The NBA has formed a partnership with Anschutz Entertainment Group to design and develop about twelve multi-purpose arenas in major Chinese cities.

The project was announced Sunday at the O2 Arena in London, where the New Jersey Nets and Miami Heat played a preseason game. Anschutz Entertainment Group runs the O2, and the venture will be equally owned by the two parties.

"We weren't going to start construction in the next couple of weeks," NBA Commissioner David Stern said at a joint news conference with AEG president and CEO Timothy J. Leiweke. "We anticipate that in a relatively short order we will have laid out a road map of a dozen buildings or so throughout China."