NBA reality show another step for growth in China

The Chinese reality TV show is the NBA's sixth such program overall since 2002, but the first outside the United States.

The show, a basketball competition in 64 cities involving retired NBA stars, will be broadcast on Shandong TV in mainland China on Friday nights from May 22 to August 28. The winner will receive an all-expense paid trip to try out for the NBA's lower-level developmental league.

Chinese dairy company Mengniu, an NBA marketing partner since 2007, is the show's main sponsor. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

An estimated 300 million people -- a total equal to the entire U.S. population -- play basketball in China, the NBA said, citing data provided by the Chinese Basketball Association. China's government also is planning to build basketball courts in up to 800,000 rural villages.

The number of viewers of league programing in China rose 34 percent last season to a record 1.6 billion, while traffic on the Chinese section of NBA.com has surged more than 50 percent.

The league has more than 130 employees in four offices in China. In October, it formed a joint venture with sports and entertainment group AEG to build at least a dozen "NBA-style" arenas in major cities throughout greater China, and in January 2008 the league formed NBA China, a venture that could evolve into an NBA-affiliated league.

NBA China investors include Walt Disney Co's ESPN sports unit, an investment unit of Bank of China Ltd, Legend Holdings Ltd, China Merchant Group and Li Ka Shing Foundation.

They have collectively invested $253 million for an 11 percent stake in the entity, which conducts the NBA's business efforts in China.

Other NBA sponsors in China include McDonald's Corp, Coca-Cola Co, Nike Inc and Toyota Motor Corp, as well as Lenovo Group Ltd and Tsingtao Brewery Co Ltd.