(Photo : REUTERS/MARK BLINCH) Toronto Maple Leafs goalie James Reimer stands while the Canadian national anthem is played as fans hold a giant Canadian flag before his team plays the Philadelphia Flyers in their NHL hockey game in Toronto, February 11, 2013.


Could the National Hockey League's Toronto Maple Leafs become China's hockey team?



Chinese government officials recently asked the NHL to play a regular-season hockey game in China next season. Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) executives are scheduled to go to Beijing Friday to discuss the future of the sport in China, according to Canadian sports network TSN.



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MLSE is Canada's largest sports company. Executives ambitiously say they wanted to emulate the success of Manchester United, the legendary British soccer club that has become China's most popular soccer team.



David Hopkinson, MLSE's chief commercial officer and Bo Hu, an MLSE China business executive, along with two other team executives, are going to Beijing to attend meetings with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, his aides and Chinese government officials.



Bo, 27, has been credited with opening the door to China through his work the last three years on behalf of the NBA Toronto Raptors, also owned by MLSE. He said Chinese officials told NHL executives they wanted to host a real NHL game by the 2015-2016 season.



The Leafs even have a Chinese-Canadian player, Zachary Yuen, a former Winnipeg Jets draft pick now on their ECHL Orlando affiliate roster.



Based on marketing done by the Toronto Raptors NBA team, also owned by MLSE, Maple Leafs officials believe the China market could be highly profitable should hockey make any sort of impression in the country. As it stands, Raptor sponsorships by several Chinese companies were earning MLSE upwards of $1 million this year.



The current Maple Leafs game plan for China to be presented this week reportedly includes proposals to exchange marketing rights for team help developing a grass roots Chine hockey program. That effort could lead to the Leafs playing an exhibition game next year with another NHL team or against homegrown Chinese talent.




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