Ten days later, Dai Li returned to Los Angeles.
Blake looked at Dai Li, whose face was full of beauty, and couldn't help but ask: "Li, did your proposal succeed?"
Dai Li nodded, then grinned like an idiot.
"Congratulations, it seems I have time to apply for a visa to China so that I can attend your wedding." Blake congratulated.
"It's still early to get married. As for where the wedding will be held, we haven't decided yet. Maybe it will be in Hawaii. Then you won't have to apply for a visa." Dai Li pointed to the door and continued: "I just transferred One lap, there don’t seem to be many people in our training center today, there are fewer customers than usual, and it seems that there are even fewer coaches working.”
"All the black coaches in the center took leave and went to protest in front of Stark Real Estate." Blake said.
"Protest? Why?" Li Dai asked.
"Have you not watched the news recently? The Los Angeles Clippers owner Stark revealed a 'recording scandal'. A recording of his was released, which contained discriminatory remarks against black people." Blake replied.
Dai Li nodded: "I know about this. I also saw some reports when I was in China. It seems that Stark has made racist remarks before. This is not the first time he has done such a thing."
"Indeed, this guy has a history of racial discrimination, but this time it seems to be much more serious. This time the 'recording scandal' caused an uproar. There are many black people protesting in front of Stark Real Estate every day. I want to To calm down the incident, the NBA will definitely impose heavy penalties on him." Blake said.
"How much is the fine?" Dai Li smiled disdainfully: "Stark can be considered a real estate tycoon. His net worth must be at least several billion dollars. For such a rich man, a fine of tens of thousands of dollars is just a drop in the bucket. That’s all.”
"This time it's not just as simple as a fine, the NBA can force him to sell the team." Blake then explained: "In other words, Stark is to be permanently kicked out of the NBA."
"So serious?" Dai Li was a little surprised. He continued to ask: "But the Clippers are Stark's property and are protected by law. If Stark refuses to sell, there is nothing the NBA can do to him, right? ?The NBA has no right to buy or sell by force."
"What I'm saying is that as private property, the Los Angeles Clippers are indeed protected by law, and Stark does not have to sell the team. But the Clippers, from the coach to the players, as long as they are black, have issued a statement, Refuse to work for Stark, I heard that the black head coach of the Clippers has already written his resignation. And the fans are also disgusted with such racial discrimination, and they will boycott the Clippers."
Blake went on to explain: "If this continues, no one will watch the Clippers' games, no one will buy jerseys and souvenirs, and advertising sponsors will leave. The Clippers' market value will plummet, and Stark's worth will also drop. It will shrink. Instead of losing money, it is better to sell the team quickly. Los Angeles is a big football market anyway, and even a bad team can be sold for a good price."
"How much do you think the Clippers can be sold for?" Dai Li asked casually.
"It must be more than 1 billion US dollars." Blake replied.
"So expensive?" Dai Li took a breath: "The Clippers' record is not very good. They are basically at the bottom of the Western Conference. How can they still be so expensive?"
"I deliberately said less, because this is Los Angeles! In recent years, the NBA's ball market has been very good, and it is a Los Angeles team, so the value of buying it will definitely increase. I guess the specific transaction price will definitely be far higher. Far more than 1 billion U.S. dollars!" Blake continued: "Stark bought the Clippers in the 1980s. At that time, he only spent 10 million U.S. dollars, but now it can be sold for at least 1 billion U.S. dollars. Thirty years A hundred times the profit, not counting his income from running the team in the past thirty years, this deal is really a good deal for Stark."
…
New York, NBA headquarters.
NBA Commissioner Adams is listening to a report from his assistants.
"Stark has relented. He expressed his willingness to sell the Los Angeles Clippers if the price is right." The assistant said.
Adams nodded: "I knew that Stark, an old fox, said before that he would not sell the team no matter what. He just wanted to sell it for more money and wait for a price. It seems that we let it out before. The price of one billion US dollars cannot impress this old guy."
"Yes, he is greedier than we thought. We deliberately released news before that there was a buyer willing to spend one billion US dollars to buy the Clippers, but he was completely unmoved, and he also told the media that he would not sell the team. Now that someone has offered more than 1.5 billion US dollars, he has relented, which really shows the true nature of a businessman's bargaining." The assistant said.
"$1.5 billion is definitely not Stark's base price. He will definitely ask for more. This old fox only spent more than 10 million to buy the team, but now he wants to sell it for 1.5 billion!" Adams' voice changed. , and then said: "However, the price of the team is also good for our NBA league. The team is becoming more and more valuable, so the team owner is willing to spend money and our NBA league can develop faster. The value of the NBA will also increase."
"That's what you said." The assistant said and handed a document to Adams, and then said: "Mr. President, so far we have received dozens of intentions to acquire the Clippers. These four bids exceed 1.5 billion. US dollars. I have compiled their background information, please take a look."
Adams opened the folder and looked at it carefully.
"The Seattle consortium, their background is the Silicon Valley technology industry tycoons, and they also include shareholders of Microsoft and Intel. It seems that these technology industry tycoons also want to develop into sports."
"Bay Area Entertainment Group, they are currently the highest bidder, but how many of their major shareholders are Las Vegas gaming companies? No, we have already signed an agreement with the Las Vegas gaming group With the three-year strategic cooperation agreement, betting on NBA games has been legalized. If they are allowed to control a certain team, it will be equivalent to letting them control the entire industry chain. Even the management of the league like us will be controlled by betting groups. Empty." Adams said and shook his head to himself: "So no matter how much money they pay, they can't sell the team to them."
"Shixin Investment Group has the second highest bid. Their boss behind the scenes is the richest man in India. He is known as the 'Rockefeller of India'. This guy is worth close to 50 billion U.S. dollars. If the Clippers are sold to him, the NBA will also It’s also a good thing that one of the richest team owners will be here.”
"Dingtian Sports has a Chinese-funded background, and its main shareholder is China's real estate giant Dingtian Group. Although their bid is not high, there is a huge market behind it, and it is also the market that our NBA league most hopes to expand. And there have been no Chinese stars in the NBA for many years."
Thinking of the huge market of more than one billion people, Adams already made a decision in his mind.
…
In the central conference room of Dingtian Group, a shareholders' meeting is being held here. Those who can appear here are major shareholders with relatively large shareholdings.
The content of this meeting was mainly to discuss whether to acquire the Los Angeles Lakers. This kind of investment of more than one billion U.S. dollars is also an extremely important investment project for Dingtian Group. This investment amount is even higher than that of Land King in first-tier cities, and it still uses U.S. dollars. Xiao Dingtian will not If one person makes the decision, a board meeting will naturally be held to decide.
"I think this investment is feasible. Domestic real estate cannot keep rising, and the cost of acquiring land is getting higher and higher, so diversification of investment is imperative. And there are only thirty NBA teams in the United States. An NBA team is a high-quality asset and is very suitable for the group to invest. So I support this investment project." A gray-haired shareholder said.
"I also agree with this investment project. Compared with other investment projects, buying an NBA team is definitely a relatively low-risk investment project." Another person paused and continued; "It's just that I'm worried. Will this take up more funds from the group? Moreover, this investment is in U.S. dollars, can we raise so many U.S. dollars?"
Xiao Dingtian motioned to his assistant Huang Zhicheng with his eyes, and Huang Zhicheng immediately reported: "Dear shareholders, in terms of funds, I need to report to you that we have received a clear answer from the Foreign Exchange Bureau. They will not give us With so much foreign exchange approved, we need to raise a large part of the funds for the acquisition of the Los Angeles Clippers ourselves."
Xiao Dingtian coughed dryly at the right moment, and then continued what Huang Zhicheng said: "In the past few years, we have made some investments overseas, including stocks of large companies, US dollar bonds, and real estate. These investments have also made some gains. If we If you want to buy the Los Angeles Lakers, you will need to sell a large part of your overseas investment."
“We need to sell our overseas assets!”
"Overseas assets have been accumulated with great difficulty over the years. It would be a pity to sell them."
The shareholders began to discuss in low voices. It was obvious that everyone was reluctant to give up these overseas assets.
Xiao Dingtian seemed to have expected this to happen, so he continued: "Of course, there is another way, which is to use these overseas investments as collateral, take out loans from foreign banks, and then buy the Los Angeles Lakers. Just However, it is much more difficult to obtain a loan abroad than at home.”
"In China, with the word 'Dingtian Group', we can borrow tens of billions from banks. Sometimes we can postpone the repayment time and discuss it with the bank. All banks know that we take With the money, we bought the land, built the building, sold it quickly, and repaid the loan easily. But overseas, our 'Dingtian Group' brand name is not so easy to use."
"Chairman Xiao, what do you mean?" the gray-haired shareholder asked.
"What I mean is that after we bought the Los Angeles Clippers, we needed to make a profit as soon as possible. As long as the Clippers can make a profit, it is equivalent to proving to the bank that we have the ability to repay the loan. This will put us under pressure to repay the loan. It will also be much lower." Xiao Dingtian said.
"What the chairman said makes sense. But I don't know much about team operations. To be honest, I don't even watch basketball." Another shareholder said with a smile.
"I think if you want to make a profit, it's very simple, just let the team sign a Chinese player. There have been no Chinese players in the NBA for a long time. When we buy the Clippers, we will immediately sign a player from the CBA, even if Just to see the water dispenser can also attract domestic attention, and it will definitely not be a problem to make a profit." Another person said.
"The key is whether the level of our domestic CBA players is good enough to play in the NBA. As far as I know, those in the NBA who are looking at the water cooler are better than our CBA players," another shareholder said.
"Then just sign anyone to be the mascot." The person from before said.
"It's not okay to sign just anyone. If the player is not well-known in China, even if you sign him to be a 'water cooler manager' in the NBA, he won't be able to attract much attention from domestic fans. If you want to sign, you have to sign someone who is in the country. The more powerful and well-known players in the CBA. Those powerful and famous players are the main core of the CBA team. And now the CBA game is also in progress. The CBA team will definitely not let it go. Even if we It’s not easy to find a ‘mascot’.”
Xiao Dingtian coughed again and signaled everyone to quiet down, and then he said: "Everyone, I have an idea. Since it is not easy to find suitable Chinese players at this time, we can find a Chinese coach. NBA There have been Chinese players among them, but there has never been a Chinese coach, and the head coach can definitely attract more attention than a water dispenser on the bench."
Everyone's eyes were focused on Xiao Dingtian.
Xiao Dingtian continued: "The head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers is a black man. A few days ago, he submitted his resignation based on Stark's racist remarks and declared that he would not work for Stark. And his behavior This behavior also attracted applause from African-American groups, and some even called him an equal rights defender. After our investigation, we found that the reason for his resignation was just to find a better job, that is, as the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. coach."
"A month ago, the Bucks fired their head coach because of the team's poor record. They have been looking for new coaching candidates, and the Clippers' owner Stark is a stingy man. He offered the coach The salary is very low, so the head coach of the Clippers has long wanted to change jobs. The racial discrimination incident caused by Stark just gave the Clippers head coach an excuse to change jobs. He just resigned and got the job of Xiong The Deers offered him a two-year contract.”
"The current Los Angeles Clippers do not have a head coach, and the team's head coach's job is temporarily taken over by the previous assistant coach. So we can find a Chinese coach to be the new head coach of the Clippers."
After Xiao Dingtian finished speaking, the shareholders began to discuss in low voices again.
"Can we find a suitable coach in our country?"
"If you can't even choose an athlete who is capable of playing in the NBA, how can you possibly find a coach who can coach an NBA team?"
"Our national men's basketball team is looking for foreign head coaches, right? If domestic coaches are really capable of coaching NBA teams, does the men's basketball team still need to hire foreign head coaches with high salaries?"
"Have you forgotten that Li Dai won the best coach award?"
"I remembered, he can be the coach of the American team! This Dai Li seems to have something to do with Chairman Xiao's daughter, right?"
"Yes, it is said that he is Xiao Dingtian's future uncle. Does Xiao Dingtian mean to let this Dai Li be the head coach of the Clippers?"
"That's definitely the case. Don't let the wealth go to outsiders!"
"But I remember that Dai Li is a track and field coach, right? He knows basketball?"
"Director Xiao dares to mention this matter, which means that Li Dai must know basketball. Besides, he can be the head coach of the American track and field team and win international awards. How can he not have two brushes?"
"If Xiao Dingtian proposes to let Dai Li be the head coach of the Clippers later, will we agree or disagree?"
"Nonsense, Xiao Dingtian wants to seize this opportunity and promote his future son-in-law. If you object to this kind of thing, how shameless will Xiao Dingtian be? What's more, Xiao Dingtian only has a daughter, the chairman of Dingtian Group The position will definitely be given to his daughter in the future. When the time comes, everyone will look down without looking up, so why should we object? Why not be a favor and give them face to the Xiao family!"