How can a regular season game be bigger than the SuperBowl? I think this 200 million figure is exaggerated. are they trying to tell us that one out of six chinese is watching the NBA?
I doubt the figure is contributed to China only. I know jack squat about Chinese fandom of the NBA and of Yi and Yao, but I do know that the game will be on like 20 stations throughout China, as it was the last time.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-080201-china-basketball-yao-yi,1,583196.story I'm sure the vast majority of those ballers are going to watch their most popular players straight out of China.
the chinese media wants to tell everyone how important this chinese market is for NBA by exaggerating the number of the amount of the fans in China. It's a big number, but it's definitely NOT, not even close to 200 Million at this time. 1/3 of the country are half-dead because of the snow storm, where will you get 200 million people watching a game.
Don't forget all the Chinese in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the rest of the world. LOL, there are more Chinese than the 1 Billion sitting in China.
Too bad we are trading Yao and T-Mac to the Knicks for Marbury and Randolph this afternoon -- thus completing the big three NBA marketing conspiracy.
I just hope Tmac is smart enough to realise that this gotta be one of those games he allows yao to touch the ball.
The Superbowl is not the biggest game in the world, despite its name. And yes, a regular season game can garner more viewers. I remember last year, walking through the streets nearby a Chinese college campus during a Rockets game. Every single shop and restaurant is tuned in to CCTV5 with the Rockets in the background. People are either working and watching or eating and watching games at the same time. If the Rockets are on, people are watching. And a lot of small shops and restaurants have TVs in them. Now during the Chinese New Year AND coupled with one huge winter storm and you'll probably have 200+ million viewers sitting at home with absolutely nothing better to do than watch this much anticipated match up. This will easily bigger than their first meeting.
