On October 17, the NBA China Games will begin with a game in Shanghai between the Cavaliers and the Magic at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena. The arena has a capacity of 13,779. The NBA chose Shanghai because of its international reputation, state-of-the art facilities, and because many NBA commercial partners are located nearby.

Subsequent games will take place in Macao at the Venetian Arena, which has a capacity of 15,000. On October 18, Magic will take on the China Men’s National Team, and there will be a rematch between Magic and the Cavaliers on October 20.

Tickets for the Shanghai game will go on sale in June, and they can be purchased online at the EMMA ticket website (www.emma.cn), the EMMA Ticket national call center (407-707-9999), and at the EMMA Ticket box offices and outlets in Shanghai, Beijine, Hangzhou, and Nanjing. Information about how to purchase tickets for the other games will be made available at a later date.

In 2004, the NBA became the first American professional sports league to play games in China with two matchups between the Houston Rockets and the Sacramento Kings in Shanghai and Beijing. Magic will be just the second NBA team to play against the Chinese National team in China. The first was the Washington Bullets, which played against China during the NBA’s first trip to the country in 1979.

Basketball has risen in popularity in China in recent years, following Yao Ming’s entry into the NBA. China is the NBA’s biggest overseas market, with about 20,000 stores carrying NBA merchandise and 347 million television viewers watching games. NBA China has 50 employees, the largest NBA operation outside of the United States.