Basketball is more than a favorite American pastime. It has expanded into a global cultural movement that combines sports, fashion, and lifestyle. Players such as Yao Ming and Jeremy Lin drew attention to untapped basketball talent in Asia and helped bring basketball culture to the region. 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.
Jay Li
An international sports industry veteran, Jay Li is the Founder and CEO of Realeague. Prior to Realeague, Jay was the Head of Strategic Development & Team Operations Division and Special Assistant to President Yao Ming at the Chinese Basketball Association. He started his career in New York, working for the NBA in Global Media Distribution and Global Partnerships. He currently also serves as the Managing Director of Joe Tsai Basketball Scholarship as well as an Executive Producer of Left-Hand Layup!, a popular basketball animated series on Tencent Video.
Jay received a Master of Management Science in Global Affairs from Tsinghua University and a Bachelor of Arts in Film & Media Studies from the University of Rochester. He was a Schwarzman Scholar and a member of the program’s inaugural cohort. He was the first scholar to be named as a PepsiCo Foundation Henry M. Paulson, Jr. Fellow in the history of Schwarzman College.
Jay was featured as one of the protagonists in CNBC’s 2017 documentary Billionaire’s Bet: The Best & Brightest. He was recognized as a 30 under 30 by Forbes China in 2018.