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he NBA has announced a new content partnership with Chinese audio streaming organisation Tencent Music Entertainment (TME).
The partnership will see TME deliver official NBA podcasts, offering a separate subscription option for NBA fans with the subscription to include the option to enter NBA-specific competitions and giveaways.
Tencent’s QQ Music platform will also reportedly work with the NBA to produce a custom theme song to promote NBA events with musicians based in China.
Elsewhere in the NBA, the Portland Trail Blazers have become the first team to sign a jersey patch partnership with a cryptocurrency company.
The Trail Blazers signed the partnership with StormX, which is also set to see the cryptocurrency platform become the team’s exclusive blockchain partner, with the Trail Blazers also planning to release their first NFT in July.
Portland Trail Blazers president and CEO, Chris McGowan, said: “We are extremely excited to have our team wear such a ground-breaking, revolutionary company on the front of our jerseys.”
“StormX is a fresh, energetic company with Pacific Northwest roots that can educate and motivate Rip City around cryptocurrency and earning Crypto Cashback.
“I look forward to taking these next steps together as partners,” McGowan said.
The San Antonio Spurs arena naming rights partnership with telecommunications company, AT&T, is also set to expire at the end of 2022, ending a 20-year partnership which saw the arena named the AT&T Center.
The partnership was reported to be worth US$2 million (AUD$2.6 million) per year, with a report from Front Office Sports suggesting the deal will not be renewed due to the company’s headquarters being moved from San Antonio to Dallas, as well as AT&T “reassessing its debt load” following a recent revamp of its media business.
