NBA: Daryl Morey's tweet in support of Hong Kong could cost the Houston Rockets $25m (press)

The suspension of the commitments of the Chinese sponsors would cause $25m (€22.6m) in losses to the Houston Rockets franchise (NBA) for the 2019-20 season, according to the New York Times on 13/10/2019. These suspensions follow the tweet of Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, who had supported the independence movements of Hong Kong on 05/10/2019.

Since this tweet, the Chinese e-commerce platforms Alibaba Group Holding Limited and JD Sports (JD.com) have removed Houston Rockets products from their sales platforms. Rockets merchandising products have disappeared from Nike stores in several Chinese cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu). Several Chinese brands have also suspended their engagement with the club and with the NBA (see below).

China's public broadcaster CCTV and Chinese internet service group Tencent canceled the broadcast of NBA pre-season games in Asia in October 2019, following Daryl Morey's tweet. The two TV channels have also not specified (as of 14/10/2019) whether they will broadcast Houston Rockets games in 2019-20.

Daryl Morey…