最近，阿里巴巴集團(tuán)斥資10億美元收購(gòu)東南亞最大的電子商務(wù)公司，吸引了大量眼球。這家電子商務(wù)巨頭在幾天前又悄然完成了另一筆規(guī)模稍小卻同樣令人感興趣的交易。

在這起交易中，阿里巴巴旗下子公司阿里體育（這個(gè)公司名稱多少有些缺乏創(chuàng)意）——公司小股東包括新浪和一家馬云控制的私人股本公司——表示，他們投資了“數(shù)百萬(wàn)美元”在中國(guó)推廣橄欖球運(yùn)動(dòng)，作為贏取該項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)獨(dú)家轉(zhuǎn)播權(quán)的代價(jià)。

馬云與橄欖球運(yùn)動(dòng)的管理機(jī)構(gòu)世界橄欖球聯(lián)合會(huì)簽訂了在中國(guó)引入該項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)的協(xié)議。他們的目標(biāo)包括在未來(lái)十年內(nèi)將中國(guó)的橄欖球愛(ài)好者從現(xiàn)在的1300人發(fā)展至100萬(wàn)人。

在中國(guó)推廣橄欖球？從投資的角度看，這對(duì)阿里巴巴來(lái)說(shuō)只是小打小鬧，不太重要，回報(bào)似乎也很有限。

但這次交易顯現(xiàn)出中國(guó)的一大趨勢(shì)——網(wǎng)絡(luò)巨頭開始與他們能發(fā)掘到的體育項(xiàng)目簽訂轉(zhuǎn)播協(xié)議。

2015年最值得注意的一場(chǎng)交易，莫過(guò)于騰訊控股與美國(guó)職業(yè)籃球聯(lián)賽（NBA）簽訂的價(jià)值7億美元的六年合作協(xié)議。樂(lè)視也花費(fèi)了數(shù)千萬(wàn)美元購(gòu)買120項(xiàng)體育賽事的數(shù)字版權(quán)，其中包括英格蘭足球超級(jí)聯(lián)賽和溫布爾頓網(wǎng)球公開賽等。而由蘇寧支持的PPTV也在2020年之前以每年7500萬(wàn)美元的價(jià)格購(gòu)買了西班牙足球甲級(jí)聯(lián)賽的轉(zhuǎn)播權(quán)。

就像體育賽事的繁榮促使了娛樂(lè)體育節(jié)目電視網(wǎng)（ESPN）在美國(guó)的崛起一樣，這種潮流即將在中國(guó)出現(xiàn)，各公司正在為此做好準(zhǔn)備。根據(jù)品牌咨詢公司Millward Brown China的數(shù)據(jù)，在業(yè)余和職業(yè)體育運(yùn)動(dòng)上的花銷大約占中國(guó)GDP的0.6%，這一比例在美國(guó)是2.6%。中國(guó)政府正在努力鼓勵(lì)百姓參與體育運(yùn)動(dòng)，聲稱國(guó)家的體育產(chǎn)業(yè)規(guī)模應(yīng)當(dāng)在2025年之前擴(kuò)大至現(xiàn)在的五倍，達(dá)到7800億美元。

而橄欖球，就是阿里巴巴視頻網(wǎng)站上增加的賽事類型之一。

這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)的增長(zhǎng)潛力巨大。中國(guó)橄欖球協(xié)會(huì)表示，國(guó)內(nèi)目前只有1337名注冊(cè)橄欖球運(yùn)動(dòng)員。而世界橄欖球聯(lián)合會(huì)表示，全球打橄欖球的人多達(dá)800萬(wàn)。

在線視頻廣告的潛力同樣巨大，這些公司之所以都迫切地想要建立內(nèi)容庫(kù)，是因?yàn)楦鶕?jù)iResearch的推測(cè)，這一市場(chǎng)的規(guī)模預(yù)計(jì)將在未來(lái)三年內(nèi)翻倍，達(dá)到85億美元。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：嚴(yán)匡正

Alibaba’s $1 billion deal last weekto gain control of the biggest e-commerce company in Southeast Asia overshadowed a smaller, but in ways equally intriguing, deal that the e-commerce giant closed a few days earlier.

In that one, an Alibaba offshoot (somewhat unimaginatively) called Alisports—which includes as minority investors Sina and a private equity firm controlled by Jack Ma—said it invested “multi-millions of dollars” to develop rugby in the country in exchange for exclusive broadcast streaming rights to the sport.

Jack Ma’s bid to bring rugby to China was signed with the sport’s governing body, World Rugby, and includes the goal of developing 1 million rugby players in China over the next decade—from all of 1,300 players today.

As an investment, it’s too small to be significant for Alibaba and the payoff—rugby in China?—looks limited.

But the deal is part of a trend in China in which the big Internet players have been signing all the streaming sports deals they find. The most notable deals over the past year include the NBA’s reported $700 million, six-year deal with Tencent Holdings TCEHY -0.60% . LeTV has spent tens of millions on digital rights to 120 sports properties including English Premier League soccer games and Wimbledon tennis. PPTV, backed by retailer Suning, paid $75 million a year through 2020 for Spanish Liga soccer matches.

The companies are preparing for a sports boom in China like the one that has fueled ESPN’s rise in the America. Spending on all sports—recreational and professional— is about 0.6% of China’s GDP, compared to the U.S. rate of 2.6%, according tobrand consultancy Millward Brown China. China’s central government has enacted policies to boost participation and said the country’s sports industry should grow five-fold to $780 billion by 2025.

Rugby, then, is one more sport filling out the roster of matches at Alibaba’s video sites.

And the potential growth of the sport, is, well, rich:the Chinese Rugby Football Association says China has only 1,337 registered rugby players. World Rugby says 8 million play the sport globally.

As is the potential for online video advertising, the reason all these companies are rushing to build a library of content: iResearch says the market is expected to more than double in the next three years to $8.5 billion.