Yao Ming's Absence: A Threat to the NBA's 2009-2010 Global Audience

Last October, the NBA announced it was laying off 80 people in the U.S., about 9% of its workforce, because of the slowing American economy. About the same time, the league announced a massive program, with AEG, to "design, market, program and operate multi-purpose, NBA-style sports and entertainment arenas in major cities throughout Greater China." The press release also mentioned that "the NBA opened its Hong Kong office in 1992 and currently employs 100 people in four offices in greater China. NBA.com/China has become the most popular sports Web site in China." Yao Ming -- seen here in a poster at the NBA Store in Beijing -- tends to attract the NBA's biggest TV audiences. So what happens to the NBA if he doesn't play for a season? (China Photos/Getty Images) Meanwhile, in recent years, shoe companies have increasingly spent their most precious resource -- the off-season free time of their highly paid pitchmen like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant an...