Sports BIZ Brief: Five Invest in NBA China

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- The NBA continued its expansion into the world's most populous nation Monday, officially announcing the formation of NBA China. The new body was introduced after the league secured $253 million worth of investment from five partners - ESPN, Bank of China, Legend Holdings, the Li Ka Shing Foundation and China Merchants Investments.

"The opportunity for basketball and the NBA in China is simply extraordinary," NBA Commissioner David Stern said. "The expertise, resources and shared vision of these immensely successful companies will help us to achieve the potential we see in the region." NBA China will oversee all league operations in China and will be run by chief executive Tim Chen, who joined the league from his role as CEO of Microsoft Greater China in October.

Basketball has become enormously popular in China, where 300 million people play the sport and 83 percent of people between the ages of 15 and 24 claim to be NBA fans. The emergence of Chinese native Yao Ming, the 7-6 All-Star center of the Houston Rockets, along with the international appeal of NBA superstars such as LeBron James, Steve Nash, Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal has led to the league's huge following in the country with a population of 1.3 billion.

The NBA has a relationship with 51 Chinese television stations which provide programming to over a billion viewers. Nearly 20 percent of traffic to NBA.com come from China, according to the league. The league has also worked with the Chinese Basketball Association since 1985, helping the CBA to grow basketball in the country.