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Yao Ming: No. 1 in hearts, No. 3 in shirts
(New York Times)
Updated: 2006-02-02 17:06
It is a mystery worth exploring: Yao Ming, the best-known athlete from a
country of 1.3 billion people and the top vote-getter among N.B.A. All-Stars, is
the name on the back of the third best-selling jersey in China.
Yao Ming's brand is
big in China. [Reuters] | Whither Yao?
It sounds like an extraordinary reversal of conventional wisdom. Yao was
regarded as a phenomenon, an athletic symbol of China's rise as a world power,
an unstoppable force of marketing in China and a basketball bridge to the United
States.
What, then, does it mean that Yao ranks third in Chinese jersey sales behind
Tracy McGrady, his Houston teammate, and Allen Iverson, in figures compiled from
the start of the season through Dec. 31?
Not to disparage McGrady and Iverson, but they are not Chinese, nor do they
stand 90 inches high. So does their ascending appeal in China mean that Yao has
lost his power to wow? Is he surrendering his cachet to the littler men?
Ric Bucher, the author of "Yao: A Life in Two Worlds," said yesterday that
Chinese fans were discerning and knew the pecking order of stardom in the N.B.A.
"They take a tremendous amount of pride in Yao, but they also recognize that
he's not the best player in the N.B.A," Bucher said.
Nor is he the best player on the Rockets. That's McGrady.
Bill Duffy, Yao's agent, said: "Yao is a fixture there, but there's a newness
about someone like McGrady and an appreciation of his ability. When he was with
Orlando, they probably didn't know much about him."
This, then, is not about the fall of Yao, even if this is the first time his
jersey has ranked below No. 1 in China. This is about the global marketing of a
league that will have 270 N.B.A. games carried this season on 24 Chinese TV
networks — 69 of them featuring the Rockets.
"We don't believe this is a coincidence," said Sal LaRocca, senior vice
president for global merchandising at the N.B.A. "The Rockets are heavily
televised, and Tracy McGrady is highly identifiable." Iverson, LaRocca said, "is
a case unto himself."
"He continues to be immensely popular around the world," LaRocca added.
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