"In 1890, the U.S. Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act, which regulated and sanctioned industry monopoly behavior, which shows that monopoly is sometimes not a good thing."
"The ABA, which was annexed by the NBA in the 1970s, learned the ABA's three-point shot and introduced talented players like Julius Erving, which brought vitality to the NBA in the 1980s."
"Now everyone is getting bigger and bigger, with a market value of hundreds of millions of dollars, TV broadcast contracts worth billions, and players' salaries getting higher and higher, often reaching hundreds of millions. No wonder they are becoming more and more greedy."
"Isn't the league divided into east and west now? The west is prospering, but the east is always losing money. I think it's better to split the NBA. The west belongs to the west, and the east belongs to the east. Each has its own salary system and game rules. Look. Who can attract superstars? Then every year, like the NFL, we hold a World Super Championship to determine the winner. What do you think?"
Facing Stern's sinister eyes, Min Congda not only showed no fear, but also began to speak nonsense.
After saying this, the expressions of the bosses changed again and again, and they didn't know what to say for a while.
Stern said: "Smart, let me ask you, do you mean to build a new NBA? How about you and Sterling discuss it and let the Clippers withdraw from the league first?"
After hearing what Stern said, Min Congda not only didn't panic, but was very happy.
Withdraw from the alliance? Does this count as completing the mission?
If it can be completed, then exit smoothly and the mission is over!
As a result, the system gave a prompt: [Quiting from the NBA league cannot be regarded as bankruptcy and completing the task. 】
Sure enough, this dog system is not so easy for me to complete the task.
"Hey, David, I was just joking to lighten the atmosphere in the meeting. You see, the quarrel you just had was fruitless. I proposed a new plan, but everyone didn't agree."
"I'm asking for your opinion on the lockout, not for you to come up with some new plan. For the new NBA, you need to understand the situation!"
Stern knew that Min Congda was such a virtuous person, but this time his nonsense was really too much.
Building a new NBA is something that no one has ever wanted to do.
Isiah Thomas once wanted to create a so-called "Continental Basketball League."
I want to be a secondary league in the NBA first, and then replace it when I have the opportunity.
Although Thomas is a league legend and a legendary Pistons star, the fact that he wants to do this is a bit overestimating his capabilities.
But this group of bosses in the NBA are different. If some of them really want to take the team away and start a separate league, it will not only be a disaster for the NBA, but it will definitely be a huge survival problem. challenge.
Min Congda is actually right. The NBA is a monopoly in the United States.
Relying on attracting outstanding basketball talents from all over the United States and even the world, the NBA will be built into the most professional, luxurious and entertaining basketball league.
The high income in the NBA is based on this kind of talent monopoly, killing all outstanding young people in one fell swoop.
After catching them all, not many people can really stay. Every carrot and every pitfall, many people have been eliminated.
The people eliminated are indeed not good enough, but are there really only about 400 basketball players in the world who can play well and earn high salaries?
Assuming that there are multiple basketball leagues in the United States competing with each other, there may be 1,000 or even more basketball players surviving in high-level leagues.
If there were some minor leagues and secondary leagues like in Europe, there would be more people who could play.
It’s just that the market is so big. With more leagues and more players, salaries will be divided and competition for team survival will become more intense.
NBA players have the highest average salary among professional sports players.
Because the circle is small and the number of people is small, the No. 15 player on a team will receive a salary of more than 50 million US dollars.
The NFL football team has more than 50 people, and MLB has 25 people. This allows both football and baseball to support more players, and at the same time, the average salary is lowered.
The NBA's monopoly allows players to enjoy high salaries, and also allows teams to share high broadcast revenue, and there is no promotion or relegation, so they can feel comfortable doing bad things.
Once a new league is born, the attention and ratings of bad teams will further decline.
If you want to make money while lying down, it is impossible to get low-interest loans from the league and luxury tax subsidies.
Then different leagues have different salaries and different contract systems, competing for players and fan resources.
It's definitely a good thing for the fans, but for the team, the good days of making money as a monopoly are over.
It's a good thing for lower-level players, but for superstars, both salary and status will drop significantly.
The more leagues there are, the more teams and players there are, the more difficult it is to create stars. Under fairer rules, some former bottom players also have the opportunity to defeat so-called superstars.
In short, this is absolutely subversive to the NBA and will destroy all the work David Stern has done in his nearly 30 years in office.
Min Congda said it so easily that Stern was already breaking into a cold sweat.
I don’t know if this bitch is really joking or not.
Min Congda answered Stern's question and said: "As a representative of the Clippers, I was just talking nonsense. The opinion of our boss, Mr. Sterling, actually supports the shutdown. Although the Clippers have achieved success in the past two years, Profitable, but if only some teams are profitable and most teams are losing money, it is definitely not a good thing for the development of the league. If you are not careful, it may really divide into different leagues in the future."
"So, it's better to take this opportunity to let the losing team recover, and don't rush into the new season. Let's calm down and negotiate a better labor agreement together."
Min Congda's words are quite pertinent, but they are definitely not the final word.
Anyway, Min Congda's purpose is to stop the game so that the income in the new season can be reduced.
If the lockout happens and the NBA is completely wiped out, everyone will be happy.
Whether to approve the shutdown is just the first issue of this meeting.
There are still many issues that need to be discussed and decided by the bosses.
This is destined to be a very long marathon meeting, starting from 2:30 to 5:30 in the afternoon, with a break for dinner.
After dinner, the discussion continued from six o'clock to eight o'clock, and the 30 representatives finally reached a preliminary consensus.
Approved and authorized the Labor Bargaining Committee. Once the labor negotiations on June 30 are unsuccessful, the new season will be officially suspended!
With this result, the meeting ended. Min Congda sat on the stool and felt a little exhausted.
He had to admire those team owners who were in their 50s, 60s, or even 70s.
People who can be such a super boss, among other things, are extremely energetic and in great health.
After the five-hour meeting, it was like nothing happened.
Min Congda is already considered a young man in good health, but compared with these old foxes, he is still almost useless.
As he walked out of the conference room, Mark Cuban, the host of the meeting, came up and put his arm around Min Congda's shoulders.
Cuban is very proud of himself this season. He finally realized his dream of a championship and sleeps with the O'Brien Trophy in his arms.
In this meeting, Cuban also did not support the shutdown. He finally won a championship. In the new season, he still has to raise the flag and award rings. How can he just disappear?
He put his arms around Min Congda and whispered: "Smart, I think the idea you mentioned about creating a new NBA is very interesting. Do we want to talk in private?"
When Min Congda heard this, let's chat. What if something good comes out of the conversation?
"Of course, we can chat."
"No problem, go to my villa later and talk in detail."
Some people died, but not completely...
