Although I’ve lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1999, I only started following the NBA and the Golden State Warriors since they signed Jeremy Lin, and after Lin left – with the rise of Stephen Curry. On a demographic percentage basis, the San Francisco Bay Area probably has the largest Asian and Asian American population for any given NBA market – the 2010 census put’s that figure at 23.3%. And we also know that the NBA is huge in China:
“Under Xi, the government has poured money into investments designed to transform China into a soccer superpower on par with Brazil. Yet the National Basketball Association remains by far China’s most popular sports league. According to one recent study that measured online engagement, the NBA is six times more popular in China than the three largest European soccer leagues combined. During the 2017 NBA Finals, more than 190 million Chinese streamed the games on their mobile devices. By contrast, in the U.S., each Finals game averaged 20.4 million viewers, and an additional 430,000 live-streamers.”
So it’s no surprise that the Golden State Warriors and the NBA try to appeal to these fans, and no surprise again that the Warriors reveal a new Chinese heritage uniform:
The 2017 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors will wear Chinese Heritage alternate uniforms for select games during the 2017-18 season as a nod to the strong Chinese culture in the Bay Area, the team announced today. The Warriors will first wear the Chinese Heritage alternate uniforms at home on Thursday, January 25th vs. Minnesota when the team plays the Timberwolves at home. Chinese Heritage merchandise, including hats, shirts and sweatshirts, is available now at warriors.com and will be available at the Warriors Team Store tonight, while Chinese Heritage alternate jerseys for every player on the roster is available for presale at warriors.com.
The Warriors are wearing the Chinese Heritage uniform for the following games:
- Thursday, January 25th vs. Minnesota
- Saturday, February 24th vs. Oklahoma City
- Wednesday, February 28th at Washington
- Thursday, March 8th vs. San Antonio
- Saturday, March 17th at Phoenix
- Monday, March 19th at San Antonio
- Thursday, March 29th vs. Milwaukee
- Saturday, March 31st at Sacramento
- Tuesday, April 3rd at Oklahoma City
I’m wouldn’t be surprised if these are sold in China as well.
- Excited
- Fascinated
- Amused
- Disgusted
- Sad
- Angry