Chapter 213: A Team Intrigues
This is a rich toy for himself, Tang Huan smiled, but there seemed to be some deceitful elements in it.
There are four major professional sports leagues in North America, which are listed in order: the National Football League NFL, founded in 1920, began cooperation in 1903, and the Major League Baseball MLB, which was officially established in 1920, was founded in 1946 The National Hockey League (NHL) was founded in 1917.
For a long period of time in the original time and space, in terms of overall profit comparison, in order, NFL, MLB and NBA are the three most profitable sports leagues in the world.
Although the National Hockey League's popularity in the southern United States is relatively limited, the market revenue brought by the NFL is still higher than that of most other professional sports, and it is only slightly behind the English Premier League Soccer League as the fifth most profitable league in the world.
The income brought by the four major leagues is more than a hundred times that of other professional sports combined. At the same time, the four major leagues have also brought a great impact on culture. Usually, the stars who become famous in the four major leagues will become people talk about. Hot topics, and even become some tags.
In his previous life, Yao Ming, who had made great achievements in the nba, had a corresponding fame and fortune in the mainland, which can explain this kind of influence.
Its function is sometimes subtle and silent, just like the abbots of temples who pass on culture with open mouth and silent mouth all use it. From the upper class, people bow down.
Tang Huan is not interested in the NHL, it's too cold. MLB doesn't know much either.
As for the nfl. He had heard of the Super Bowl. After all, it was involved in a big scandal, that is, at the XXXVIII Super Bowl in 2004, Janet Jackson exposed her right breast in front of hundreds of millions of viewers during the halftime break of the Super Bowl, which caused a lot of controversy in the United States. In the end, Jackson had to apologize, and Viacom, the parent company of CBS, which was broadcasting the game at the time, also paid a huge fine for it.
Tang Huan is relatively familiar with the NBA. "Magic" Irving Johnson and "Big Bird" Larry Bird have been playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics since 1979. Since then, black and white have jointly created the glory of the NBA in the 1980s. The Los Angeles Lakers entered the finals 9 times and won the championship 5 times. The Boston Celtics reached the finals 5 times and won the championship 3 times.
And this monopoly pattern has now quietly begun to take shape, and it cannot be shaken.
The rich jerrybuss is Jerry? Buss, in 1979, spent 67.5 million US dollars from another rich man to buy the NHL's Los Angeles Kings, NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and other teams. It's like a big fight.
It is actually the same, Bruce Lee's apprentice. "Skyhook" Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who came to the Lakers in 1975, and Johnson, who was still a rookie, teamed up to win this year's NBA championship.
In more than ten years from now, the Lakers will enter the Finals 9 times. Now Wilson is lobbying to buy a team to make a toy. Isn't that just waiting to be trampled to death by others?
He once mentioned to Hawkins that if the money-absorbing monster EA had enough energy, it would buy an nba team, but from the beginning it was not limited to local teams. After all, the influence of himself and the company should not be limited to San Francisco and California.
Instead, the naming rights can be agreed directly. In the original time and space, the commercial operation of the stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area has been involved in the Silicon Valley company from time to time. The name is Oracle Stadium. The stadium built in San Jose in the 1990s has also experienced the naming era of Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, and SAP. Even Sybase once invested in an NHL ice hockey team, the San Jose Sharks. , SAP titled the Tennis Open.
Tang Huan, who quickly calculated the gains and losses, rubbed his brows, "Mr. Mayor, since the stadium is not well maintained due to funding problems, then I will let EA company talk to you about the naming rights. Actually, the fundraising The idea seems to be quite good, and the management department can carry out public bidding, so why bother your boss to lobby hard."
"Under the combined effect of various reasons, this idea can only stay at the level of discussion, otherwise, it will not wait until the gymnasium has been in use for almost 15 years, and the disadvantages are becoming more and more obvious before starting to make up for it." Wilson shook his head with a wry smile, and asked tentatively Said: "Tang, you seem to like sports very much, and you really don't plan to buy a team."
"Mr. Mayor is so enthusiastic, he must have something to think about, why not speak up directly." Tang Huan looked at the other party patiently.
"Well, that's the thing." Wilson coughed lightly, "The Oakland Raiders are determined to move the team to Los Angeles. You should know that this move will definitely have a negative impact on the already sluggish economy. The situation has a negative impact to some extent, and the Oakland Raiders team was established in Oakland at the beginning, and the officials have made a lot of effort, how can they leave now and abandon the local fans."
Wilson was obviously annoyed by this, and explained the cause and effect in a dissatisfied tone.
NFL has two major federations: the National Football Federation and the American Football Federation. Before the merger in 1970, the two were named NFL and AFL respectively. That is to say, NFL actually annexed AFL, and then established them separately. with.
In 1961, the owner of the Minnesota Vikings accepted the invitation of the NFL and jumped from the AFL to join the NFL. As a result, the AFL vacated a team spot.
At the time, Oakland had little in the way of a professional football team, not even a stadium for games, and the closest stadiums were in Berkeley and San Francisco. At the same time, the San Francisco Bay Area already has a team that has gained a firm foothold in the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers.
but. Los Angeles Chargers owner threatened. If there is no second team on the west coast, he will withdraw from the league, so the afl boss has no choice but to choose Oakland.
Therefore, Oakland picked up a bargain, officially became the eighth member of the AFL in 1960, and got the draft pick.
With membership, as Wilson said, the city leaders at the time began actively looking for some business people. Come help invest in building a new team.
Finally, led by a real estate agent, a joint-stock organization, the Oakland Raiders, was established, which also included several limited partners such as f.waynevalley.
Because Oakland does not have its own stadium, the team chose the "Kezar Stadium" in San Francisco as their home stadium. As a result, the results in the first season were not satisfactory, with less than 10,000 spectators, and a loss of 500,000 US dollars.
Seeing that the situation was not good, he gave up his partner status. He took the lead and ran away. Seeing that they are about to break up. Valley stepped forward with a $400,000 loan. And bought the remaining shares, becoming the largest shareholder.
Valley threatened Oakland that if another stadium was not built, he would move the Oakland Raiders elsewhere.
After the 1962 season, Valley hired an assistant coach of the San Diego Chargers to serve as head coach and general manager, becoming the youngest person in professional football history to hold both positions at age 33, while the Oakland Raiders The team's performance also began to improve.
In 1966, spent 18,000 US dollars to buy 10% of the team's shares, becoming the third largest shareholder and operating boss.
As a result, in 1972, taking advantage of Valley's absence from the Munich Olympics for a few weeks, the partnership contract was changed to give him complete control of the team's operations. became a supporter, signed this contract, and teamed up to kick valley out of the management team.
As the saying goes, one beauty covers one hundred ugliness. Under the control of China, the Oakland Raiders won their first Super Bowl in 1977.
Naturally, he hoped that his wallet would also grow with the results. He asked Oakland to expand the stadium, especially the luxury boxes, but failed, so he began to plan to move to Los Angeles, which has a better market prospect.
Doing so obviously caused dissatisfaction among the Oakland officials. You moved the team away. Interests have never been considered from the perspective of Oakland.
"At present, you are the largest shareholder of the team, holding about 25% of the shares in your hand. With your strength, there is no problem in winning this team." Wilson stared at Tang Huan with burning eyes, "Other shareholders, I can Help connect."
Damn, it's just a team, and it's so intriguing, Tang Huan raised his legs and fell silent.
To be honest, relying on the mature business operation mechanism of the United States, the teams of the four major professional leagues are indeed of great investment value, and gaining social prestige is just a natural gift.
"Don, the fans in Oakland will only love your intervention, and no one will gossip." Wilson continued to lobby, "Once you join the team, Oakland will provide all kinds of convenience as much as possible."
Seeing that Tang Huan was still hesitant and didn't speak, Wilson simply revealed his details, "Tang, my term of office is coming up soon, and I still want to fight for re-election. If this matter is done well, I will undoubtedly get more support Rate."
"Okay, Mr. Mayor, I can give it a try." Tang Huan couldn't help but express his opinion after talking about this point, "I'm really busy recently and I'm going to go to Europe. In this way, let me My business partner, Mikhail Kogan, the director of Shennong Fund and EA, will run this matter in detail.”
Hearing this response, the dry-mouthed old Wilson heaved a sigh of relief, and took a few sips from his cup regardless of his image. (To be continued..)
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