China has form as a sports bully, but its full-court press on the NBA may backfire
- Written by Keith Rathbone, Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University
It’s unlikely Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets basketball team, realised he’d be sparking an international diplomatic incident when, on October 4, he tweeted the following Stand with Hong Kong[1] logo.
References
- ^ Stand with Hong Kong (twitter.com)
- ^ CC BY-NC-ND (creativecommons.org)
- ^ 'We fear Hong Kong will become just another Chinese city': an interview with Martin Lee, grandfather of democracy (theconversation.com)
- ^ an official complaint (houston.china-consulate.org)
- ^ suspended dealings (www.scmp.com)
- ^ NBA pre-season games (www.cnbc.com)
- ^ suspended ties with the league (edition.cnn.com)
- ^ from the Rockets’ owner (twitter.com)
- ^ regrettable (twitter.com)
- ^ a grovelling apology (twitter.com)
- ^ the most popular teams (www.cbssports.com)
- ^ Chinese-inspired uniforms (www.nba.com)
- ^ US$1.5 billion (about A$2.2 billion) a year (www.cnbc.com)
- ^ 10% to 15% (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ China's financial muscle makes its mark on the global sport industry (theconversation.com)
- ^ nation (en.wikipedia.org)
- ^ host the East Asian Youth Games (www.scmp.com)
- ^ Inside China's vast influence network – how it works, and the extent of its reach in Australia (theconversation.com)
- ^ pulled Rockets gear from its Chinese stores (www.reuters.com)
- ^ supporting the Hong Kong protests (nypost.com)
- ^ kicking them out (www.msn.com)
- ^ Ted Cruz (twitter.com)
- ^ basketball courts (en.wikipedia.org)
Authors: Keith Rathbone, Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University