While NBA preseason games in China have proven to be a financial slam dunk for the popular basketball league, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has set his eyes on even greater plans to boost its games in the Middle Kingdom.
"The greatest challenge is how we translate the live experience of this terrific product that is played almost exclusively in North America to fans in China," Silver said during a roundtable interview with the China Daily newspaper in Shenzhen on Saturday.
Silver's remarks were echoed by the preseason game between Charlotte Hornets and Los Angeles Clippers at the jam-packed Shenzhen Universiade Sports Center on Wednesday, highlighting the rabid fandom, increased media exposure, and growing sponsorship for the sport in the country.
Since its first exhibition game featuring Yao Ming's Houston Rockets against Sacramento Kings in Shanghai in 2004, the NBA has brought in 20 official preseason games, including the Clippers-Hornets Game 2, to China.
The league has also started to experiment with virtual reality technology, wherein fans will be able to watch a game "live" at the Staples Center in Los Angeles or the Madison Square Garden in New York in their living rooms, although that reality is still some way off.
"There will be a day when fans in China can experience an NBA game as if he or she was sitting courtside [in the U.S.]. We will replicate that feeling when you are in the arena with 20,000 other fans while you are actually at home," said Silver, who took office last February, succeeding former longtime commissioner David Stern.
The new broadcasting technology is being developed by Tencent Holdings Ltd., the league's exclusive digital partner in China through a five-year deal, although Silver did not disclose when it will be made accessible to the general public.
Silver also revealed on Saturday that the NBA has discussed the possibility of playing some games around 10 a.m. on the east coast, with the hopes of increasing the league's viewership in Asia.
"In this case, the main interest is to give fans the ability to watch games in prime time during the evening here. I think we will experiment with it at some point to get a sense of how much it will increase viewership," he said.
"I will say I am a little concerned about our players' performance levels because their body clocks are used to playing in the evening or afternoon," Silver said. "But as viewership continues to grow here, it's something inevitably that we will take a stronger look at."
The current 2014-2015 NBA season was watched by over 690 million TV viewers in China, while the average number of viewers per game during the playoffs peaked at 2.3 million on platforms hosted by Tencent--a 160-percent increase over the previous season.