BEIJING (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019) - The internationally renowned Leaders Sport Business Summit took place on Friday in Beijing, China where basketball was a major talking point.

A FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 panel explained the thinking behind hosting a revamped and bigger than ever before edition of FIBA's flagship event on Chinese soil in two years' time.

Specific attention was given to the importance of the 1,000-day promotional program in the lead-up to the World Cup - alongside the tournament's Road to China 2019 Qualifiers - as well as the legacy effects which the competition can have following its conclusion to further the development of basketball in China.

David Yang, CEO of Wanda Sports China, Frank Leenders, Director General of FIBA Media and Marketing Services (FMMS) and Hu Bing, Sports Marketing Senior Director of Nike Greater China, talked about the strong desire of stakeholders to come together and deliver something special and unprecedented in a country obsessed with basketball.

The topics covered in the discussion with moderator Mark Dreyer - an established international sport journalist based in China and founder of China Sports Insider - included:

• Outlining the opportunities and challenges of hosting an event the size of the FIBA Basketball World Cup in China;
• The legacy opportunities of the FIBA Basketball World Cup to defend and strengthen the leading position of the sport in China;
• How to maximize basketball's appeal and unique qualities by looking at China as a collection of individual markets rather than as a single large one;
• The concretely planned contributions and returns from Nike and Wanda in connection with the FIBA Basketball World Cup;
• The importance of calling on the support of the private sector - media and corporate sponsors - in order to promote the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

It was the first time that the Leaders Sport Business Summit was held in China and was generally seen as a solid basis for future editions to be staged there in the future.

FIBA