Basketball is more than a favorite American pastime. It has expanded into a global cultural movement that combines sports, fashion, and lifestyle. Chinese players such as Yao Ming and Jeremy Lin drew attention to untapped basketball talent in Asia and helped bring basketball culture to China. The Asian University Basketball League (AUBL) taps into that energy through elevating Asian university-level basketball competition on the continent. The AUBL, drawing from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States for inspiration, seeks to capture and shape a uniquely Asian basketball fan culture. How is Asia a new frontier for one of America’s biggest sports exports?

AUBL CEO Jay Li joined us in August 2025 to share the future of university-level basketball in Asia and its potential to bridge people across countries.

How Basketball Builds Bridges On and Off the Court