Canadas largest sports company wants the Maple Leafs to become Chinas favourite hockey team, in much the same way Manchester United is the most popular soccer team in the worlds most populous country. Trey Burton Bears Jersey . At the same time as Chinese government officials have asked the NHL to stage a regular-season game in China as early as next season, TSN has learned four executives with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment are scheduled to leave Friday for Beijing for meetings to help grow hockey in China, an untapped frontier for many sports leagues around the world. MLSE chief commercial officer Dave Hopkinson, Bo Hu, MLSEs executive in charge of Chinese business, and two colleagues will attend meetings in Beijing with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, his staff, and Chinese government officials. Maple Leafs President Brendan Shanahan was scheduled to participate but canceled at the last minute, a team spokesperson said. (The NHL and NHLPA announced forward Carter Ashton was suspended for 20 games on Thursday after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. Ashton said he borrowed another athletes asthma inhaler.) MLSE executives, the 27-year-old Hu in particular, have quietly laid the groundwork for building the companys profile in China over the past three years. Because basketball is so popular in China, MLSE staff first established relationships with companies interested in sponsorship agreements with the Raptors. The basketball team now has sponsorships with Chinese auto tire maker Aeolus Tires and Asus, a laptop maker. MLSE has also partnered with I.T. company Huawei on music-industry projects. Its believed that MLSE garners more than $300,000 from each of those sponsorships. Company officials declined to say how much sponsorship revenue they make from China-based companies. As MLSEs relationships in China matured, the company landed meetings with the Chinese government - meetings where MLSE received an attractive offer. China is competing with Kazakhstan to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. China wants to have hockey teams that are competitive. But with a mens national team thats ranked No. 38 — behind New Zealand, Belgium and Iceland — China needs help getting to that point. China wasnt a sports nation before the Beijing Olympics in 2008, but it is now, Hopkinson said in an interview. The president of the country attended the Team Canada mens hockey games in Sochi and said he fell in love with hockey. Whats important to the president of China is important to China. Chinese officials said in exchange for helping to develop grass-roots hockey programs in China, the government would help MLSE promote the Maple Leafs brand there. This is the most storied and established brand in the game, Hopkinson said. We were told that if they were going to partner in the NFL, it would be with the Dallas Cowboys. If they were doing a baseball deal, it would be with the New York Yankees. And if theres a partnership in the NHL, its going to be with the Maple Leafs. It doesnt hurt that the Leafs are based in Canada. Tensions might appear if a U.S.-based team tried to do what the Leafs hope to do. The Chinese have told us they really appreciate what we are doing, boots on the ground, helping them to develop a hockey competency, said Hopkinson, who has made four previous trips to China. In March, the Leafs converted all of their rink boards to Chinese to welcome Chinese viewers. In August, the team sent staff to Beijing and Shanghai to stage hockey camps for young amateur players. In coming weeks, the Leafs will aid in the production of a 10-part Hockey 101 series to be included in NHL broadcasts on CCTV in China to educate viewers. We arent the only team in China, Hu said. The Canucks and Islanders are there, too, but we really have a plan to become the biggest hockey brand there. We want to keep holding camps for kids, building grass roots interest, and eventually take our Maple Leafs players there. This is the Manchester United model. The worlds most famous soccer club says it has 108 million fans in China, where it has played almost a dozen times since 1975. Hu said because the NHL prevents teams from promoting themselves outside their local territories, MLSE has been targeting Chinese companies such as Air China and the Bank of China that want to expand their business in Canada. There are a lot of Chinese mining companies that have investments in Canada, although we just signed an agreement with a Colombian mining company, Hu said. Hu confirmed Chinese officials have told the NHL they are interested in hosting an NHL game as soon as next season. As any seasoned marketer knows, the payoff for a team to break through in China is huge. In its recent filing for an initial public offering, Alibaba reported just 45.8 per cent of Chinas population uses the Internet, far lower than Canada or the U.S. In 2000, four per cent of urban households in China were considered middle class; by 2012, more than two-thirds of those homes had gained that status, earning between $9,000 and $16,000. In 2022, Chinas middle class may eclipse 630 million consumers. There already are signs that China, a non-traditional hockey market to be sure, is open to a new sport. Last year, the state broadcaster CCTV began showing four live NHL games every week. This is CCTVs second year of a three-year deal with the NHL. NHL games broadcast on the weekend in China have attracted an average 800,000 households - airing at 7 a.m. local time. By comparison, televised Leafs games in Canada with national distribution this season have attracted about 1.5 million viewers. This year, Beijings 150 registered teams have 2,300 players between the ages of six and 15, MLSE says. Still, there are challenges to growing hockey in China. For starters, its an expensive sport, Hu said, thanks to 30 per cent import duties for hockey equipment shipped from the west and expensive ice time. There are politics to consider. In 2005, the newspaper Beijing Today accused western soccer teams of gold-digging, using their tours of China solely to build their brand and commercial presence. Some efforts simply dont translate. Manchester United closed a pair of theme restaurants after fans didnt see a connection between soccer fandom and eating out, The New York Times reported in 2007. Also, its unclear whether the NHL sees a big upside in China. The league does not have a senior vice president in change of expanding its international business, a position common in other pro sports leagues. Moreover, the NBA has a long head start in China, where it began to lay a toehold during the 1990s. Now, the NBA attracts some five million viewers a game in China. In the U.S., NBA broadcasts on cable TV get about two million viewers per game. Its doubtful that the NHL would ever grow business through the sale of team jerseys. While authentic jerseys now sell for $330 in Canada, counterfeiting has flourished in China, bringing down the price of knock-off jerseys to $5 or $10 in some cases. Joel Iyiegbuniwe Jersey . The second-ranked Jayhawks will play the Miners of Texas-El Paso at Imperial Arena in the Bahamas. The game can be seen live on TSN2 starting at 7pm et/4pm pt. Bennie Fowler III Jersey . Today, he looks at the offensive line. 1. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (OT, McGill) You Should Know: Over the course of his university career, Duvernay-Tardifs commitments to medical school and the family business frequently limited him to one practice per week, yet he was still the Metras Trophy winner as the Top Lineman in CIS football in 2013. http://www.bearsfootballpro.com/Authentic_Cody_Parkey_Bears_Jersey/ . The Mets made the announcement Sunday night. Parnell blew a save on opening day against Washington and the next day it was revealed he had partially torn right elbow ligament. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Houston Astros got a good glimpse of what could happen if Chris Carter and George Springer are hitting well at the same time. Carter connected for two home runs, Springer set a rookie club record for homers in a month and the Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 9-3 Wednesday for their fifth straight win. The Astros have been waiting for Carter to take off after he hit 29 home runs last year. "This guy led our offence in home runs and RBIs last year. He had been hot and cold, but we all know when hes hot, he can carry a ballclub because weve seen him do it," Astros manager Bo Porter said. "We definitely would love to get him going. That would be an added boost to our team," he said. Carter, who had been benched the previous three games with a .192 batting average, homered to lead off the fifth. He hit a three-run homer in sixth off reliever Louis Coleman for his fourth career multihomer game and his first this season. "He sat for three days, worked extremely hard in the cage and watched a lot of video," Porter said. "He came in today with a good game plan and understanding the things in which hes worked on the last few days." "I always say this: Its good from a coaching standpoint you put in effort with a guy and the next time he gets in the lineup you see it pay off. Thats good for the player to see the immediate results of the work which hes putting in" he said. Springer homered off Danny Duffy (2-5) in the first for his ninth home run in May. Glenn Davis held the Astros rookie record with eight home runs in September 1985. Springer also walked twice and was hit by a pitch. "Our offence is better," Carter said. "Its been coming around really good. George has six home runs in six games. Im happy for him. I think we have something going here." The Astros, with the worst record in the AL, won three times in Kansas City for their first sweep of the season. Houstons winning streak is its longest since a siix-game string that ended last June 3. Anthony Miller Jersey. The Royals have lost four in a row. "Its just a bad series, unfortunately, it happened at home," Royals designated hitter Billy Butler said. "Its a tough go right now." Carlos Corporan had three hits with a walk. He drove in a run as the Astros outscored the Royals 21-5 in the series. Jarred Cosart (4-4) gave up one earned run and four hits in five innings, but was pulled when his pitch count reached 95. "I chose a good day to go five and the offence scored nine runs," Cosart said. "I didnt have my best stuff. The offence came out scoring early. I felt pretty good out there. I had a couple of innings with high pitch counts. We have a five-game winning streak going. Weve got momentum. Were going back home to our own ballpark." Duffy allowed six runs on seven hits and five walks in four-plus innings. The first four Royals pitchers combined to walk 10, which was a season high. "He just didnt have anything going for him today," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "His fastball was down to 88-92 (mph) and we kept checking and asking if he was OK. He was fine, but he was going through a little dead arm. He was throwing hard, but it just wasnt coming out. We had to kind of ride it. We didnt have any bullpen help." Brett Hayes singled in the Kansas City fifth to snap an 0-for-27 skid to begin the season. He homered in the seventh, the Royals first home run in nine games. NOTES: Houston 2B Jose Altuve dropped Eric Hosmers popup to shallow right in the sixth inning for his first error of the season. That ended an Astros record of 88 errorless games by a second baseman. Altuve also had a single and tops the majors with 73 hits. ... Butler grounded out four times and is in a 2-for-22 funk, tumbling his average to .235 with one home run. ... Royals LF Alex Gordon batted third for the first time this season and extended his hitting streak to six games with a first-inning single. Youth NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Throwback Jerseys Disocunt Football Jerseys China Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale NFL Gear Cheap Jerseys ' ' '