Alibaba Cloud inks multi-year deal with NBA China in latest sports-related collaboration

Alibaba Group Holding’s artificial intelligence and cloud computing unit on Thursday inked a multi-year collaboration with the National Basketball Association (NBA) in China, a partnership that is expected to strengthen fan engagement on the mainland for the world’s premier men’s professional basketball league.

Alibaba Cloud will develop innovative applications to enhance live game viewing and other fan engagement experiences, including with the annual NBA All-Star Game, the NBA Playoffs and the Finals. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

“It is an exciting time at the intersection of sports and technology,” said Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai, also the owner of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets franchise, in a statement. “AI and cloud technologies are enablers of connection – between player and fan, brand and consumer, global vision and local culture.”

The NBA China-Alibaba Cloud collaboration was announced ahead of two pre-season games between the Nets and the Phoenix Suns at The Venetian Arena in Macau on Friday and Sunday. Taobao 88VIP, the membership service of Alibaba’s main domestic retail platform, is the sponsor of the event marketed as “NBA China Games 2025”.

The partnership with the NBA marked the latest major sports-related foray by Hangzhou-based Alibaba, which signed a deal with the International Olympic Committee in 2017 to serve as a major sponsor of the Olympic Games until 2028.

At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Alibaba Cloud and the Olympic Broadcasting Services launched a cloud platform that served as the main method of content distribution, taking over from the satellite service that had been used since the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964.