Alisports awarded exclusive commercial rights to CUBA for 7 years

Multiple sports business media in China have reported that Alisports has won the bid to the commercial rights of the Chinese University Basketball Association and has been awarded a 7-year exclusive partnership until August 2025. 

The reports say the bidding result was announced by Kangpaisi (Beijing) Sports Management Co., Ltd. on Tuesday July 30 on behalf of the Federation of University Sports of China. According to the announcement, the result is currently being displayed to the public from July 30 to August 3. The three parties, namely FUSC, Kangpaisi and Alisports, will officially sign contracts within 30 days. 

There has been no official disclosure about the bid amount Alisports offered to win the bid. However, Lanxiong Sports claims the amount is CNY660m while Sports Money says the winning bid was around CNY1bn, according to their respective investigations. 

Authorized by FUSC, Kangpaisi started the bidding rounds to the commercial rights of CUBA at the end of June, as CUBA’s former operational partner, VIVA China Sports, was coming to the end of their 5-year partnership period. 

CUBA league was first created in 1998 and is now the most influential university basketball league in China. Viva China Sports introduction about CUBA says the league covers 34 provinces/autonomous regions/cities in China with more than 4,100 games per year and at least 1,200 universities participating. 

As the most important basketball league at university level in China, CUBA should be able to enhance Alisports involvement in youth sports. The youth sports area is one of the strategic development directions of Alisports. They have had several major partnerships in youth football in China, including upgrading the school football league system in China by launching the new CUFA, signing Adidas to be the title sponsor of CUFA and becoming the exclusive operating partner of FISU University World Cup Football. CUBA becomes a basketball piece of the puzzle. 

References: Sports Money, Lanxiong Sports  

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick