All-Star Weekend success boosts confidence of investors
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Zhao Tailong from Fujian SBS dunks two balls into the basket to win the CBA All-Star slam dunk contest in Beijing on Sunday. At the CBA All-Star Game on Sunday night, the North team beat the South 115-114. Quincy Douby of the North team scored 44 points to win the All-Star MVP Trophy. Gong Lei / Xinhua |
The success of the CBA All-Star Weekend has convinced Infront to continue investing in Chinese basketball, said Philippe Blatter, president and CEO of Infront Sports & Media.
"Basketball is now the strongest sports commercialization platform in China. No other sport can be compared with it both in terms of the national teams and the league," Blatter told China Daily after signing a contract with the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) to run its national teams' marketing operations for another eight years on March 18.
"Last year, we were quite successful. To take the all-star event to the MasterCard Center was a big step to a higher level. This year, we did even better, especially with the entertainment programs and fan interactions," Blatter said.
Infront, a Swiss-based sports marketing company, which bonded with the Chinese basketball community to market the domestic league in 2005, has invested "double-digit millions of dollars" on developing the CBA competitively and commercially. It also provided the Chinese men's and women's national teams with technical support and commercial promotion, seeing more than 100 high-level warm-up games organized and 1,426 hours of the teams' performances televised.
Do to a lack of star power, an untapped domestic market and a low worldwide image, Infront struggled to balance its books in China in its first five years here. Although it was highly praised for last year's All-Star Weekend, the league's best-selling product, it still ran at a loss of $152,200.
However, Infront said it plans to stick with the league and believes it will get its share of the "partnership's success" in the not-too-distant future.
"The most important for us is 'your success' - that is our partners' success. That means if the Chinese teams and the CBA league get success, we will be successful also. And we could get rewards on our investment soon," said Blatter.
All investments have some risk factor, but Infront is willing to back the Chinese basketball product.
"Over the past five years, the relationship has always based on trust. There are always some risks in life. But we see more opportunities than risks. With such a good partner as the CBA, if there is a problem, we will stick together and solve it. And we will then make the most of our opportunities," said Blatter.
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