NBA Caught Up in Hong Kong Protests: Bloomberg

Through three decades’ development, basketball has attracted an annual Chinese audience of more than 800 million, creating a market with billions of dollars revenue. However, one swiftly deleted tweet may threaten all those painstaking efforts. Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, tweeted an image of a slogan supporting Hong Kong’s protesters, and China responded quickly. Some Chinese companies suspended cooperation with Rockets while national broadcaster CCTV and Tencent announced plans to suspend broadcasts of NBA pre-season games in China. National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver tried to appease both sides: He defended Morey’s right to freedom of expression while the NBA suggested the Tweet was “inappropriate.” The public battle forces other multinational companies like Starbucks to take sides in the dispute between China and Hong Kong protesters. Foreign business interests do not want to lose access to the world’s largest market, but they also face pressures and cannot afford to look weak at home. The world is more nationalistic, and sports and patriotism go hand in hand. – YaleGlobal