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Nov 09 2007 12:00am EDT

Huge TV Audience Expected in China For Yao-Yi Showdown

The Milwaukee Bucks play the Houston Rockets tonight at the Toyota Center in Houston, marking the first National Basketball Association game featuring Rockets center Yao Ming and Bucks forward Yi Jianlian.

The game could draw an audience as high as 250 million people as it will air on Saturday morning in China on 19 different networks.

"It's really a watershed moment for the development of the game as an international product and of what the NBA is doing to market itself internationally,'' Rockets CEO Tad Brown told the Houston Chronicle.

The Rockets this week also this week announced a sponsorship with China-based IT company Founder Group, making them the team's fifth Chinese sponsor.

jianlian-vertical.jpg Photo of Yi Jianlian by Xinhua/Landov

The NBA is very smart when it comes to appealing to fans around the world.

The game also will be streamed live on NBA.com/China and Sohu.com, and Kong will make the game live via the league's Chinese mobile site.


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