The internationalization of the NBA continues to grow as regular season games in the 2017-18 season will be available in Japan.
Late Monday night, reports broke that the NBA had struck a lucrative multiyear, online-marketing deal with Japan’s Rakuten Inc.
According to a report from USA Today‘s Sam Amick, Rakuten, one of Japan’s biggest television and online companies, will be offering the NBA’s premium live-game subscription to all of its own subscribers through the NBA’s official app or via their video-on-demand service.
Rakuten will pay the NBA a reported $225 million over the life of the deal. As a result, Japan is poised to potentially become the NBA’s biggest international audience. This isn’t the first time that Rakuten has gotten involved with the NBA, however.
Last month, ESPN’s Darren Rovell announced that the company had agreed to a three-year deal worth $20 million annually to put its logo on the jerseys of the reigning NBA Champions, the Golden State Warriors.