October 2007

Baseball
2006 Central League MVP Kosuke Fukudome (OF, Chunichi Dragons) and Takahiro Arai (3B, Hiroshima Carp) are among the 68 players eligible to become free agents this year. Fukudome is 29 days short of the service time needed for free agency in Japanese baseball, but he gained eligibility under a new rule aimed at helping injured players. Other players meeting the free agency requirements for the first time include Hitoki Iwase (RP, Chunichi Dragons), Kazuhiro Wada (OF, Seibu Lioins), Masahide Kobayashi (RP, Lotte Marines), Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi (SP, Hanshin Tigers), Daisuke Miura (SP, Yokohama BayStars), and Hiroki Kuroda (SP, Hiroshima Carp). Those players who file for free agency during seven business days after the end of the Japan Series will be allowed to negotiate a deal with any team, either in Japan or abroad, after their
names are posted by the commissioner's office as free agents. (Japanball.com, 10/22/07)

Major League Baseball International and Shanghai Media Group reached a three-year agreement this season that has the 2007 World Series being broadcast live in its entirety on Great Sports, China's leading cable sports channel. The agreement was launched in July with coverage of the 2007 All-Star Game and has continued on a weekly basis with a China-specific edition of "This Week in Baseball." The World Series, MLB All-Star Game and TWIB will air on Great Sports through 2009. (MLB Press Release, 10/22/07)

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Basketball
Following in the footsteps of the NBA, executives from Euroleague Basketball have met with city and sporting officials from Shanghai to forge sporting and business ties. A delegation, including Jordi Bertomeu, the Euroleague Basketball CEO, was in Shanghai for the first CBA-Euroleague Challenge, an event facilitated by Infront Asia's joint-venture with the Chinese Basketball Association. During the tournament, in which Benetton Basket Tamoil and CSKA Moscow faced Team China and the Sydney Kings, the parties discussed the joint development of events with the objective of promoting European basketball in Asia. (Sportbusiness.com, 10/1/07)

Following the hiring of Timothy Chen as CEO NBA China, NBA Commissioner David Stern elaborated on the league's long-term plans for settingup "the second NBA, the NBA of China." Stern said the project was "long-term," will involve working with the 16-team China Basketball Association, and that the NBA was seeking financing partners. 90% of the new subsidiary will be owned by the league while two 5% shares will be sold to Chinese investors and to a U.S. media company, reported to be the Walt Disney Company. (Sportbusiness.com, 10/17/07)

The NBA China Games 2007 were held between the Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers and the Team China All-Stars in Shanghai and Macao from 10/17-20/07. The games aired nationwide on CCTV5 while the Shanghai Media Group and Guangdong TV aired each of the games locally in Shanghai and the Guangdong province, respectively. Last season, the NBA added 24 TV partners in China and currently has relationships with 51 TV stations that provided NBA programming to 34 million viewers per week and more than 1.2 billion viewers for the 2006-07 season. According the league, there are 300million people playing basketball in China with approximately 80% of males 15-24 in the top 11 cities of China considering themselves NBA fans and 20% of traffic to NBA.com coming from China. (Sportbusiness.com, 10/18/07)

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Golf
In March 2008, Gatorade will launch 'Gatorade Tiger', a new drink developed in conjunction with golfing superstar Tiger Woods, marking the golfer's first US deal with a beverage company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Golfweek magazine reported it was for five years and could pay Woods as much as $100 million. (Sportbusiness.com, 10/17/07)

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Other Sports
The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are expected to break TV advertising records with over $182 billion being spent next year, up from $169.9 billion in 2007, according to ZenithOptimedia. (Sportbusiness.com, 10/3/07)

VANOC, the organizing committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada said that it will exceed its 2007 sponsorship target of $65 million by at least $15 million. The overall sponsorship revenue target is $760 million. (Sportbusiness.com, 10/22/07)

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China
China Minsheng Banking Corp. agreed to purchase a 9.9% stake in UCBH of San Francisco, the parent of United Commercial Bank, in the first US strategic investment by a mainland Chinese bank. Earlier this year, UCBH purchased Shanghai-based Business Development Bank for $205 million. (Los Angeles Times, 10/9/07)

YUM Brands, the operator of KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut, reported a 28% profit growth in its China division and 21% growth in its international division, compared to only 1% growth in the US operation, for the latest quarter. (Wall Street
Journal, 10/9/07)

Alibaba.com, the Chinese leader in online business-to-business service, announced plans for an initial public offering which is expected to raise as much as $1.3billion, the largest ever by a Chinese internet company. In August 2005, Yahoo! swapped $1billion and its China unit for a 40% stake in the parent company of Alibaba.com. (Wall Street Journal, 10/22/07)

Citic Securities Co., China's government controlled investment bank, and Bear Stearns agreed to invest $1billion in each other, giving the US firm an entrance into the insular Chinese financial sector. Under the deal, Citic will acquire between a 6-9% stake and Bear Stearns will acquire between a 2-5% stake in the other entity. The companies also agreed to jointly offer capital marketing services across Asia. (Los Angeles Times, 10/23/07)

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Japan
Wal-Mart announced it would spend $875million to take full-ownership of its money-losing Japanese subsidiary Seiyu Ltd. Wal-Mart has stuck with the Seiyu brand, familiar to Japanese, instead of using the Wal-Mart name, but Seiyu has struggled amid intense competition from smaller retail chains, as well as from major local companies that are introducing larger stores and price cutting. (Los Angeles Times, 10/23/07)