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23 July 2009 12:00 PM
When Sports Leagues Are New
BEIJING -- With 1.3 billion potential fans, China is increasingly seen as a financial promised land for N.B.A. stars through endorsement deals, and the league itself has established a robust organization here valued at $2 billion.
But China's own professional league, the Chinese Basketball Association, has hardly enjoyed a smooth ascendance alongside this country's basketball boom. American players and agents describe broken contracts, unpaid wages, suspicions of game-fixing and rising resentment toward foreign players. Several players have left China after failing to receive paychecks. Last month, the league announced that it lost $17 million last season, which ended in May.
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