Would the Rocket fan-base decrease if Yao was traded?

No ****

Same as the laker fans if Kobe left,

Cavs fans if Lebron left,

Miami fans if Wade and or Shaq left

Etc.

Just ask the Philly and T wolves fans when Garnett and Iverson left.

 

Hopefully he'll take his-only-fans with him if he leaves (which he won't).

 

Will you visit this board if Yao was traded?

 

At the very least you lose one billion would be Rox fans! Yes, the country of China would overnite become Buck fans and whoever plays the Rox plus, wherever Yao would be playing. A marketing nightmare! A blunder of epidemic proportions! You do the math.

 

depends on who we would trade him for, unless it's Yi Jianlian, then hell yes it would drop like crazy

 

Yes, I'd say 80% of Chinese fans are basically YOFs

 

You just feel uncomfortable if you don't stir things up, don't you?

 

To be honest.. I don't think I'd be much of a Yao fan if he wasn't a Rocket. Kinda ironic considering my moniker.

 

I will not follow this team if Yao get traded.

 

I'm assuming you're Chinese. I may be wrong.. however, are you located in China?

 

This is understandable. I'm sure we snatched up a few Argentinean and latin american fans when we got Scola. The NBA is becoming a worldwide international sport all around the globe. Just about in all countries and on 6 continents they're playing basketball.

 

Yup, you are right. I think there are a lot of people like me (you can call me YOF, YOH, whatever).

I have followed this team for over 5 years, simply because Yao is in this team. Why you want to follow this team? If you don't live in houston. If you are not a fan of any one player? If you didn't see them become champion team in 94 and 95. If you can find a better team that play a lot better than this team?

 

I must be slow, but what would be the impact of losing one billion Chinese fans (Yao fans) to another team?

1) If there are people visiting from China and they come to Houston to see the Yao (Rockets) play, could you quantify or at least provide an educated guess on the number of people doing that?

2) I don't know what the market is for Yao -Rocket related merchandise, but does a profit from sales come back directly to Les Alexander and the Rockets organization? Is the merchandise branded as authentic NBA so that royalties would be paid back to the league?

3) In regards to media broadcasts (television & audio) in China of Rockets games. Does the Rockets organization have an exclusive contract for those rights or is it done through the NBA with all teams sharing in the profits?

4) With the current support of one billion Chinese, the Rockets still play like a middle of the road team, so I don't see how that is inspiring them to play better. Are you suggesting that the Rockets would play worse specifically because they would no longer have the support of Chinese fans who live on a different continent, quite a few time zones away and probably have only a tiny fraction journey to Houston to see them in person?

 

^I think it's a selling point to lure in corporate sponsors, but no amount of pitching will overcome a team without a clear direction.

 

Is it a selling point that benefits the NBA or the Rockets specifically in terms of financial gain?

 

The same with u dude.

I have been watching NBA for almost 10 years,unfortunately miss the 94`95 champion.
But only when yao was in this team ,I started to watch the Rocket.
I love AI ,KB,Shaq and KG much more than Yao,but I watch almost every Rocket game in the recent 5 years ,much much much more than every other team.

Think about it ,if you live in Houston and is a totally Rocket fan,one day Tmac is traded to Jazz,will you cheer for Rocket or Jazz?
Or if NBA is not the best league in the world,(let's make it the best league's name XXX)and KB24 is the only player in XXX,what will you do?

Yeah ,i admit that China is not a great basketball country,and Yao really sucks in the recent matches ,but I'll still with him and Rocket no matter how bad the team is..............

sorry for my poor English,it's really uneasy for me to type such a post .....
p.s. I'm from Shanghai too.I started to watch Yao when he played in Chinese league (also called CBA)

 

Just let you know, if Yao doesn't play for Rockets any more, several Rockets players will lose their shoe contract, including Anta, Lining and Peak, and also Les Alexander has 10% - 30 million dollars of Anta stocks.
I know you might say it's nothing important to you, but I think it's pretty important to Les and other Rockets players, isn't it?

 

Yao wont be traded, unless he asks for it and I assume that just wont come out of his mouth.

For all the profit , endorsements , contracts and popularity concerns, and that he aint at his downhill period......I dont think les will let go.

I am not a YOF , but his working ethic is great ,which I used to believe would give his teammates some inspirations.........didnt work out though.