China Bowl 2007

In anticipation of next year's Seattle New England game in Beijing, NFL teams have started to sell Chinese merchandise.



The New England Patriots have had a Chinese version of their website since 2004. Team owner Robert Kraft cited his family's long standing business dealings in China and increased Chinese interest in American sports as the impetus for the Chinese site. The Oakland Raiders offer the news room portion of their website in Chinese, though that's probably due to the Bay Area's large Chinese population.

Barring the addition of new franchises the NFL has maxed out it's fan base in the U.S. New NFL commissioner Roger Goodell must be salivating at the 1.3 billion potential Chinese fans.

With China's history of copyright infringement the marketing & licensing of NFL products should be interesting.