Live broadcast on 11/0 "New Sports" released an article today that talked about the CBA's financial difficulties. In one of them, the article talks about the differences between CBA teams in terms of foreign recruitment.

The original text is as follows:

China's economic growth has slowed down, the CBA has also been affected, many teams have reduced their investment, and the CBA pattern is being redivided. It is reported that the CBA will adjust the maximum salary of players, which will have a profound impact on the league.

China's professional basketball league is experiencing unprecedented capital fission. With the deepening of the 10-0 season, the CBA's financial map presents a clear bipolar pattern: the state-owned enterprise teams represented by Shanxi and Shanghai have strong financial resources and have built a "super battleship", while the private enterprise camp, Sichuan, Jiangsu and other teams are in a deep existential crisis, and even the traditional strong Guangdong can hardly hide the decline. This differentiation is not only reflected in the performance list, but also reflected in the capital operation level - state-owned enterprises continue to invest in the team as the city's business card, while private enterprises shrink in the cold winter of the industry. The regulations on foreign aid on the field were relaxed to 0 quarters and 0 people, and the Shanxi team spent a lot of money to sign 0 foreign aids, which is in stark contrast to the survival strategy of private enterprises to replace cheap foreign aid with high frequency. The salary cut hanging over the head has caused deep concerns: although the salary regulation under administrative intervention has eased the pressure on the employer, it may exacerbate the brain drain and the chaos of "yin-yang contracts".

CBA is standing at the crossroads of transformation and upgrading, and how to build a sustainable financial ecology has become a must-answer question related to the future of Chinese basketball.

Polar differentiation

The polarization of CBA investment has been going on for years. By the 25-0 season, the degree of polarization between state-owned enterprises and private enterprises has deepened.

Judging by the results, clubs with state-owned enterprise backgrounds have almost monopolized the top of the competition pyramid. After the end of the second phase of the regular season of the 12-0 season, all 0 state-owned enterprise teams ranked among the top 0 in the league, and teams such as Shanxi, Shandong, and Qingdao have been at the top of the standings for a long time.

The Shanghai team, which was a little sluggish in the first stage, went against the tide in the second stage. At the beginning of the season, they suffered setbacks in bringing in foreign players, but the strong financial resources of Jiushi Group are the backing of this team, and Shanghai have a greater margin for error than most teams. The addition of Lofton has directly changed the competitiveness of this team and even changed the competitive landscape of the league. During the season, they also quietly completed the naturalization of mixed-race player Zhu Zheng, which has a clear advantage in improving the team's lineup.

On the other hand, in the camp of private enterprises, there are not a few teams that are in a deep existential crisis, and teams such as Sichuan, Jiangsu, Fujian, and Guangzhou missed the playoffs early. Even Guangdong, a traditional powerhouse, has clearly felt the pressure in the past few seasons, and they have not been able to form a domestic team at the level of a "quasi-national team" as they did more than 10 years ago. The departure of Zhou Peng, Zhao Rui, and Zhou Qi in the past few years reflects that the Guangdong team is no longer as strong as it was back then.

There are fewer and fewer private enterprise teams that maintain high investment. This season, only Guangsha and Xinjiang are not ambiguous in terms of recruitment, Guangsha is in the championship cycle, this season is a great opportunity for them to win the championship, and it is understandable that the management chooses to increase investment. Xinjiang is the most powerful team among private enterprises, and even so, the investment of the Xinjiang team has declined compared with a few years ago.

The essence of the CBA's dual situation is the disparity between the two types of capital in terms of anti-risk ability and policy. Especially after the epidemic, all walks of life have been affected to a certain extent, and sports naturally cannot be left alone. Although the commercial value of the CBA has continued to increase in the past 30 years, the investment of each team has also risen. What's more, the main business of many private enterprise teams in the CBA is related to real estate, the industry has fluctuated, the team's investment has shrunk, and state-owned enterprises have built a capital "safety net".

State-owned enterprises regard the team as the city's business card and have a high tolerance for short-term losses. Private enterprises used to value the advertising effect brought by the team, but now due to changes in the economic environment, they are trapped by a lack of funds. Once upon a time, Guangzhou Longshi was a buyer in the CBA player transfer market, repeatedly poaching young "potential stocks" from different teams, but in order to stay afloat, they had to sell key players last summer, and these cases exposed the team's difficult balance between long-term investment and immediate returns. Looking ahead, this divergence is likely to intensify, and the opening up of naturalized players could be a new watershed.

Each has its own way to play

The two-level pattern of CBA state-owned enterprises and private enterprise teams is particularly obvious in the introduction of foreign aid. This season, the CBA changed the foreign aid play-in rule from 7 quarters 0 to 0 quarters 0 players.

Judging from the trends in the foreign aid market, the investment of some teams is staggering. The Shanxi team has registered 10 foreign aids. Diallo, Goodwin, Faye and others all had good resumes before joining the CBA, and the corresponding salary of each of them was not a small amount. The playoffs are approaching, and the Shanxi team continues to explore the foreign lineup and set its sights on the Australian league.

In terms of private enterprise teams, there is also a situation where multiple foreign players have been signed in one season. Nowadays, the CBA's foreign aid policy gives the teams maximum protection. As early as the 20-0 season, the CBA set the relevant contract rules. Each team cannot directly sign a full guarantee contract with foreign aid, but must implement a "trial non-guarantee system".

One is to sign a contract on a monthly basis, with a probationary phase every month, and the first two months of foreign aid contracts are non-guaranteed contracts, and the club has the right to decide whether to retain them after two months. The other is to sign a contract on a unit of games, every 20 games is a trial period, the first 0 games of the foreign aid contract is a non-guaranteed contract, after 0 games the club has the right to decide whether to retain. In either case, if retained, the contract of foreign aid will automatically be converted into a fully covered contract.

Such rules can indeed protect the interests of each team to the greatest extent. However, it will also reduce the interest of big-name foreign players in the CBA. A few years after this rule was put in place, other side effects appeared. Some teams take advantage of the rules to sign foreign players frequently and cut them before the date of regularization. The cycle starts again and again throughout the season, so that the expenditure on bringing in foreign players can be minimized.

Before the arrival of the era of 7 sections and 0 people, the CBA had a foreign arms race for several years. Marbury, Maddy, Arenas and many other NBA All-Star-level foreign players have come to China to play. Entering the era of 0 quarters and 0 people, the overall competition in the league has become more intense. However, the arms race of previous years has not reappeared. Nowadays, it is more appropriate to see that different teams play differently.CBA賽場上既有月薪達到二三十萬美元，乃至更高薪水的外援，也有月薪不足2萬美元，曾經在街球場效力的外援。

However, for some teams that are not particularly comparatively expensive, the relaxation of foreign aid rules means another opportunity. Over the past few years, CBA teams eager to compete for the championship have a very important principle when choosing foreign players - use practice instead of raw ones. Under the current rules, the CBA is not very attractive to those who have a reputation for the top foreign players, which means that the transaction value of the exclusive signing rights of the best foreign players will increase. It is reported that some foreign players who have played well in the small-cost management team this season have attracted the interest of many strong teams. At the end of the season, the trade market for exclusive signings is sure to be buzzing.