R Flannery
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was on hand for a flag football clinic in Shanghai on Saturday.
Many outside of China associate the country’s media industry with state or Communist Party-controlled organs such as CCTV, People’s Daily, China Daily, Global Times and Xinhua News Service. Yet the opening up of the Internet and popularity of mobile content have created potent new ways for sports and entertainment businesses to reach the country’s vast audience. In a country where the National Basketball Association has already found success, that is also helping the National Football League connect with new fans.
So says Richard Young, managing director in China for the National Football League. “The single biggest change in the sports industry has been the change in media — moving from a state-owned and controlled system to a competitive – still state-regulated but competitive, privately owned media landscape which allows for more competition and allows for more choice,” Young said in an interview on the sidelines of a Shanghai visit and NFL promotion event on Saturday with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.
To boost its online presence in China, the NFL last year signed a digital streaming partnership with Internet heavyweight Tencent that is already expanding its base of viewers in the country. The possible creation of a China Football League at some point down the road would open the doors for even more growth in the business of American-style football, Young said. Excerpts follow.
Flannery: How did you pick Russell Wilson to be the special guest today?
Young: His interest in growing the game globally is very deep. It speaks to his personality, his belief in the sport, and how much he believes it’s been constrained in the U.S., in the sense that it’s been such a good market for the NFL that it’s probably slowed us from expanding into other territories.
Now, the NFL is starting to push ahead and have a comprehensive international strategy for growing the game. And Russell is really part of that. He was just in London. He’s here because we’re seeing a lot of growth. What we first want to do is to drive is relevance and the familiarity of the sport. If you take all sports as products, there are ones that give you a consistent return on your investment in free time. (Football) is a deep and complex sport that you can learn about your whole life. That’s the beauty of the sport. In China, that’s working very well.
(As of now) country-versus-country, Olympic-style matches have dominated the sporting scene in China. But as the populous moves into having more free time and more disposable income, and really choosing what they want to watch and invest their free time in, we feel very comfortable in that competitive environment. We know that the quality of what we put forward is going to bring great success and returns.