Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott to join UCLA in China

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott was scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Thursday to join up with the UCLA basketball team for its series of exhibition games.

Scott has been working with the Federation of University Sports of China to lay the groundwork for the Bruins’ trip through Beijing and Shanghai.

“This is the first step in what I hope will be a long journey of competition and exchange between the Pac-12 and China,” he said earlier this week.

The basketball-crazy nation could be fertile ground for a conference that has just launched its own sports network. And Scott, with previous experience staging tennis tournaments throughout Asia, knows the territory.

He planned to meet with government officials and broadcasters while here.

“Our schools look at the West Coast as a gateway to the Pacific Rim,” he said. “We do have a very natural connection.”

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