PM Harper to address millions of Chinese sports fans during Toronto Maple Leafs game

BY MATTHEW FISHER, POSTMEDIA NEWS NOVEMBER 9, 2014

 

BEIJING — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is to address millions of Chinese sports fans during a Toronto Maple Leafs game that will be shown across China by the state broadcaster.

The Canadian prime minister, who is known to be a Leafs fan and has written a well regarded book on the history of hockey, was to tape the interview with CCTV on Monday before ending a five-day trip to China that has mostly been about promoting stronger business ties between the two countries.

Hockey is not a major sport in China but with more than 1.3 billion citizens it still posts some impressive numbers. For example, Leafs games in China already attract a bigger television audience than the team’s games do in Canada, even though matches here are shown live starting a six o’clock or seven o’clock in the morning, Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment Ltd.’s chief commercial officer, Dave Hopkinson, marvelled during an interview Sunday in a restaurant on the 66th floor of a skyscraper which on a rare clear day afforded a spectacular glimpse of the sprawling economic miracle that China has become.

“When the NHL wants a game here, we will be the first to put up our hands,” said Hopkinson, who has already been to China six times to drum up business for MLSE, which also owns the AHL Toronto Marlies, the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and soccer’s Toronto FC.

“The first three times I came here it was all about basketball because the NBA does a very robust business here. The fourth visit was a little about soccer and a lot about hockey. The last two have been all about hockey.”

As many as 20 Leafs games are to be shown live this winter on CCTV as part of a 119 game NHL package that averages about four games a week.

MLSE brought four executives to China over the weekend on a visit that was timed to coincide with the presence of Harper and dozens of business leaders from Canada. Former NHL star and Leafs President Brendan Shanahan had a visa to come to Beijing, but cancelled at the last moment.

“Prime Minister Harper likes the idea of using sports as a bridge to China,” said Bo Hu, the Beijing-born manager for MLSE’s international business development. “Being here first is a big advantage. We can help build that cultural bridge between the two countries.”

Some have assumed that the Leafs were trying to emulate the global marketing sensation that Manchester United, with what are said to be 75 million fans overseas, has become. But Hu — whose principal role with MLSE has been to establish a profile for the Leafs in China country — said that basketball, not soccer, has been the model.

“We looked at how the NBA has become a bridge in China for the United States. That has been a really good example for us,” said Hu, who emigrated to Edmonton with his family when he was 11 years old.

Big money may eventually be involved, too, of course. It has not escaped the NHL’s notice that the average ticket price for an NBA pre-season game in China has been $500 US.

The Toronto Raptors already have more followers on China’s version of Twitter, which is called Weibo, than the team has on Twitter itself. As for the Leafs, they are the only NHL team with a Weibo account.

As famous as the Leafs are in Canada, MLSE has chosen to start at the grassroots level in China. The Leafs’ hockey development staff ran on-ice schools last summer in Beijing and Shanghai for 150 Chinese boys. During the two weeks that the Canadian instructors spent here they were followed around by three camera crews shooting a six-part documentary for CCTV.

“Hockey is perceived as a sport here like golf and tennis,” Hu, who is 27 and joined the Leafs four years ago, said. “It attracts interest from elite families.”

Beijing already has 96 club teams, with 2,300 kids playing the sport.

As for rinks, “I can’t count how many there are,” Hu. “It seems every shopping centre has to have movie theatres and a rink.”

MLSE was looking into having one or more of those rinks named after the Leafs.

“For strategic partnerships we would rather do business with big companies internationally than small businesses domestically,” Hopkinson said. “We want to remain the NHL’s most successful team financially at home while hitting a home run outside. This is such an untapped market.”

Hockey’s spiritual home in China has been the northern city of Harbin, which is one of the coldest communities on earth, but as in Canada, where hockey has deep roots in the hinterlands, the sport can only be economically viable in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

What underpins the Chinese government’s growing interest in developing hockey as a sport is Beijing’s candidacy for the 2022 Winter Olympics. If China beats out Kazakhstan, which is its only rival for those Games, hockey would be played in the capital’s state-of-the-art MasterCard Arena.

The MLSE officials now in Beijing are to meet on Tuesday with the city’s Winter Games bid committee to discuss creating what Hu called “a Hockey 101” series for television that would explain the history, customs and rules of the game to tens of millions of Chinese people.

Beijing’s candidacy for the 2022 Games is the reason that CCTV has greatly expanded its coverage of NHL games.

“There was no way it would be possible to bring the Leafs here if CCTV was not broadcasting NHL games,” Hu said.

China already contributes $2.5 million a year to MLSE’s coffers through sponsorships and Mandarin-language advertising on the boards at the Air Canada Centre and “we’re looking at about 10 times that much revenue in 10 years time,” Hopkinson said.

“Based on this country’s population, there should be Chinese players in the NHL one day. And that would be Nirvana.”