On the morning of January 29, representatives from New York's MSG Madison Garden Sports Group arrived in Los Angeles by plane and immediately went to the Great Western Forum Center in Inglewood to conduct an on-site inspection of the arena and at the same time communicate with the owner of the arena loyally. Central Bible Church is negotiating to see how much it would cost to buy the legendary stadium.
Bishop Paul Foster of the church personally greeted MSG representatives at the airport. The leader was MSG's commercial director Andrew Rustgarten. He is the boss Roland's very trusted right-hand man. He once worked at JPMorgan Chase Bank and later joined MSG. , has been handling the business affairs of two professional teams, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers, for Dolan, and has rich negotiation experience.
This time he made a special trip to Los Angeles. He is determined to win the Great Western Forum Arena. Obviously this is a very high-quality asset. Whether it is geographical location or cultural connotation, buying it is absolutely worth it.
It's just that after the financial crisis, everyone didn't have enough money in their pockets, and the league also encountered a shutdown crisis. Not only the NBA, but also the NFL were suspended last year, so all sports groups are not rich in funds.
MSG took advantage of New York's financial center status and New York's huge sports market to make profits year after year despite the poor performance of the Knicks. They really made money while lying down.
Now, together with JPMorgan Chase, it is more than enough to come to the West Coast to buy a stadium, but unexpectedly, the Los Angeles Clippers took the first step, started negotiations with the church, and even raised the price to 30 million US dollars.
This price was unacceptable to MSG and JPMorgan Chase. For this reason, JPMorgan Chase used the political resources of the Los Angeles area and promised that if the church sold the Great Western Forum to MSG, the local area would ensure that the jobs of the arena employees would not be laid off, and at the same time provide the church with New place for prayer and activities.
Of course, Min Congda's identity as a Chinese was also used as a lobbying condition. He believed that selling the Great Western Forum to the Clippers would be a compromise with China and a betrayal of American cultural assets to the Chinese.
Along the way, Rustgarten and Foster chatted happily. They mentioned the glorious history of the Great Western Forum. In the 1960s and 1970s, this was the preferred venue for many rock and pop superstars to hold concerts. The Beatles, Qi, etc. Berlin Zeppelin, Queen, The Eagles, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and other famous figures in music history have all left their voices and presence at the Great Western Forum.
In terms of sports competitions, the Great Western Forum also left many records in history. Not to mention the Los Angeles Lakers games, in 1973, Ali played against Ken Norton here. In 1982, it witnessed the Los Angeles Kings’ Manchester Miracle in the playoffs. The 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games were held here as the main venue for basketball games.
In short, in the hearts of Americans, the Great Western Forum definitely has a very special status and has many national memory moments.
"I still remember my big dream when I was a kid was to come to the Great Western Forum to watch the NBA Finals! It was the 1970s, and the Lakers and Knicks were fighting fiercely. Unfortunately, I didn't have money at that time. I was too young. . If we can buy the Great Western Forum for MSG, this can be considered a small conquest of Los Angeles by New Yorkers, right? Haha~"
Rustgarten was joking with Foster in the car. The Lakers and Knicks were old enemies in the 1970s. They met in the Finals three times in the 1970s, with each winning and losing.
That was the last glory of the New Yorkers on the basketball court. After that, they never got a chance to win the championship. Instead, the Lakers became more and more courageous as they fought and became the league's largest team.
Foster smiled and did not respond, thinking to himself that New Yorkers are really arrogant. If the church hadn't taken a liking to JPMorgan Chase's background and their promises, he would have felt that trading with the Clippers was a good choice.
When the car drove to the Inglewood area and was about to arrive at the Great Western Forum Arena, several large garbage trucks appeared on the road one after another, and it seemed that they were heading towards the arena.
Foster opened the car window and looked around, feeling something was wrong. There seemed to be a lot of people and vehicles gathering on the road leading to the arena. What was going on?
When the car arrived near the arena, Foster smelled a foul smell and hurriedly closed the window. It was the smell of garbage.
"Why does it stink so much?"
"I don't know, was it the garbage truck just now?"
Soon Foster and Rustgarten discovered that the square of the Great Western Forum Arena was filled with garbage.
The garbage trucks that just passed by were indeed coming to the arena, and several of them were dumping stinking garbage into the square.
Foster quickly got out of the car, and the stench spread again. He covered his nose and came to a garbage truck, slapped the door of the truck, and yelled: "Hey! Who are you? Why are you dumping the garbage here?" ! Are you crazy? Move the trash away!"
The driver rolled down the window, pointed to the back, and said, "You talk to our leader. I'm only responsible for transporting the things here. I don't care about other things."
"Your head? Who is your head? Oh my God, it stinks. Damn it, I'm going to call the police!"
Foster took out his phone and wanted to call the police, when a short man wearing a gray woolen coat and a brown wire hat came over.
"Boy! Are you Bishop Foster? Oh my god, can black people be bishops? Are you Bishop Foster!"
The little man's voice was very loud, and Foster thought he was probably the leader, so he said: "Yes, I am Bishop Foster. Did you ask them to transport the garbage here? What is going on? Why are you Want to do this?"
The little man took off his hat and said: "Because your arena has not paid the garbage disposal fee, it has been in arrears with us for a long time."
Foster said: "What? Garbage disposal fee? You...well, we did not pay the garbage disposal fee, but we have not held an event for a while, and we have no garbage at all. What kind of garbage disposal fee do we pay? And you Who is he? What does the garbage disposal fee of our arena have to do with you?"
The little man said: "Even if you don't produce garbage, you still have to pay garbage disposal fees. This is the expected fee. You hire us to dispose of garbage. As for whether you produce garbage or not, it is your problem. You can not produce garbage, but The fees cannot be ignored.”
Foster shook his head and said: "We have talked about this issue before, and this has never been said."
"Because the person you are talking to is not the right person, the explanation is naturally different. Do you understand?"
"I...who are you? Who are you?"
"I am Daniel Rossi, the person in charge of garbage disposal in this area. Once you pay the garbage disposal fee, the garbage will be disposed of. Do you understand? Otherwise, garbage will come here every day and be dumped here. , leave it to you to handle."
Foster was so angry that because the Great Western Forum held events all year round, the amount of garbage generated every day was indeed staggering.
But during this period, the arena is semi-closed and there are no activities at all. Naturally, no garbage will be generated, so there is no need to pay any garbage disposal fees.
He took out his cell phone and wanted to call the police, but this little man snatched the phone away and said viciously: "Do you think the police will help you solve these problems? Your real problem is to sell the Great Western Forum Arena To New Yorkers! New Yorkers came to Los Angeles to buy this legendary building? What are you thinking? I tell you, calling the police is absolutely useless. As long as you still think about selling the arena to New Yorkers, things will not work. It’s over, never!”
After saying that, Rossi got on a truck, and then, after the garbage trucks dumped the garbage, they drove away, leaving piles of garbage on the arena square, leaving a mess.
Foster was so angry that he frowned and covered his nose. He returned to the car first and told Rustgarten that the arena had encountered some troubles and whether the visit should be postponed.
Rustgarten looked at the stinky garbage all over the square. He was no longer in the mood to admire the spectacle for the time being, and he was afraid of other troubles later.
"If you want to negotiate, you should resolve some troubles first. Send me to the hotel first." m.
Therefore, Foster ordered the driver to send Rustgarten and his party to the hotel first.
Then he immediately called Akci, the arena's executive manager, and people from the arena's security department.
Manager Akqi said: "The people in the security department resigned collectively this morning, so no one can stop these cars."
"The people in the security department resigned? Why? We agreed that even if the arena is sold, their jobs will not be lost."
Akeqi said: "Mr. Foster, the people in the security department are all from Sloan Security Company. As far as I know, the Clippers are a major customer of Sloan Security Company."
"Clippers? You mean, the Clippers are causing trouble in today's matter?"
"I don't know. The little man just now is called Daniel Rossi. He is responsible for most of the garbage disposal in Inglewood. He is Italian."
"Shet, the Italians...are the Clippers looking for the Mafia to cause trouble for us? Damn it, if that's the case, we'll be in trouble."
Foster felt that the deal between the Great Western Forum and the New Yorkers might not be so smooth.
He wouldn't have thought that Min Congda, the general manager of the team, would have such great energy?
Presumably, with a price of US$30 million, he must be determined to win the Great Western Forum.
Some people died, but not completely...
