Min Congda's series of operations actually laid the foundation for negotiations between the league and the Referees Association.
Looking back, the people from the Referees Association will definitely regret starting a film with Min Congda, because the negotiations between the two parties were originally relatively hidden.
Fans and media have never cared about how much money referees get, how they operate, how they are selected, and how they call penalties.
For this sensitive position, the more covert it is, the better for them.
The referees have already received enough controversies and scoldings. If they are brought to the stage, it will only trigger more negative public opinions, which will not be conducive to the referees' work.
But because of the confrontation with Min Congda, a traffic bomb, negotiations between the NBA and the Referees Association were put on the table.
Moreover, Min Congda used the weapon of public opinion to attack the referee association openly and covertly for its disadvantages in business distribution and taking care of low-level and marginal referees.
"Those star referees have too many resources, especially since they have tripled their salary increase this time, from US$200,000 in the past year to more than US$600,000. I don't mind the referees getting more. In fact, the prosperity of the league and the beauty of the game are inseparable from the hard work and on-the-spot performance of referees. However, the question is whether such a high salary increase can be clearly reflected on the field, and the rich and poor relationship between referees. Will the gap widen? As the law enforcers on the field, referees should receive generous treatment and not destroy their impartiality for money. But I think this treatment should be comprehensive and benefit the entire referee group. , rather than just benefiting a group of senior referees."
"I think it is a healthy and reasonable system that is balanced and benefits every level of development. Although in the competitive sports system, resources, money, and attention will naturally gather towards the most shining stars, from players to This is true from the team to the referees, but as a manager of the entire league, you need to be foresighted and far-sighted to keep the entire ecosystem balanced. This is the idea I have always pursued when I was with the Los Angeles Clippers, so everyone It can be seen that the Clippers have the best results in the league in recent years, the best team culture, and the most stable team environment. I hope that when I come to work in the league office, I can bring these experiences and advantages."
In an exclusive interview, Min Congda mentioned his views on referee salary issues and his management philosophy.
In fact, it is exactly the same as David Stern, that is, balance, maintaining a healthy ecology, allowing stars and even encouraging the emergence of stars, but must not seize the space of the underlying ecological niche.
It can be seen from Min Congda's conversation that he may even be more radical than David Stern, because he has the idea of attacking those big-name referees and star referees.
In fact, after the two sides started negotiations in August, the Referee Development Department jointly established by Min Congda and Bozia also did the same.
During the negotiations, they did increase the referee's salary by 300%, from an average of 150,000 US dollars a year to 450,000 US dollars.
But Bozia made a request, which is to establish a referee development fund and deduct part of the salary of high-paid referees to enrich the fund for the training and rewards of young referees.
This is actually using the money of high-paid referees to subsidize young and marginal referees. This is normal in terms of national taxation, but the referees are definitely not happy because their income has already been exploited by American taxes once, and they have to take part of it again. To replenish the fund, you may end up with only one-third of the $450,000.
The experienced referees do not agree with this plan. They have a strong voice in the Referees Association. In theory, if they object, an agreement cannot be reached.
But the problem is that the negotiation has come to the forefront, and it has attracted the attention of the media in the sports circle.
The media has always watched the excitement without taking it too seriously. Fox TV’s documentary interviewing low-level and fringe referees in the NBA started earlier.
Subsequently, each company took advantage of the popularity and followed up one after another, standing up to "speak for justice" and speaking for the disadvantaged referee group, believing that they deserved protection in terms of treatment.
In particular, the Fox TV documentary recorded the career of a female referee, instantly raising the topic to the level of feminism.
In fact, the NBA has always been a small circle with serious gender discrimination. However, in addition to the NBA, there is also the WNBA. Men and women play their own roles and sell tickets to make money based on their abilities. It does not matter if there is discrimination or not.
However, in American society in 2015, various politically correct and feminist groups have begun to proliferate. Once they get involved in this topic, they will inevitably be under tremendous pressure from public opinion.
Therefore, at this time, some people in the Referee Association began to regret and shouted that they had been fooled. Who should they offend? Why should they offend Smart, a mad dog? Have you suffered too much from him in the past?
Well, if Bozia's proposal is agreed to (obviously, this proposal was proposed by Min Congda), the mainstream referee group will bear losses in income.
If Bozia's proposal is not agreed to, the referees, a group that is already full of controversy, has less money, more work, and a reputation, will suffer even more criticism and pressure.
The Referees Association is in a dilemma, and negotiations have reached a rare stalemate (in the past, such negotiations were usually settled quickly and were not as difficult as player-team collective bargaining negotiations.)
Under this situation, McCutchen privately found the key figure Min Congda and hoped to have a good talk with him.
"Why are you looking for me? I don't have the right to make the decision. The final decision actually lies in Silva's hands. You should look to him."
When Min Congda met McCutcheon in a small coffee shop in New York, he pretended to be a fake.
McCutchen spat and said: "Silva obviously hinted that you should be kicked out, and then everything was easy for us to talk about. Now he is silent because your plan is beneficial to the league and can establish a better image of the league! "
After speaking, McCutchen also muttered a few curse words softly. This is not his style at all. He has always been a very fair and peaceful person, but now he is using curse words, which shows how dissatisfied he is with Silva's duplicity.
When he wanted to use the Referees Association to kill Min Congda, everything was easy to say. Once the situation reversed, he took Min Congda's side and went against the Referees Association.
As the person in charge of the negotiations, McCutchen was also under a lot of pressure. Jarvey, Crawford, Delaney and other people were behind him, making McCutcheon feel like a thorn in his back.
Min Congda said: "I know it is difficult to be a referee. Our original intention is to give those young referees a better space for development. You were young once, and you know how difficult it was to be a referee at that time."
McCutchen said: "Of course, it was much more difficult for us back then than it is now, with low wages, bad accommodation, and every summer I had to call AAU games to subsidize myself. The environment for young referees now is much better than it was back then. If you want to be strong, you still need to subsidize them?"
Min Congda said: "The times are developing, and the dividends of the alliance's development should benefit everyone, not just concentrated on the head. Although they have the highest reputation and the strongest capabilities, from the perspective of the entire ecosystem, tigers and The status of mice is equally important, even more important."
McCutchen said: "That's because those stars got too much, they should share some of the money!"
Min Congda said: "This is a later matter, you don't have to worry about it. Let me make a suggestion and report to Bozia. We will lower the fund commission ratio by five percentage points so that your income loss will not be too large. Then , the league will increase money on subsidies for important games such as the playoffs, what do you think?"
McCutchen doubted: "Are you sure you can do it? Smart, I have worked in the league for so many years. I know that it is not easy to increase expenses. Everything has a strict financial budget."
The total revenue of the alliance is a relatively accurate figure, and how much money each company will share is strictly stipulated in various agreements.
For example, the core of disputes in labor negotiations is income distribution, the proportion of capital and the proportion of labor. There are often bloody arguments over a few percentage points.
Because those few percentage points often equal the ownership of hundreds of millions of dollars, and it must be a life-and-death struggle, even if there is a shutdown.
Min Congda's statement undoubtedly requires the alliance to spend more money. It is impossible for you to do a good thing and still want to spend less money, but where will the money come from?
Min Congda did not explain this, but said: "I am just giving my suggestion. If you agree, everything will be reflected in the agreement. As the employer, you don't have to worry about where the money comes from, even if it is from the ground." Whatever grows out, you can use it."
McCutcheon nodded. He knew that Min Congda had great supernatural powers. Since he dared to speak this way, he was naturally prepared.
The two exchanged some more opinions, and McCutcheon initially agreed to the plan and decided to go back to discuss it with the members of the association.
And when Min Congda came to Silva to report the plan after the exchange of opinions, the Jewish guy knocked on the table and said: "Our income is strictly distributed. You said to increase the subsidies for veteran referees in the playoffs. This Will you pay for it, Smart?"
Min Congda said: "Of course not, I think we can use part of the increased operating income."
Silva shook his head and said: "Money doesn't fall from the sky. All income has a strict distribution plan. If you can't insist on the referee fund, I advise you to just give up."
Min Congda said: "We are about to start negotiations on the legalization of gambling. Isn't this a considerable amount of income?"
Speaking of legalizing gambling, Silva pushed up his glasses, softened his tone, and asked: "What about Smart, do you also agree to legalizing gambling?"
The current general trend in the league is still in favor of legalizing gambling, but there is also a lot of internal opposition, especially among the older workers and players.
After all, for the NBA, or every professional sport, gambling is like a cancer, eating away the vitality of the sport.
In 1951, the NCAA college basketball betting case that shocked the United States broke out in the United States. At that time, the famous New York University and Manhattan College were involved, which had a great impact and almost destroyed the American college basketball market.
Because of this incident, basketball fans across the United States began to turn their attention from college basketball to the NBA, which was just getting started. From then on, the NBA, a broken league that hockey bosses put together when they had nothing to do, began to get development opportunities.
But the world is as dark as crows. The scandal of college basketball in the United States has just come to light. In the 1953-1954 season, gambling and match-fixing incidents also broke out in the NBA. A Jewish player named Molinas was involved in the match-fixing incident. He scored 18 points in the first half. Helped the Pistons lead the Celtics by 11 points, but made consecutive mistakes in the second half and only scored 2 points, causing the Pistons to be reversed by the Celtics, and the final score they won was exactly 1 point more than the betting odds.
This result caused bookmakers to no longer launch Pistons games. In order to investigate the matter, the league installed bugs in the Pistons locker room and successfully obtained evidence that at least six Pistons players were involved in the match-fixing case.
In the end, Molinas was taken away by the police for investigation, and the FBI intervened. The then NBA president Podolov (the first president and founder) intervened in the case. He allowed the impact of the incident to stay on Molinas alone. He was acquitted of all crimes, but the crime was only "participating in gambling."
Although his high school and college coaches raised questions, claiming that Molinas had been suspected of gambling since high school, Podolov prevented the public hearing from proceeding and the investigation by the famous sports betting investigative reporter Hogan. As a result, the scandal of match-fixing and gambling did not spread to a wider area. The Pistons games continued as usual, NBA games continued as usual, and the league has continued to develop to this day.
Seven years later, Molinas in turn sued the NBA to initiate a hearing and requested an antitrust investigation into the NBA, but was suppressed by the powerful Podolov. The judge accepted Podolov's testimony in full and rejected Molina's decision. All Nas requested.
Two months later, Molinas was arrested, not because he sued the NBA, but because after leaving the NBA, he was suspected of manipulating 27 college sports competitions, affecting the results of 43 games, and a total of 476 people. College players were affected.
The year was 1961, and American college sports were hit hard again.
For Molinas, who is addicted to gambling, match-fixing is just a small chapter in his cheating career. His life is a history of cheating.
After being released from a 10-year prison sentence, Molinas did not stop and continued his career as a conman. Then in 1975, one of his business partners died unexpectedly, and he received a $300,000 insurance settlement.
That same year, he was shot dead by the Mafia in his backyard.
This year, Podolov has retired, and the league MVP Most Valuable Player trophy is named after him.
After going through these ups and downs, the NBA has long abhorred gambling and it has become a taboo in the league. It has signed a memorandum strictly prohibiting players, teams, and referees from participating in any gambling incidents.
As a result, the Donaghy gambling scandal broke out in 2006, and Donaghy was also killed by the Mafia.
Now, Silva hopes to legalize gambling in a way that benefits everyone. The resistance can be imagined.
However, the temptation of money is endless, and the employer also believes that instead of letting some criminals take advantage of the loopholes, why not just run the bank ourselves? Wouldn't it make more money?
For Silva, if he can get Min Congda's support on legalizing gambling, subsequent board negotiations will be much smoother.
Even David Stern has become soft-spoken. As long as Smart, the prick, doesn't go crazy, everything will be easy to talk about.
Now it was Min Congda's turn to sit across from Silva and knock on the table. He pursed his lips and rolled his eyes, saying: "I'm just an assistant to the vice president. I'm not qualified to take care of this matter. But... I do care about this matter. I have some opinions, and I hope we can exchange them in the future. I will put the suggestions about the Referee Association here, please think about it carefully, Mr. President."
(End of chapter)
