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Author Time: 01-02-2008 Source: AP
BEIJING – The NBA has taken a stake in designing and running Beijing's Olympic basketball venue, during and after August's Summer Games.
NBA China – a joint venture of the NBA, broadcaster ESPN and Chinese companies – has joined promoter AEG and the Beijing Wukesong Culture and Sports Center to design, market, program and operate the stadium, NBA China said Thursday.
Basketball is growing in popularity in China, and the nation's top player, Houston center Yao Ming, is expected to be one of the Games' major stars.
The NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball are all striving to crack the China market, and take advantage of the nation's burgeoning leisure spending.
The glass-walled indoor stadium in western Beijing seats 18,000, sitting beside baseball fields that will be torn down and replaced after the games.
There had already been an agreement the NBA, the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee, and FIBA – the game's world governing body – to run the facility during the Games.
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