最近，阿里巴巴集團斥資10億美元收購東南亞最大的電子商務公司，吸引了大量眼球。這家電子商務巨頭在幾天前又悄然完成了另一筆規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（這個公司名稱多少有些缺乏創意）——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“數百萬美元”在中國推廣橄欖球運動，作為贏取該項運動獨家轉播權的代價。

馬云與橄欖球運動的管理機構世界橄欖球聯合會簽訂了在中國引入該項運動的協議。他們的目標包括在未來十年內將中國的橄欖球愛好者從現在的1300人發展至100萬人。

在中國推廣橄欖球？從投資的角度看，這對阿里巴巴來說只是小打小鬧，不太重要，回報似乎也很有限。

但這次交易顯現出中國的一大趨勢——網絡巨頭開始與他們能發掘到的體育項目簽訂轉播協議。

2015年最值得注意的一場交易，莫過于騰訊控股與美國職業籃球聯賽（NBA）簽訂的價值7億美元的六年合作協議。樂視也花費了數千萬美元購買120項體育賽事的數字版權，其中包括英格蘭足球超級聯賽和溫布爾頓網球公開賽等。而由蘇寧支持的PPTV也在2020年之前以每年7500萬美元的價格購買了西班牙足球甲級聯賽的轉播權。

就像體育賽事的繁榮促使了娛樂體育節目電視網（ESPN）在美國的崛起一樣，這種潮流即將在中國出現，各公司正在為此做好準備。根據品牌咨詢公司Millward Brown China的數據，在業余和職業體育運動上的花銷大約占中國GDP的0.6%，這一比例在美國是2.6%。中國政府正在努力鼓勵百姓參與體育運動，聲稱國家的體育產業規模應當在2025年之前擴大至現在的五倍，達到7800億美元。

而橄欖球，就是阿里巴巴視頻網站上增加的賽事類型之一。

這項運動的增長潛力巨大。中國橄欖球協會表示，國內目前只有1337名注冊橄欖球運動員。而世界橄欖球聯合會表示，全球打橄欖球的人多達800萬。

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容庫，是因為根據iResearch的推測，這一市場的規模預計將在未來三年內翻倍，達到85億美元。（財富中文網）

譯者：嚴匡正

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.