For those players who make the cut and are offered a job in the CBA or NBL (one level lower than the CBA), they can look forward to lavish lifestyles of $20,000+ per month, living expenses paid for, and a league looking for guys who can bang it down low and take control of the block.  The NBA has taken notice of the extreme growth of basketball in China and has begun to establish a stronger presence in the country.  Kobe Bryant’s jersey sells like hot cakes there.  But just maybe, not everything is peaches and cream for Americans who decide to cross the Pacific to get paid.

According to Dan Levin of the New York Times,

American players and agents describe broken contracts, unpaid wages, suspicions of game-fixing and rising resentment toward foreign players. Several players have left China after failing to receive paychecks. Last month, the league announced that it lost $17 million last season, which ended in May.

In the article, Levin also discusses the possibility of games being fixed in the CBA.  As an agent, I hate to hear that there would be any fixing or bribery occurring, but would have even more concern about the possibility of my players not being paid on their contracts.  It is a lot harder to litigate against a CBA team for failing to make good on a contract than an American team in an American court of law.  Just something to consider before you pack your client’s bags on a one-way trip to Beijing.

Sports Agents

• A male sports agent who finds himself turned into a woman? [Pilots: FOX Casts 'Eva Adams']

Basketball

• Kobe Bryant on a horse [Kobe Bryant: Ankle Insurance Salesman, Redeemed Figure.].
• With Kobe’s strong presence in China, this makes a lot of sense [Kobe Signs Deal With Chinese Web Site].

Performance Analysis

• Eat your vegetables and play your video games! [Playing Video Games Good For You?]

MMA

• The door is wide open…there is still a lot of money to be made [Companies Warm to Sponsoring Mixed Martial Arts].

Football

• Late round and undrafted players getting their shot in the NFL [Dolphins sign CFL Defensive Player of the Year Cameron Wake].

Football

• D-Rov doesn’t think the AFL will ever come back [The End Of The Arena Football League?].
• The NFL seems to have instituted a very liberal fining policy [NFL players’ tab for fines up 22% over last season, union says].

Sports Business

• SBJ released some new rankings.  Condon and Boras can be found on the back-end of the list [50 Most Influential people in sports business 2008].
• Jason Peck gives us a shout out in this solid piece [Sports and Social Media in 2009 - My Predictions].

Baseball

• A nice distraction from studying for final exams.  If you do not get them all, you should probably pick a new industry [Major League Teams].
• Yeah, but hindsight is 20/20 [Tony's Top 5 worst pitching contracts in baseball].
• More players flood the free agent market [Non-Tendered Players Become Free Agents].

Basketball

• Bonzi hoping to boost his image in China [Former NBA bad boy Bonzi Wells lands in China].

Hockey

• The NHL’s way of saying, Happy Holidays! [NHL roster freeze begins Friday].

I had always dreamed of being involved, somehow, in the Olympic Games and on hearing the news in 2005 that my home country had secured the 2012 Games, I found myself forging ahead with making that dream a reality. First, I had to gain some Olympic experience, and being the less than proud owner of a 15.2 second 100m PB time and realizing doggy-paddle was the only stroke I can reasonably swim, I decided it must be work experience and not athletic prowess that gets me there. First stop: Beijing.

I found myself at Beijing Capital Airport, having quit my job in Tokyo, Japan and found some part-time work in Beijing teaching English. I set about searching for any opening possible in the organization for the Games and any links to the Chinese sports industry. I should also note at this stage I had never been to China before and knew approximately 4 words of Chinese (of course the bad ones. Always the bad ones first, right?) The opening came online in the form of a Volunteer Trainer position opening for the Olympic Committee. This was a low-paid, 7-day a week position, training the Chinese students in languages, security, first-aid, and basically how to deal with stressed foreigners and lost 4 year-olds. It did turn out to be a great experience with highly motivated volunteers and staff, but most importantly it got my foot in the door.

The foot in the door cliché is overused, I know, however looking back, I cannot stress how important that was for me, coming into the industry with only a Sports Degree from the University of Southampton in the UK and a few years teaching in Japan, the old CV was not looking so impressive. Doing the volunteer training camps enabled me to meet the right people at the right time and connect with decision makers and gate keepers. I made business cards, networked with the other trainers, the trainer’s bosses in the Olympic Committee and of course the volunteers. It was one of the volunteers who worked in a sports marketing agency that brought me the break I had been looking for.

Again, part-time was the way in. Working part-time or doing an internship is a great way to get your foot in the door (there I go with the cliché again I hear you cry).  I wouldn’t be saying it if it didn’t work time and time again. I then began working part-time at Prescient Group, a small (20 employees) sports agency in Beijing. The work environment was tough, being the only foreigner in the company and with only basic Chinese, I was immediately dropped in at the deep-end as I moved to full-time and given the job title of Sales and Business Development Specialist. My job suddenly involved stadium naming rights negotiations, team and athlete representation, sponsorship sales, event planning and marketing…also liaising with our partner agency in New York. I had to learn fast and although on-the-job training is the best way for this, I was a little shocked at how much responsibility they put on my shoulders in the first few months: “First we see if u can swim in the river” my boss told me looking me right in the eye, “if we see you do not drown and you keep your head up we will help you, but if we see you cannot swim, we will let you go”.

I quickly became aware that in China, on many levels of society, but in business especially, they never look back. They never complain or moan and if a problem or obstacle arises they rarely debate or argue over what to do, they just do something, and if it doesn’t work out they simply change it and move on. There is rarely any fuss, rarely any procrastination and always action. If you can’t keep up you are left behind…to drown I guess. Lucky I’m so adept at doggy paddle I thought to myself. It is brutal, but given China’s current economic clout and speed of development, this philosophy seems to be working. This is a country of 1.3billion people that didn’t know what sponsorship was 20 years ago. So I began adapting and learning how to swim with the rest of them.

On the 8^th day of the 8^th month at 8 minutes past 8 everything came alive. The Olympics brought China a new dawn. People around the world sat up during that Opening Ceremony and watched in awe as the Chinese put on a show that none of us can forget. The Games lived up to the hype too, with broken world records galore, stories of heroism, redemption, tears, passion, politics and joy. Just what the Olympics have always and will always be about. The China medal machine worked perfectly, churning out more golds than they ever could have imagined and the Chinese people who I talked to during the Games and around Beijing this year were truly proud to be a part of everything Olympic.

For the Chinese sports industry it was a turning point too.  In terms of knowledge, the Chinese people now had first hand experience of how worldwide sponsors activate, how global superstars were marketed, how huge events came to fruition and what the Olympic spirit was all about. In terms of lessons learned, it was one of the best. Now Chinese consumers demand more and expect more, they are more intelligent when it comes to brands and now sports sponsorships in China, following the models from the US and Europe.  Chinese businesses are no longer about slapping a logo on an event or sports star and hoping for the best.

The number of sports agents in China is increasing at a rapid rate, the number of sports marketing agencies is rapidly flooding the market and the amount of control and say the federations get is beginning to decline as the industry becomes more and more commercialized. China’s time is coming and the big leagues and associations such as the NBA, the NFL, the MLB, the English Premier League are already jumping on the bandwagon. The opportunities continue to rise, so grab you phrasebooks everyone, 2008 was a good year for the China sports industry, 2009, 2010, 11, 12 promise to be even more fruitful. My psychic friend said so.

During the games, we did not hear much about the pollution or the city’s continuing smog problems and heat issues. We did not see any athletes or spectators wearing masks to cover their face, nor did we see any protesters. NBC did not talk much about any other health concerns or issues that everyone was talking about before the games got started. This was done to make the Olympic Games and all the prestige that goes along with hosting the games continue, even in China. And although we did not hear much about any health risks or other issues, they certainly existed.

Now that the Olympics are over we can talk about the real affect that China’s pollution and weather had on the athletes and on this summer’s Olympic Games.

The smog cloud was still visible around Beijing and in many other big cities in China. The pollution and smog in China along with the mass influx of many more people into the city, caused for an increase in heat and humidity throughout the games. The AP reported that this was especially evident in the Olympic Green Tennis Courts.

According to the AP, “big-name players were sweating through practices in sauna conditions. Women’s number two Ana Ivanovic appeared exhausted during a work-out on Wednesday, doubling up on court to catch her breath. World number one Rafael Nadal and other players beaded with perspiration have been toweling off and drinking gallons of liquid as they go through their routines in the oppressive heat.”

The open aired tennis facilities were not the only place the heat and humidity were seriously felt. For the first time in Olympic soccer history, the final game was stopped thirty minutes into each half to give the teams a break. The heat and humidity were too much, soaring over 90 degrees. Officials were worried about heat exhaustion and injuries.

The heat was felt all over the country, by athletes and spectators. Although it might not have been publicized and NBC’s coverage did not highlight it, the athletes certainly felt it. Even if they did not think about the pollution or the humidity surrounding them, it was evident. Imagine Usain Bolt’s world record time in optimal conditions. Many other world records were shattered this year.  We can only speculate and guess if more would have been broken had the pollution and smog not existed.  Without the Beijing affect and with continuing technology improvements (like the Speedo LZR racer), I expect the 2012 Olympic games in London to have even more world records broken.