Why Texas and Washington Sent Their Basketball Teams to Shanghai

The first regular season American sports game (pro or college) in China will be a Nov. 14 men's basketball game between Texas and Washington in Shanghai.

As it turns out, Texas (and the Pac-12 as a whole) have interests in taking their #brand overseas where their amateur student-athletes will be turned into a walking billboard for the universities and their interests.

From espn.com:

Shortly after becoming the Pac-12's commissioner in 2009, Scott began pressing into China, sending six basketball, soccer and volleyball teams there on summer tours. He's planning another hoops opener there in 2016, and he hopes this will turn into an annual tip-off game. International football is also on the horizon, he says: "We've got schools that are interested in playing in Australia, Canada, Mexico and China."

Like every moneymaking entity in America, the Pac-12 is training its gaze overseas in search of growth. But the conference is hawking more than a game. When universities send their teams abroad, they aren't just looking to sell tickets, T-shirts and advertisements -- the teams are the advertisements, a physical manifestation of the product that is an American college education. "It's about turning people into fans of the University of Washington, not Washington basketball," explains Charles Clotfelter, author of Big-Time Sports in American Universities.

This experiment could end, however, as soon as Sparky the Sun Devil creates an international incident.