Sports Diplomacy at its Tipping Point: Can NBA China Survive a Culture Clash over Free Speech Norms?

Abstract

For the past twelve years, the Chinese government has been an active participant in the joint venture of NBA China — a business venture that has allowed the National Basketball Association to host exhibition basketball games in the People’s Republic of China (“China”), broadcast basketball games on Chinese television networks, and operate a Chinese-approved Internet website. Nevertheless, the future of the NBA China joint venture was called into doubt last year when an NBA team employee, on his personal Twitter account, shared an image bearing the caption “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong” — a message that both the Chinese and Hong Kong governments regard as supporting a civil insurrection. This article explores the future of sports diplomacy between the U.S. and China in the aftermath of this October 2019 conflict over an NBA employee’s tweets about the Hong Kong protest movement. This topic is important not only to the study of freedom of speech, but also to the generalized study of political relations between the U.S. and China and the role that sports diplomacy plays in improving international relations between these two countries. Thus, any potential demise in collaboration between Chinese and American citizens in the realm of sports business could mark further separation, if not isolation, of these two countries within their respective spheres of influence.