I was determined to be bad, but I went straight to the Basketball Hall of Fame

Chapter 87 Wizards (Ninth)

David Stern is looking at the box office data for the first two weeks of the NBA season at the Olympia Building in New York, the NBA headquarters, and the commissioner's office.

This year is a crucial year for the NBA. Last season they were affected by the financial crisis, their revenue fell by 7 percentage points, and their attendance and ratings hit new lows in recent years.

In order to cope with the crisis, David Stern had to lay off 9% of the league's employees to reduce expenses. At the same time, he raised 1.75 million US dollars through financial institutions, established a team sponsorship fund, and issued loans to the teams to survive the current crisis. difficulties.

The life of each small and medium-sized team is naturally difficult. The Detroit Pistons are the worst. The entire city went bankrupt. Attendance and revenue were cut in half. The fringe team in the playoffs.

In the summer, the Pistons ushered back their iconic character Ben Wallace, together with Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince who stayed behind, there is still some attraction for the fans.

The Pistons tried to trade for Allen Iverson to save the box office before, but Iverson was obviously out of tune with the city of Detroit. Not only failed to save the box office, but also had conflicts with the team. After the contract ended, he became a free agent.

The box office of the Pistons' opening game was not bad, and the Palace of Auburn Hills at home was full, which is a good sign, but the team lost to the Thunder without any suspense. Low.

Entering November, the box office of the Pistons began to be unwatchable. The attendance rate was less than 11%, and the ratings were even more dismal.

Think about it, too, when the Pistons were at their peak, the ratings were poisoned, and the iron defense forced the league to change the rules.

Otherwise, there will be no 70 points in a game, the defensive battle in the finals, and the NBA's revenue will be even less eye-catching.

In addition to the Pistons, there is also the Nets, who originally planned to build a new arena to replace the old Continental Arena.

But now the team can't afford the money, and Barclays Bank, which supports the Nets behind it, hesitates and is not sure whether to terminate the cooperation.

The attendance rate of the Nets was also dismal. The opening game was a sloppy 85% attendance rate, and then it plummeted, and the attendance rate dropped directly to 50%.

A few days ago, Stern went to the scene to watch the game between the Nets and the 76ers. The auditorium was so empty. Those who didn't know thought it was a preseason game.

The extremely low box office appeal of the Nets and the low box office appeal of the Charlotte Bobcats were superimposed, creating a minimum attendance of 9205 people.

Among the more than 9000 spectators in this game, it is estimated that half of them came to see Bobcats owner Michael Jordan sitting on the sidelines.

Stern looked at the 9000-plus attendance of the Bobcats and sighed deeply, thinking that if Jordan took off his suit and played directly, the Time Warner Arena in Charlotte would probably be full.

Now the league's card is Kobe Bryant, but Kobe can't have the influence that Jordan had back then, and he can lead the ball market by himself.

In the 2001 season, the Washington Wizards ranked 18th in the league at the home box office, with a total attendance of 63.

When Michael Jordan returned in 2002, the box office of the Wizards rushed to the second place in the league, with a total attendance of 84!
One person brought 20 more seats abruptly. This is still the home game, and the away games and TV ratings are even more incredible.

Jordan's second comeback coincided with the 911/[-] incident. The confidence of the financial market in the United States suffered a severe setback, and the market fell sharply after the market closed for a week.

Stern worried that the NBA would suffer a blow and persuaded Jordan to come back. So on September 9, Jordan announced his comeback for the second time. Taking this as a turning point, the US stock market recovered and rose again, and the NBA's revenue ushered in a wave of small peaks.

It can be seen from the player's salary cap, because the salary cap is directly related to revenue, soaring from 2001 million in the 3550 season to 4250 million, an increase of 19 percentage points, the highest increase since the 1995-1996 season.

And why did the revenue increase in the 1995-1995 season be higher?
Because that was Jordan's first comeback.

When Stern saw the box office of the Los Angeles Clippers in the first two weeks, his eyes brightened. Although the attendance rate could not be compared with the Lakers (the Lakers played 100%), it was unexpected that they broke 80% every game.

And because the Clippers are determined not to lower or discount ticket prices, and even raised some ticket prices, their box office revenue in these few games is quite good.

Originally, Stern was very worried about the Clippers' strategy of no discounts and promotions. Do you think you are the Los Angeles Lakers, the defending champion, and you need to pay more for tickets?

You are a broken ship, a thousand-year-old bad team, even if you give away tickets, no one will watch it, so you dare to increase the price?

Unexpectedly, their new manager Smart Min made various operations and quietly brought the Clippers' heat up.

The first is Curry, who won the highly controversial No. [-] pick in the draft. There may be one-third of the topics during the entire offseason, arguing whether Curry will become the top No. [-] pick, which is full of topics. (The other two-thirds are fighting whether Kobe surpassed Jordan, and whether James can win the championship.)
Secondly, the Clippers players had a fight due to racial discrimination, which once again attracted a wave of attention, making the Clippers in the new season more attractive.

The last point is that Griffin's unexpected reimbursement makes people feel that this guy is a prophet who successfully avoided a big thunder, otherwise the Clippers' box office this year will be really dangerous.

Looking at their current record, they killed the Lakers in the opening game, beat the Jazz, beat the Warriors for two consecutive victories, and are a rising star in the league. They rank fourth in the Western Conference with 4 wins and 2 losses, and they may hit the playoffs.

Stern, who was thinking about killing Min Congda before, now has to admire the superb wisdom of the airborne general manager. He can lead the Clippers, a bad team, to a good and impressive performance, which is not something ordinary people can do.

Los Angeles is a huge sports market. If the Clippers can compete with the Lakers, it will have a good effect on the in-depth exploration of the entire California region.

"This Smart-Min is indeed a genius. No wonder Sterling insisted on refusing to fire him. I really underestimated him. Although this guy talks about everything, isn't it true for all capable people?"

Just as Stern was thinking, the secretary called and said, "Mr. Stern, the general manager of the Los Angeles Clippers, Mr. Smart-Min, is looking for you."

It is really said that Cao Cao is here, and it is rare for Smart to call. Stern said: "Come in."

"It's coming in, it's on Line [-]."

Stern pressed the number on line [-], thinking that this kid has something to say to me, is he going to show his merits and exchange feelings?

As soon as the call was connected, Min Congda's anxious voice came from the receiver, "Mr. President, can you explain to me why our opponents always have uneven lineups and people are always injured after the start of the Clippers season?" ? As the president of the alliance, do you need to pay attention to this phenomenon!"

After listening to Stern, he felt a bit overwhelmed. Your opponent's lineup is not neat?Isn't this a good thing for you guys!What did you come to me to say?

Besides, I don't want to see players get injured, what can I do?
"Smart, what's the matter with me? I didn't quite understand what you said."

"I have nothing to do with you. I just think that the league has a problem with the health management of the players. The schedule is too dense and the players are always injured. This is not a good thing for the box office of the game. Our Clippers played 5 games in 4 days, two back-to-back games in a row. , three days of rest and back to back, this is a great challenge to the health of the players!"

"Look at our opponents. There are generals absent in every game. What do you let the fans who watch the game think? Fans want to watch the complete matchup, and don't want to watch the remnants fight each other. The league's schedule needs to be optimized!"

Min Congda taught Stern a lesson, saying that what Stern said had nothing to say, because what he said was quite reasonable.

The problem of player injuries has always been a headache for the league, so the league has been considering relaxing the schedule in the past two years, reducing the confrontation on the court, and reducing the risk of player injuries.

"Okay, I got it, I got it, Smart, thank you for your proposal."

"It's good to know, that's enough, I'll hang up, please do your best, David."

After finishing speaking, Min Congda hung up the phone, and Stern couldn't calm down for a long time listening to the beeping voice.

"Shet."

Stern finally cursed, as the president of the NBA, how long has no one dared to talk to him like this?After being scolded by this kid, he didn't say anything, he was speechless.

(End of this chapter)