access need not be problematic. So might as well start and see if you can get some early sponsorship and then build on it.

The product of NBL has improved in the past 2 weeks compared with previous years. We need options going forward. Either league expansion or inter league competitions.
Singapore when the concept was first introduced was a great initiative however it was also at the time that BA started heavily influencing the product. It all fell in a heap.

I like the idea of wide market share if I am to invest. You get Australian exposure for your sponsorship dollar but also the chance to expand into the Asian region. CQU would be a big benefactor out of this exposure when compared to scouts SA. However it opens the door and is an added on bonus to sell to potential sponsorship in the future.

Added bonus is player exposure for the CBA and other Asian leagues. There is a big market for dud imports across Asia, but for the same price a lot of these smaller leagues could benefit from a DJ, Newley, Anderson during our off season.

Obviously in the short-term, it is about exposure and getting an audience. They're two massive populations, so you only need a small penetration to exponentially increase the audience.
Then I would imagine it's a twofold approach:
One, trying to get major sponsors with an international presence. Eg something like "The Qantas NBL" (or HSBC, or Fosters, or whatever.) Somebody that will actually pay decent coin to have their brand associated with the league. This could even benefit the teams directly, as they may be able to get sponsorship beyond the local firms that seem to dominate at the moment.

2nd, once you grow that audience, its possible that some networks might actually buy the product to broadcast or stream. It's not going to be "mainstream" but again it doesn't have to be. A deal to use the NBL as filler on their 9th sporting channel (with a few hundred million viewers) is probably still worth more than foxtel.

It's good that at the moment we have LK to put the money in, to develop the product and build the audience. Hopefully it pays off.

Simple, even if only about 0.005% of the population of those countries tune in, that is an extra 10 million or so viewers (or about half the population of Australia) watching.

The China coverage will be on their equivalent of YouTube and Twitter, and there will be promotion on both sites as said many times before. These are massively sites which will be actively promoting the league. People in China will become aware of it.

Not sure about India though.

Only subscribers can read that article. Can you cut and paste it here?

No one has mentioned the new rules around allowing Asian players to play as non-Imports.

More Chinese spam on these forums?

LOL ... proof that the NBL is achieving market penetration in China

NBL 在中国很好。