What opportunities are there for hockey in China?

Badminton and table tennis are really popular in China. Besides those traditional sports, other sports are booming in that promising market. And one of them is hockey.

March 30 is considered a historic milestone for the national hockey championship (NHL – USA), when billionaire Gary Bettman officially brought it to China, in an effort to expand the influence of the sport. This comes to the world’s most populous market.

In addition to Bettman, a talented billionaire in hockey, there are two other stars: Kobe Bryant of basketball and David Beckham of football.

Next September, the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings will meet in Beijing and Shanghai for friendly matches. This was the first promotional step that Mr. Bettman called the official debut. What they hope will be a long-term and successful partnership between the two tournaments, between teams and partners in accelerating the development of hockey in China.

China’s performance at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil has lagged far behind its past Olympics. Xi Jinping, the Chinese President, is the one who plans to call for investment in the development of Chinese sports. Badminton and table tennis are really popular in China. Besides those traditional sports, other sports are booming in that promising market. The actual hockey game has followed in the footsteps of many subjects that are unfamiliar to mainland people such as basketball, rugby, and baseball in terms of approaching China.

Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 are under consideration by the NHL. This could be a great chance for hockey in the Chinese market. This is similar to what they did to Japan in 1998, in 2006 in Italy or in 2014 in Russia.

The difficulty will be very big for Bettman this time, because now Chinese sports are almost torn from the competition of so many other sports. With a new subject like this, the process of preparing coaches and athletes will not be easy. In addition, the most important thing is to receive the support of businesses, the government and well-known Chinese athletes.