American winner takes all

Chapter 369 The Lost Michael Ovitz

Next, Ethan discussed the issue of professional managers for the team with several people. However, the other party did not have a suitable candidate, so Ethan could only find it on his own.

After returning from Walker's Corner, Ethan returned to training, preparing for the wild card round of this year's playoffs while trying to get in touch with the management of Anaheim Stadium.

Anaheim Stadium is located in the Anaheim area of ​​Orange County, just a few blocks away from Disneyland. It was the home of the Rams from the time it was built.

That afternoon, Grace found Ethan with a distressed look on his face.

"Ethan, no matter what channel we used to contact us, the stadium management ignored us and refused to discuss the matter with us. This afternoon, Catherine and I waited outside the office for a long time without even seeing each other's face."

After Ethan asked, he discovered the crux of the matter.

Anaheim Stadium is currently owned by Disney, and the Anaheim Angels, which uses the stadium as their home stadium, is also owned by Disney.

The Angels even had the same name as their opponent. This behavior of occupying the magpie's nest led to protests at the time, and finally nothing happened.

Considering the feud between Michael Ovitz and Disney executives, it is not an exaggeration to say that the two families are enemies, and it is understandable that they do not have contact.

Moreover, the stadium was converted into a professional baseball stadium by Disney just two years ago. This was not long ago. Even if the other party is willing to let the Angels rent it, the subsequent renovation costs will be a considerable amount.

This plan was immediately rejected by Ethan, and the Rose Bowl Stadium management did not give Ethan satisfactory conditions. The Angels were not even allowed to have their logo appear outside the stadium, let alone any stadium sponsorship.

After much thought, Ethan had no choice but to look for other venues.

Fortunately, there is still more than half a year before the start of next season, so Ethan has enough time to conduct screening.

In the blink of an eye, it's the day before the first round of the playoffs. As the last seed in the American League, the Angels don't have much home court treatment according to the rules.

Two days before the game, the entire Angels team rushed to the Dolphins' home court, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

Ethan is very familiar with this stadium, as he won the Super Bowl trophy here early last year.

After the final adaptive training, the first round of the playoffs officially began.

"Dan Marino doesn't seem to be as threatening as Payton, but in the last round of the regular season, we all know the consequences of underestimating the opponent..." Before going on the stage, Ethan boosted morale as usual.

But he saw the door of the locker room suddenly opened, and an unexpected figure quietly appeared.

It was Michael Ovitz, who had not appeared for a season. When the playoffs came, he finally remembered that he still had an NFL football team.

Many people, including coaches and players, seemed very unfamiliar with this seemingly invisible team owner, so much so that they immediately looked at Ethan.

Ethan simply ignored it. After the players went to the tunnel, he walked slowly to Michael.

"Rare visitor, I thought you had forgotten about the Angels," Ethan quipped.

Michael Ovitz looked a little embarrassed.

"Ethan, I have absolute trust in you. It's enough for you to be responsible. I don't want to cause you any trouble." Michael Ovitz smiled sheepishly.

"Coming to find Huizenga?" Ethan thought for a moment and vaguely guessed the purpose of Michael Ovitz's visit.

Obviously, he did not show up to supervise the battle. Thinking about it, Ethan could not find a second reason besides Huizenga.

"Nothing can be hidden from you, you brat." Michael Ovitz also admitted.

Ethan then began to complain. He is worried about the new home stadium. Now the construction of the new stadium has stalled and he can't even find a suitable candidate for renting it.

"Originally there was one last option. The Angels could rent the Anaheim Stadium. But it turned out that they knew what was going on between Disney and you and ignored us at all. If this continues, the Angels will have to... Go back to the old ways of the Rams," Ethan said with a troubled look.

"Los Angeles is such a big market, so of course it's best to stay here." Michael Ovitz immediately put on a smile.

What he fears most is the relocation of the Angels. Only if the Angels stay in Los Angeles can he get the land. This is his promise to Los Angeles.

"So I don't know much about this, but Huizenga has rich experience in this area, and several professional teams under him have done very well. I will meet with him tonight, and you can come over then and let him give the answer." Idea." Michael Ovitz said quickly.

One thing Michael Ovitz said is right. Huizenga is indeed a master of team management, and he was also helped by Michael Ovitz. It was Ovitz who originally suggested that he win Blockbuster and let He made a fortune.

Considering his relationship with Michael Ovitz, maybe he actually has some good advice.

Ethan nodded, agreed to the matter, and walked out of the locker room.

The game against the Dolphins went much smoother than Ethan expected. Although he had never played against the Dolphins before, Ethan was no stranger to the Dolphins' main quarterback - Dan Marino, who was in Ethan's college days. The first SEC championship was won by stepping on his shoulders.

From the perspective of hard power, Dan is obviously not as good as Peyton Manning, and he ran into Ethan and the Angels who had just lost the game and were full of anger. The Dolphins were severely stuffed in the first half. , the game completely lost its suspense after entering the midfield.

In the final quarter, Ethan didn't play at all, and the Angels eventually defeated their opponents on the road.

After the game, Ethan and Michael Ovitz went to a golf club in the Palm Beach area of ​​Miami, where Huizenga purchased more than two thousand acres of land in the 20s to build a golf and yacht club.

Huizenga was not alone, there were two friends with him. Ethan looked over and found that the couple was none other than Hollywood stars Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Huey Zenga hugged Michael Ovitz enthusiastically, and when he looked at Ethan, he couldn't help but joke.

"Young man, your reaction doesn't look like losing. Don't tell me you sent the Dolphins home."

"This year's luck is a bit bad, which caused us to meet early." Ethan laughed.

The playoffs are about revenue for the team. In other words, the Dolphins who were eliminated lost a lot of money.

But Huizenga doesn't blame it on the Angels.

"If you want to blame it, blame it. We played really poorly in the second half of the season. Losing to the Angels is the best result. As a new team, you need a playoff victory more than us." Huey once said Ka nodded.

Ethan then greeted the other two big stars. Although they did not pay attention to football, they had already heard of Ethan's name.

After the compliments were exchanged, the celebrity couple stayed on the golf course while Ethan and Michael Ovitz were driven by golf cart to a secluded mansion along with Huizenga. There were two young women in the mansion. They were tall, pretty, and very close to Huizenga. They seemed to be his lovers.

After sitting down, Michael Ovi took the lead in explaining his purpose.

It turned out that his real estate project also encountered a funding gap, and he hoped Huizenga could help.

Huizenga did not agree immediately, but looked at Ethan.

"Has construction started on the Angels' stadium?" he asked suddenly.

Ethan shook his head.

"If a team does not have its own home court, it is equivalent to a person missing his soul." Huizenga shook his head.

Then he started talking about Hard Rock Stadium.

Ethan is more accustomed to calling it Hard Rock Stadium, but now the official name of the stadium is "Pro Player Stadium", of which Pro Player is a clothing brand title sponsor.

Hard Rock Stadium is currently the home of the MLB Marlins and Dolphins, and has hosted three Super Bowls last year.

Among them, the average attendance of each rugby game in the past ten years is about 75,000, and in baseball, the number of spectators per game is more than 40,000. These professional leagues alone have contributed a lot to this stadium. Huge income.

In addition, Hard Rock Stadium is currently the venue for the annual Orange Bowl. Including many international friendly football matches, club exhibition matches are also held here, as well as additional events such as monster trucks and boxing. During the offseason, Hard Rock Stadium also hosted many important concerts, including famous bands and music such as Paul McCartney, Guns N' Roses, Pink Floyd, U2, The Rolling Stones, and the World's Three Tenors. Everyone has been on stage here.

"This is stadium revenue that the Angels desperately need," Huizenga tried.

"If Huizenga is interested in participating in the construction of the stadium, of course I am very welcome." Ethan smiled.

After Huizenga said so much, he obviously wanted to invest in the construction of the stadium. What Ethan lacks now is investors.

Moreover, Huizenga itself has a mature stadium management company that can help the stadium take over many activities, so there will be no loss in letting him join the game.

Even Michael Ovitz's request was agreed to.

Huizenga then asked Ethan about cheerleading.

Seeing that the Angels had taken advantage of the situation, other teams also chose to follow suit, including the Dolphins.

Ethan also generously said that he would provide help when needed.

After some discussion, all three of them achieved their goals, and everyone was happy. Ethan and Michael stood up to leave.

Before leaving, Michael Ovitz went to visit the Douglass alone. Ethan waited for him in the car for nearly half an hour before he returned.

"Maybe there will be a business connection with this couple," Michael Ovitz said.

After Ethan asked about it, he learned that Michael Ovitz had returned to his old job as an artist agent. As a big boss who once dominated Hollywood, Michael Ovitz was now in an embarrassing situation. There was no longer a place for him in CAA. , and was eliminated by Disney's senior management. Speaking of which, if he wanted to return to CAA, no one would dare agree, but he obviously didn't want to go back in despair like a loser, so he chose to start a new business.

Michael Ovitz established CKE Group in January last year, which includes four subsidiaries, Artist Management Group AMG, Artist Production Group APG, Artist Television Group ATG, and Lynx Technology Group LTG.

From artist management in the industry, to artist packaging, to program production, it even involves the technical aspect of video format compression.

Obviously, this is a bigger business plan than the original CAA.

But this is not the time when CAA was founded. Michael Ovitz can no longer come up with any breakthrough artist management business model, and in the field of technology, Michael Ovitz cannot compete with those companies in Silicon Valley at all.

Ethan tried to ask about the progress of the companies in his hands.

"Everything is going very well. The company's business is on the right track. This time I will combine it with artist management and TV and advertising production. In the future, it will also include movies, as well as all works of art that require the cooperation of artists! This is a better place than Hollywood. A market a hundred times bigger." Michael Ovitz clenched his fists like a fighter.

But when Ethan asked specifically what projects were available.

Michael Ovitz couldn't answer.

"The market trend has changed. You have offended too many people before, and they don't want to see you come back." Ethan looked out the window and said silently.

"Maybe you should retire," Ethan continued.

"You're not the first person to say that."

"Eisner (Disney chairman) also said this to me, you know, sixteen months at Disney was a nightmare for me. I was a lame duck at Disney. Eisner Break my legs if you get the chance. Anyone who reports to me, he tells them to ignore me and just report to him. Steve Bollenbach and Sandy Litwak (Disney executives). He was very resistant to me, that’s not what was written in the contract at all, I was cheated!” Michael Ovitz shouted in the car.

"And that damn David Geffen, he's been spreading rumors about me and all of Hollywood is persecuting me. He's got Ron Meyer [Universal Studios president and chief operating officer] to betray me, which was My closest comrades, we've worked together for years, and then there's Brian Louder and everybody at CAA. If it weren't for those five or six people, this business would have been successful. They wanted to kill Michael Ovitz. If they could have taken my wife and kids, they would have done it!"

"And those reporters from the New York Times have been spreading rumors about me!" Michael Ovitz gritted his teeth.

In the final analysis, Michael Ovitz's cold style and aggressive strategies during the CAA era angered so many people that he has a long list of enemies.

"I didn't kill anyone, I'm not a murderer, I didn't set off a bomb in the mall. I wasn't driving a white Mustang. I'm an entrepreneur. The money I lost was my money, my gamble, my mistake .But they still hate me." Michael Ovitz sighed.

"How much did you lose?"

"1.5 million, and now we are still losing tens of millions every month."

No wonder Michael Ovitz would seek help from Huizenga, who had such a big mess on his hands.

The neurotic remarks made Ethan even start to think about his mental state.

As the owner of the team and the nominal actual controller, if he chooses to sell his shares in the team after bankruptcy, it will not be good news for Ethan.

"Tell me specifically how these losses occurred..." Ethan turned his head and decided to lend a helping hand to Michael Ovitz.

(End of this chapter)