Sport & Globalization

China

• China is a very attractive market of 1.4 billion consumers.

• The NBA in the last decade has made a significant effort to reach this market.

- Kevin Durant in China- Lebron James in China- NBA player speaking Mandarin

Sport & Globalization

China

• Sportswear companies like Li-Ning have secured deals with popular NBA stars:

- Dwayne Wade (I, II)- Shaquille O’Neal

Sport & Globalization

China

• In 2002 Yao Ming joined the NBA. He was a 7’6 giant nicknamed The Great Wall.

• Houston Rockets’ games were watched by 200 million Chinese people (the average for an NBA playoff game in America was 5 million viewers).

Red is a lucky color in Chinese culture. Coincidence?

Sport & Globalization

China

• The impact of Yao Ming’s time in Houston made his teammates targets of Chinese companies

Golden State has also made movements to attract Asian people

Sport & Globalization

China

• Jeremy Lin was point guard number 4 in the depth chart in 2011 for the NYK. He was the 15th player in the roster.

• He played in the D-League and was bound to Europe when a series of injuries forced coach D’Antoni to give Lin a chance “in desperation”.

• He averaged 22.5 points and 8.7 assists in the next 12 games.

• According to The New York Times: ‘the Knicks most popular player in a decade’.

Sport & Globalization

China

• LINSANITY:

“No player has created the interest and the frenzy in this short period of time, in any sport, that I'm aware of like Jeremy Lin has” Commissioner David Stern

The team quickly began selling replicas of Lin's No. 17 jerseys and t-shirts, and the sales and traffic for its online store increased more than 3,000%

For the one-year period ending April 2012, Lin had the second highest selling jersey in the league behind Derrick Rose

Sport & Globalization

China

• LINSANITY:

Within three weeks of his first game as a starter, at least seven e-books were being published on Lin.

Global Language Monitor declared that Linsanity had met its criteria to be considered an English-language word.

New York City restaurants introduced new food and bar items in honor of Lin

Sport & Globalization

China

• LINSANITY:

The companies embraced the hero narrative and capitalized heavily on his global fame to reach Asian markets:

Volvo Adidas

Sport & Globalization

China

• After the New York Knicks, he has played for the Houston Rockets, and Los Angeles Lakers, two of the most prominent NBA markets for Asian population.

Sport & Globalization

China

• The NFL has also begun recently a similar approach to the Chinese market

Sport & Globalization

Qatar

• FC Barcelona and Qatar are in an ongoing relationship since December 2010.

• First Qatar Foundation and then Qatar Airways substituted UNICEF in Barça’s chest.

Sport & Globalization

Qatar

1. What do you think about promoting a company in your teams shirt?

2. Barcelona gets $189m in 5 years, but what does Qatar get from the deal?

‘The traditional International Relations literature is unable to explain Qatar’s diplomatic choices and behavior’ (Cooper and Momani, 2011)

I.

Its size combined with its wealth coming from liquefied natural gas exportations make

Qatar a very vulnerable country to predators, as

happened in Kuwait (Peterson, 2006)

II. Qatar is a small state that,

unlike most of its kind, does not want to follow a heads-down strategy but one based on innovation and unorthodoxy (Cooper

and Momani, 2011)

Sport & Globalization

Qatar

Qatar National Vision 2030

Major conferences, involvement with international organizations

UN General Assembly president in 2011 UN Security Council member in 2006

US largest military base in the Middle East

US university and museum franchises

Al Jazeera, the Arab world’s leading broadcaster

Major sport events held in Qatar

Exxon Mobile Tennis Tournament2006 Asian GamesFEI Equestrian Global Champions TourMoto GP Grand prixFormula 1 testing2014 Swimming FINA championship2015 Handball World Cup2016 Initial stage of Tour de France (in negotiation)2017 World Athletics Championships (unsuccessful bid)2018 World Artistic Gymnastics2022 Football World Cup 2024 Olympic Games (bid)

Sport sponsorship and ownership

FC Barcelona shirt sponsorshipTV rights for French football league70% ownership of Paris Saint-GermainReportedly, shares in Liverpool ACTakeover attempt over Manchester United

Qatar National Vision 2030

Sports Sector Strategy

(2011-2015) Qatar Sports

Investments

‘Sport is becoming a tool for leaders in the

gulf to reposition their countries on the

world map’ (Amara, 2005)

‘Qatar’s sport investment is less

concerned with immediate economic

return than status, prestige and relevancy’

(Campbell, 2010)

قطرQatar’s Global Sport Jigsaw Puzzle

On what moral grounds could the free world invade a country hosting

the Olympic Games?

Sport & Globalization

Qatar

• Qatar 2022 Soccer World Cup. Labor conditions under scrutiny. ESPN documentary.

• Allegations of FIFA executives being bribed by the Qatari committee. FIFA conducted an internal investigation and cleared themselves from any wrongdoing.

• Soft Power

Sport & Globalization

New scenarios

1. Sport tourism: I need Spain

2. For professional footballers playing in European leagues retirement means emigration to Middle East countries or the US:

• Drogba, Raúl, Thierry Henry

3. The financial crisis in Southern Europe has prompted sport professionals to migrate to better paid leagues:

• Qatar, Bundesliga, Poland, Hungary…

Sport & Globalization

New scenarios

4. The global soccer market has become increasingly complex. Soccer agents and investment groups are playing a bigger role and this endangers the integrity of the game.

5. Gas oligarchs from Russia and Middle East are buying large portions of the European soccer market. Monaco, PSG, Manchester City, Chelsea, Valencia…

6. Third-party ownership. The Falcao Case (Lanceros, River, Porto, Atlético Madrid, Monaco, Manchester United)

Sport & Globalization

New scenarios

7. Big signings are based sometimes on the marketability of the player in foreign countries: Japan, Brazil, Chile… David Beckham was a noteworthy case.

8. Supranational governing bodies (FIFA, UEFA, IOC) increasingly behave as private corporations but still are treated as non-for-profit organizations.