Yao Ming’s Exit: Globalization and All Its Possibilities
by David J. Leonard | Special to NewBlackMan
Yao Ming is reportedly retiring from the NBA. A player of immense talent and potential, his career for some will be a disappointment. While debating his on-the-court successes, whether or not he is a hall-of-famer, and the large basketball significance are interesting, I think his retirement should elicit thought and reflection about the globalization of the NBA. His importance to the game, in global sports marketing, and in terms of larger social forces transcend the game and that has always been the case. In 2003, when Yao’s statistics were pedestrian at best, I wrote in Colorlines about the larger significance of his arrival to the NBA.
The star power of Yao Ming is not the result of his extraordinary stats for the Houston Rockets. He averages a respectable 13 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. The flurry of magazine covers, billboards, and television commercials featuring Yao reflect the desires of American and Chinese companies to cash in on Yao's popularity. Beyond the efforts to sell basketball to more than 2 billion Chinese nationals, the NBA hopes to capitalize on the sudden explosion in ticket sales to the Asian American market. Asian Americans buying group packages for Rockets games represent 11 percent of the buying public, 10 percent more than last year. In cities across America, Yao attracts fans to the Rockets' away games to such an extent that a number of stadiums, in places like Detroit, Boston, and Oakland, have offered special "Asian American nights." When the Rockets played the Golden State Warriors this spring, the Oakland arena announced parts of the game in Mandarin. Rockets' coach Rudy Tomjanovich frequently boasts of Yao 's importance in bridging cultural and political gaps. In other words, Yao is presumably schooling America about Chinese culture and history.
Since 2003, Yao Ming’s economic, social, and cultural importance has increased tenfold. According to a 2007 study, 89 percent of Chinese between the ages of 15 and 54 were “aware of the NBA,” with 70 percent of youth between the ages of 15 and 24 describing themselves as fans. More recent numbers show a game increasing in popularity, despite Yao’s diminished presence. On average, NBA games (despite being aired early in the morning) deliver 558,100 viewers; NBA.com/China generates roughly 12 million hits per day. A two billion dollar market, China has proven to be immensely important to the NBA’s global expansion and its overall financial success.
While the immense fanfare directed at NBA stars is partially a result of the emergence of Yao Ming within the NBA, American players have, in recent years, generated equal, if not more, popularity. For example, Yao Ming, whose jersey ranked as the sixth most popular in 2007, had dropped into tenth by 2008 even behind the likes of Gilbert Arenas. However, their successes aren’t detached from Yao’s cultural importance. The popularity of players like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James is partially the result of the doors opened by Yao Ming.
Yet, the arrival of Yao Ming, and the overall popularity of the NBA within China hasn’t been an organic process but has been the result of a systematic effort and investment from the NBA. With over 100 employees in China alone, four offices, and access to $250 million dollars, the NBA has made a concerted effort to both attract fans and develop talent there and elsewhere. Basketball is immensely popular in Latin America (Brazil and Argentina), in Europe, and throughout Africa. While partially attributable to the success and popularity of NBA stars from those countries, it is many ways the results of the NBA’s conscious effort to both cultivate fans and future players. Take Africa, where in 2010 the NBA expanded there, opening an office in South Africa. “There is tremendous potential to grow the game in Africa and the opening of an NBA office will help us to expand our business in the region, noted David Stern. “We have conducted Basketball without Borders Africa since 2003 and with a presence on the ground we can enhance our ability to increase our social responsibility efforts and develop more activities to engage our fans.” The arrival of Yao Ming, Omri Casspi (Israel), Nene (Brazil), Manu Ginobli (Argentina), Serge Ibaka (Congo) and countless other players are a testament to the NBA’s global investment.
What is important here is that the success of the NBA globally reflects a financial commitment from the league and its teams. Nate Silver, in his recent column about the financial state of the NBA, notes that while player salaries and revenues (a slight dip) have remained relatively constant since in 1990, the league has seen increased revenues from licensing and media rights, which can be partly attributed to the global success of the game. More importantly, he notes how the increased expenditures from the NBA has come about because of the investment from the league in new media and global expansion.
Growth in non-player expenses has outpaced that of salaries, having increased by 13 percent over five years and 43 percent over 10 years. Although some of this undoubtedly reflects sound business ventures, like the league’s investments in digital media or efforts to expand the game internationally, they have nevertheless had a reasonably large effect on the league’s bottom line. Had non-player expenses been the same in 2009-10 as they were in 1999-2000 (adjusted for inflation), the league would have made a record profit that year.
In other words, Yao Ming or Dirk’s success in the league, the millions of televisions sets around the globe tuning in to watch the NBA each night, or jersey sales in Beijing or Johannesburg, reflects an investment, some of which has paid dividends to date and some of which will certainly pay off into the future. As J.A. Adande argued about Yao’s exit from the game: “Maybe it will take 19 years after Yao for his influence to come to fruition the way the Dream Team was reflected in the number of foreigners selected in this year's draft.”
The retirement of Yao Ming, thus, highlights the difficulty of the owners’ position in that current profit margins reflect a commitment to grow the game (and owner profits) not player salary demands. Likewise, during this same period, NBA franchises have seen dramatic increases in their overall values (the Washington Wizards were sold for 550 million dollars in 2010, even though Forbes estimated the team to be worth 370 million), which can also be attributed to the global importance of the game. More consumers equal greater franchise values. Again, the NBA’s investment, which strips away the profit margins in the moment, has bolstered the overall value for individual owners. Clearly globalization has been good for the NBA and its owners; Yao is but one example and anyone who denies his importance citing his often-hurt feet or unfulfilled potential misses this larger picture.
Yao’s retirement also highlights the increasing difficulty facing the NBA because of globalization. Whereas the NBA hoped to cultivate and capitalize on stars from China, Germany, France, Brazil and elsewhere, it has been African American stars that have captured the hearts and minds of many global fans. Amid, a lockout the popularity of the NBA stars throughout the world, and the development of the game in a myriad of locations has unwittingly provided a certain amount of leverage for the players. Following several other lesser-known journeyman players, Deron Williams announced this week that he plans to sign with a team in Turkey if the lockout continues into the season. He noted the possibility of other player’s following suit, including Bryant. Kobe “could go make more money overseas, I guarantee you. If (European teams) knew he could be there for a full season, or they knew I could be there for a full season, or they knew LeBron James could be there for a full season, they'll pay more money, of course.”
This should be of no surprise to those who witnessed the 2008 Summer Olympics. While attending a U.S. Women’s basketball game, Bryant attempted to move through the crowd to his sea only to find himself amid a sea of cheering fans. The sight of Bryant, an African-American basketball star, who has experienced ample criticism and media derision during the course of his career, receiving fanfare assumed to be reserved for Chinese athletes was a testament to the popularity of the NBA and its American basketball stars in China. Similarly, given that exhibition games versus Turkey and Lithuania (in Macau prior to the Beijing Olympics) resulted in sellouts some 1-hour after tickets went on sale, the NBA players, not just the league itself, has tremendous economic prospects in playing overseas. “The stands during last week’s exhibition games in Macau were awash with product,” reported Anthony Cotton in The Denver Post. “The 12-man US team has donned the uniforms the players will wear in the Olympics just three times, but already hundreds of fans were garbed just like Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant – home and away” (2008). Can you imagine the excitement, and financial possibilities of Bryant and teammates taking a team around China, Asia, or elsewhere to play exhibition games?
While Yao didn’t open these doors per see, he is a reminder that the NBA’s popularity throughout the world isn’t simply a gain for David Stern, NIKE, and the entire NBA establishment, but the player’s themselves, whose power and leverage grows with each player taking their talents to Shanghai, Istanbul, Tel Aviv, or Milan.
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David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He has written on sport, video games, film, and social movements, appearing in both popular and academic mediums. His work explores the political economy of popular culture, examining the interplay between racism, state violence, and popular representations through contextual, textual, and subtextual analysis. He is the author of Screens Fade to Black: Contemporary African American Cinema and the forthcoming After Artest: Race and the War on Hoop (SUNY Press). Leonard blogs @ No Tsuris
