Yao-Yi matchup expected to draw record television ratings in China

HOUSTON -- Patriots vs. Colts? That's nothing.

In China, Friday night's game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Houston Rockets is expected to draw TV ratings that would put even a Super Bowl to shame.

It's Yao Ming vs. Yi Jianlian, the nation's greatest player facing his highly touted rookie countryman for the first time.

"It's the two best basketball players in the country coming to play in the best basketball league in the world," said Wang Meng, a sports writer who covers the Rockets for Titan Sports, a Beijing-based newspaper. "It doesn't matter who wins. It's the best thing that can happen in China, because people will be excited either way."

The game, starting early Saturday morning in China, will air on 19 television stations, including CCTV-5, the country's government-run network. It also will be available on two webcasts and on video-enabled, wireless phones.

The NBA also is throwing a viewing party for fans in Beijing.

Wang said the game is expected to draw more than 200 million viewers in China. By comparison, last week's New England-Indianapolis game in the NFL drew an average audience of about 34 million. Last year's Super Bowl drew an average of 93 million.

"The numbers are just extraordinary," said Heidi Ueberroth, the NBA's president of global marketing partnerships and international business operations. "It's very significant. It's showing how much the globalization of the league is on the rise."

Seems the only people not overly psyched about the game are the players themselves.

"You really have to ask fans," Yao said. "I'm playing on the court. I'm not really going to feel how they feel. I know they're excited, very excited."

The two may not even guard each other much, if at all -- the 7-foot-6 Yao matches up with Bucks center Andrew Bogut and the 6-11 Yi will likely draw one of the Rockets' forwards, either Chuck Hayes or Shane Battier.

"Just another game for me," Yi said.

Not for China.