Senator presses NBA exec about league’s ‘cozy relationship’ with China: ‘American people deserve transparency’
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Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., pressed NBA executive Bill Koenig Tuesday about the league’s ties to China, a highly debated topic for some time.
Representatives from most of the big professional sports leagues were at the Capitol Tuesday to discuss media rights, broadcasting and streaming services across the industry.
During the hearing, Blackburn posed a few questions to Koenig, the NBA’s president of global content & media distribution, specifically about how the league has dealt with China in recent years.
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Blackburn began with some background on the situation.
“I’ve, through the years, looked at the NBA’s relationship with oppressive regimes around the globe,” Blackburn said. “And, of course, you all have had quite a cozy relationship with the CCP, and we know how they censor.
“Going back to 2019, with Daryl Morey’s tweet in support of the Hong Kong freedom fighters, and that resulted in the suspension [of] the NBA broadcast on their state-run media channels. In recent years, it appears you all have patched that relationship up, which means there had to be some sort of deal that was there and must have been quite a deal.”
Morey, who was the Houston Rockets’ general manager at the time, fired off a tweet that said, “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong,” in October 2019. That tweet was in support of pro-democracy protests happening in the communist state.
China responded by announcing the NBA’s preseason games that were expected to be played in Shanghai at the time would not be televised. Then, it extended that suspension for almost a full year before putting the NBA back on its state-run television during the 2020 NBA Finals.
After suggesting the NBA and China had to come to a deal to get their relationship back on track, Blackburn pressed Koenig for the details.
“So, since we’re talking about broadcast rights and what they’re worth, why don’t you tell me what the broadcast rights in China are worth, and how much NBA owners have invested in China,” she said.
“The NBA does have a very long history of distributing our games and content in China for more than 30 years,” Koenig responded, but that wasn’t sufficient for Blackburn.
“I’m not asking about the length of time you’ve been in China. I’m asking what are the media rights worth? You’re the president of global content and media distribution. So, what are those rights worth, and how much have the NBA owners invested in China?”
Koenig responded, “The NBA does not comment publicly on the financial terms of our relationship — U.S. or abroad. But I can comment that you are accurate that, in light of the tweet that Daryl Morey made in 2019 …”
“You had to cut a deal,” Blackburn replied, but Koenig said the league did not.
“The estimates are these media rights are worth hundreds of millions of dollars to you all, and that NBA team owners have invested as much as $10 billion dollars [in China]. I think some clarity into those numbers would be important,” Blackburn added.
“The other thing that we look at is human rights and we look at how the NBA has punished players who have spoken out against human rights abusers in China. Enes Kanter Freedom, one specifically. So, can you commit to me that in every deal the NBA makes around the globe that the league is upholding human rights, and that the league is upholding freedom of speech, and they’re upholding the American ideals of freedom?”
Koenig replied by saying “one of the NBA’s most important values is freedom of speech.”
“In fact, the example you cited before — Daryl Morey. He was not disciplined or censored in any way in light of the comments that he made,” Koenig added. “You’re right. That comment may have led to lack of coverage by CCTV and other things. But, no, we very much value freedom of speech, and that’s something I can confirm.”
Since the NBA mended its relationship with China, Commissioner Adam Silver has stated the league will look into playing games there again.
“I think we will bring games back to China at some point,” he said in October. “China’s government took us off the air for a period of time. We accepted that. We stood by our values. … Anybody in our league has the right to speak out on political matters.”
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Silver also said in 2020 the NBA experienced “dramatic” financial losses due to corporate sponsors fleeing, among other factors, after its relationship with China soured.
In 2022, an ESPN investigation found NBA owners had invested a combined $10 billion in China, which included an owner whose company had a joint venture with an entity sanctioned by the U.S. government.
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