In the conference room, most of the top managers of the Tour de France gathered here.
"You should all know about Zhang Guan. I just had a phone call with Zhang Guan, and he is willing to participate in the next Tour de France as a driver." Prudhomme glanced at the crowd and continued: "Everyone Let’s all share our opinions!”
A gray-haired race steward immediately said: "So what if Zhang Guan reaches the finish line first? He is not a competitor, so his results are definitely invalid."
"That's right, we don't have Zhang Guan on the list of athletes. Even if he is faster than others, he is not qualified to enjoy the competition results." Another person said immediately.
"I have a different opinion," said Tour de France operations director John Granger.
Just listen to John Granger say; "If Zhang Guan is willing to participate in the next 20 stages of the competition, I think he can be regarded as an official driver. As you all know, in the past two years, the European economy has not been Very good, the operation and promotion of our Tour de France event has also been greatly hindered because of this. If we can attract Zhang Guan to our competition, it will be very helpful for the marketing of the Tour de France event."
"You are the director of operations, so of course you only think about marketing, but have you ever thought that doing so would break the rules of the Tour and would affect the credibility of the Tour de France! The credibility that our Tour de France has accumulated over the past century, How can you treat it like child's play!" the gray-haired old officer said.
John Granger ignored the old race director and continued to mind his own business: "Our Tour de France has experienced 1998 years of development. The market in Europe has long been saturated, and the European economy has not yet recovered. Under such circumstances, we must open up new markets, and China in Asia is obviously the best direction for our efforts.
In other countries, if we want to promote the Tour de France, we must first get people involved in the sport of cycling. But in China, we don’t have to go to such trouble. Almost everyone there can ride a bicycle, and bicycles there are also very popular. . Cycling is not only a sport, but also a means of transportation. Through Zhang Guan, we can obtain an audience of hundreds of millions without spending too much effort, perhaps more than the audience in the entire Europe! "
John Granger's words moved many people at the scene. John Granger decided to add fuel to the fire. He went on to say: "And Zhang Guan itself has great commercial value. His fans are all over the world. Since he Being willing to appear in the Tour de France is probably what we want. Zhang Guan can attract more attention to the Tour de France!"
The audience group of any sport must have one factor, that is, they are relatively familiar with the sport. Some people also take this sport as a hobby in their spare time. For example, many basketball fans not only watch basketball games, but also go to the court to play in their free time. Others, such as table tennis fans and badminton fans, can also play a few games, and a few are even experts.
If you don’t understand the sport at all, your eyes will be darkened when watching the game and you can’t understand anything. Naturally, you can’t talk about any audience group. This is better in traditional sports, but in emerging e-sports projects Especially obvious on. For example, people who watch League of Legends games are all League of Legends players, and they can still play even if their skills are poor. If you don’t know how to play at all, don’t know what skills the heroes have, and don’t know what the equipment is used for, you will definitely not be able to understand League of Legends games.
The same is true for cycling. To train a person who cannot ride a bicycle to become a spectator of the Tour de France, you must first learn to ride a bicycle, then let him have a bicycle, and then the theoretical knowledge of rules and other aspects. For Chinese audiences, it is not so complicated. With the popularity of bicycles in China, Chinese audiences can understand the Tour de France with just a few simple introductions. Even many smart people do not need an introduction and can just watch a game. Can understand what's going on. Therefore, for the organizers of the Tour de France, China is the easiest potential market to develop.
After listening to John Granger's words, everyone here nodded, and the old race director obviously represented the traditional forces. He did not want to see the Tour de France changed because of a certain person, so he said: "Let one person It’s so unfair to other athletes that guests can temporarily participate in the competition! I think we should seek the opinions of other teams.”
"The Tour de France is a racing sport, and the competition is speed. It is clear who is faster and who is slower. The reason why Zhang Guan was able to cross the finish line first is because he was faster than the other 198 participating riders! Does the faster person win? Does anyone think it's unfair if they won the competition? I think the 198 contestants should reflect on why they are not even as good as a guest." John Granger paused and then said: "As for the team, I just said that Zhang Guan’s participation will help promote our Tour de France and attract more attention. The sponsors of each team should be very willing to see this and add the Tour de France to the big pie. By becoming bigger, the team will also attract more sponsors. At this point, we, the organizers of the Tour de France, the teams and the sponsors have common interests.”
The old tournament steward was a little arrogant, and he was certainly not as good as John Granger in terms of talking heads. What's more, John Granger talks about money everywhere, which makes the old tournament stewards find it difficult to resist, talking about feelings in the face of interests? Apparently no one paid any attention to him.
The old tournament director was still unwilling. He decided to change his perspective and heard him say: "If Zhang Guan is allowed to compete, there will be a lot of unnecessary troubles. For example, how should he solve his equipment? You can't participate in the competition without it. A bicycle?"
"I believe that all 22 teams are willing to provide sponsorship for Zhang Guan. They will be eager to ask for it. Besides, with Zhang Guan's wealth, buying a few sets of equipment will not be a problem." John Granger said.
"But Zhang Guan doesn't have a team!" the old race director continued.
"Then let him compete as an independent driver!"
"Independent drivers? What about the logistics? A team has a logistics service team of at least forty or fifty people!" the old race director said.
"Zhang Guan should be able to solve it by himself. He has a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars. It is estimated that all the teams combined are not as rich as him. For him, a logistics service team of dozens of people is hired to serve him alone. It's not a problem. Maybe it can also boost employment in France!" John Granger said.
"What about the participation fee? Other teams participating in the Tour de France have all paid sponsorship fees! Is Zhang Guan willing to pay the sponsorship fees?" the veteran race official continued to ask.
"With Zhang Guan, we can attract more sponsors, which can make up for the sponsorship fee problem. Besides, Zhang Guan also has a sponsorship contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars. I can talk to Zhang Guan's sponsors. If they are willing to sponsor the Tour de France, we can give Zhang Guan more shots during the broadcast. I think those sponsors will be happy to accept it." John Granger answered, as the operations director of the Tour de France , getting money from sponsors is naturally easy for him.
The old tournament steward fell silent. He could not find any other excuse, so he could only sit there speechlessly and sulk.
Tour de France President Prudhomme interrupted this awkward atmosphere at the right time.
"It seems that everyone has already made a decision, let us vote! If you agree that Zhang Guan will participate in the next race as a driver, please raise your hand." Prudhomme said, raising his hand first. And John Granger also raised his hand immediately.
Seeing that the chairman raised his hands, others did not hesitate and raised their hands to express support.
…
On the afternoon of July 2, 2011, with the official approval of the Tour de France Organizing Committee, Zhang Guan will participate in the Tour de France as an independent rider.
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Chapter 3 has arrived, guaranteed to be 5 updates today. The monthly ticket gap between the second place and the second place has been widened to 200 votes. After all, it is the last month of 2016. I don’t want to bring regrets to 2017 after passing the test. I will work hard today! I also sincerely ask all readers to give your support and vote for Pass, so that "All-Around Athlete" can break into the top two. Thank you all for passing!
(End of chapter)