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The American National Basketball Association (NBA) and billionaire businessman Philip Anschutz's AEG entertainment group have agreed on a joint partnership to develop more than a dozen NBA-style arenas in China.

Under the plans, the majority of arenas will be newly built in China's major cities and are likely to be financed largely by local and provincial governments.

AEG President and Chief Executive Timothy J. Leiweke has told a press conference that detailed plans will be unveiled in the near future, including details of when and where the facilities will be built.

As Leiweke explains, "we expect within the next few weeks to begin a series of announcement on opportunities, partnerships and a vision with corporation and government officials.

"We'd like to have visits first before being able to come up with a list and see where the best opportunities are. We anticipate that in a relatively short order, we will have laid out a road map of a dozen buildings throughout China even down to some small cities."

According to US press reports the arenas are set to form the infrastructure of an NBA-branded league in China. The NBA currently has more than 100 employees in four cities, and 15 marketing partners in China.

25th July 2008 - AEG OGDEN GETS INTERNATIONAL AWARDS

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