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With the enthusiasm that was stirred up by the two
inaugural National Basketball
Association (NBA) China Games, and Beijing's reported RMB 5,000,000
(US$625,000) earnings, the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) has
realized the great value of a successful league and has begun to look out for
its own future as well.
On Saturday, the CBA launched its 10-year development plan for the
China professional basketball league, "the North Star Project", at an
International Basketball Forum in Beijing.
To be implemented next year, the project plans in ten years' time to
make the CBA the best league in Asia, even to rank among the world's top
leagues and setting up a powerful, profitable CBA brand.
"Although the CBA is one of the top leagues in China, it still has many
problems," said Li Yuanwei, vice-president and secretary general of the
CBA. "These problems include the fact that the owner of the clubs are not
that clear about things, which stops the CBA from working properly with
the economic marketing system; the management of the players' salary and
bonuses are inefficient; broadcasting and publicity doesn't work
effectively and there is still a lack of high-level managers.
"With the coming of the tenth season and the growing popularity of
basketball, thanks in part to the emergence of Houston Rocket's Chinese
centre Yao Ming, it's time for us to consider the CBA's development
carefully."
Li said the North Star Project would make the league more
international, professional and standardized
Learning from the top world leagues, such as the NBA, the National
Football League (NFL), the Major League Baseball (MLB) and the English
Premier League, the Project has listed a series of steps.
 The 2004-25 season will serve as a transitional period, in which
large-scale reforms will be carried out.
In the forthcoming season, all clubs will be divided into north and
south areas, with the total number of matches per season reaching 317, 155
more than before.
The CBA will employ professional PR companies to promote the league and
increase the number of matches broadcast live.
"We hope to make CBA an advanced league with its own brand to serve
fans, media and sponsors," said Li.
"We also hope to enlarge the player selection range for our national
team through raising the league level."
The Basketball Administrative Centre is looking forward to a perfect
player reserve system, which is based on the middle school league, with
the Chinese University Basketball Association (CUBA), Chinese Basketball
League (CBL), CBA and national team stepping up higher and higher.
"We hope the professional league and non-professional league could
benefit each other and make their own efforts to raise the level of
Chinese basketball together," Li said. The Project will start from next
year. From 2005 to 2008, the CBA Company will be set up and strict
qualifying standards for clubs implemented. Between 2009 and 2012, a
shareholding system will be
put in place, in which a series of marketing systems will be set up. In
the 2013-15 period, the reforms will be consolidated.
"We hope that in ten years' time, the CBA will be the best league in
Asia and even one of the
best in the world with its own brand," Li said. "We
hope basketball will earn China more medals in international competitions as
well."
(China Daily) | 
Updated: 2004-10-22 09:49