2 The promotion of legalization of gambling was expected by Min Chongda.
When he saw the news, he was eating watermelon in a hotel in BJ.
Such an event that will have a major impact on the future of the NBA, and even on the future of professional sports in North America, has not been widely reported by the American media and public opinion. Instead, it has only published a press release in an inconspicuous corner of the sports section. .
In the history of American professional sports, MLB, NBA, and NCAA have all been involved in match-fixing and betting scandals, which in turn caused an uproar in American society.
Especially baseball, which was once the national sport of the United States. The famous Black Sox scandal in 1919 was related to gambling, which became a major event that shocked the United States at that time.
Since then, MLB has strictly prohibited all things involving "gambling". It would rather kill someone by mistake than let it go. It just doesn't want such incidents to damage the credibility of the league. This is the foundation for the survival of a professional league. Once the credibility is gone, , without fans and market, there is nothing.
But times have changed after all. Those mafiosi who used money, kidnapping, and murder to threaten players and teams in dark corners have all changed. They abandoned the rough and cruel methods of the past and began to openly sell to ordinary people on the Internet and TV media. With gambling and football betting products, people are gradually discovering that it is so simple to release their gambling instincts.
There is no need to go to Las Vegas or Monaco. Just click on your computer or mobile phone to make the game look more exciting.
When more and more people become involved in betting games themselves, the very act of betting on sports may seem less sinful.
The huge capital flow and profits behind the gambling industry, as well as advertising space, business cooperation, etc., all make shareholders of professional teams salivate.
For capitalists, this is a piece of virgin land that has not yet been fully developed. In a highly developed business society, there are really not many such virgin lands.
Under the strong temptation of money, the legalization of professional sports betting is almost a general trend. It is very difficult for individuals to easily block this general trend.
The current American society is no longer the Puritan country it was in 1919. At that time, the United States was still enforcing prohibition, and drinking was not allowed in the country. Based on the current values of the United States, this is completely an act of the state that infringes on individual freedoms. However, At that time, it became a vigorous national movement and policy.
Since alcohol can no longer be banned, it is natural to legalize gambling. This matter has hardly caused any waves in the public opinion circle. Everyone is no longer surprised. After all, many fans themselves participate in gambling.
Therefore, the public opinion circle was calm and just reported this matter as an ordinary news. People's focus has long been no longer on this kind of thing.
After Min Congda learned about the results of legalizing gambling, he immediately asked his subordinates to book a flight back to New York.
During his stay at BJ, he wanted to avoid the board meeting. It happened that Silva didn't want him to attend the meeting, so Min Congda borrowed Po Xia Donkey and stayed at BJ for a few more days.
Of course, Min Congda does not appreciate or like the legalization of gambling. Although gambling can temporarily bring excess profits, one day it will deeply torture a sport like cancer.
It's just that the onset time may be very long, and it will happen a long time later. For the alliance shareholders and Silva who are focused on the present, they will not care about the flood after death, but they will make the money now.
NBA players will definitely not object, because the career life cycle of players is very short, and most people only make a lot of money in a few years. Of course, the more they earn, the better. What will happen to the NBA in the future, and what does it have to do with them? , the good days are still there, and as for the problems that will arise, we have to believe in the wisdom of future generations.
Under this general trend, even David Stern has to compromise. Since Min Congda cannot be tough and unwilling to join in the trend, he can only avoid participating in this discussion and decision-making.
Anyway, as long as the Referees Association is in his hands, there will be no way around him in gambling. What Min Congda has to do is to wait patiently, and second, to consolidate his power and prestige in referee matters and establish a good relationship with the referees. Relationship.
After returning to New York, Min Congda immediately participated in a working meeting held by the league office regarding the establishment of the game video replay center for the new season.
Preparations for the video playback center have long been on the agenda, and construction began in 2014. However, due to some process problems, the progress was delayed until this summer, when the construction project officially broke ground.
The playback center is located in Secaucus, New Jersey. The center is equipped with 94 high-definition displays, ultra-high-speed bandwidth, and 20 professional workstations. The center has direct links to all NBA venues and can directly communicate with referees during games.
Because there have always been controversial penalties in previous NBA games, the role of the replay center is to restore the scene from a neutral perspective through high-definition live replay technology when major penalty disputes occur, allowing the referee experts in the replay center to judge the player's behavior. , correcting the erroneous penalty made by the on-site referee.
On the surface, this is an increase in the referee's power. The referee on the scene can no longer do whatever he wants, but must be controlled by the replay center. This is a great challenge to the referee's authority.
Therefore, Min Congda had a heated debate with the league executives at the meeting about the limits of the replay center's power.
Min Congda insists that the replay center can only serve as an aid and suggestion, but cannot replace the referee's decision-making power. The referee may refuse to accept the advice given by the replay center under certain circumstances.
The reason given by Min Congda is, "The referees must be given enough respect and power so that they can control the situation on the field. If all decisions are made by the replay center, then the players will not respect the referees and they will miss every ball." Let the replay center handle it, and the situation will be very bad. The flow of the game and the players' emotions will not be controlled."
This statement was supported by representatives of the Referee Association. Some league executives who originally insisted on allowing the replay center to have the right to make decisions chose to give in due to Min Congda's well-founded offensive, and the referee's power was safeguarded.
However, Min Congda also proposed at the meeting that the "zero tolerance" policy introduced during the Stern period must be cancelled.
Once a player has objections on the court, complains to the referee, or even has some extreme actions, words and deeds, the referee must decide according to the situation, and the replay center will give suggestions. There can no longer be zero tolerance and he will immediately give a technical foul or send off the player.
The former suggestion is to maintain the referee's power, but the latter suggestion is to cancel the "zero tolerance" policy. Min Congda's inconsistency is confusing.
In the face of doubts, Min Congda said: "The referee's authority should be maintained on the court and during the game. Some of the players' emotional problems are actually beyond the scope of the game, and the referee's power should not be expanded without reason."
"Also, I think that since the zero-tolerance policy was implemented, it has not only failed to establish the authority of referees, but has made many fans and players hate referees even more. In fact, I think the image of referees has become even worse after the zero-tolerance policy. "
"The United States is a free country. We can even criticize the president for making mistakes at work, but the referees cannot. What's the point? Moreover, in my opinion, zero tolerance still takes the responsibility that originally belonged to the technical team and the league office. This is an irresponsible behavior that is passed on to the referees and players."
"So I propose that the zero-tolerance policy be cancelled. Conflicts and complaints between players and referees can be resolved during and after the game. The league office and the replay center should set up a special working group to deal with such problems."
Min Congda used to work in a bank, so he pointed out pointedly that the so-called zero-tolerance policy seems to be protecting referees, but it is actually passing on conflicts.
This is because some banks adopt a zero-tolerance policy when dealing with conflicts between employees and customers. This is just zero tolerance for employees. As long as customers complain, it must be the employee's problem and the employee will definitely be punished.
This seems to give customers a good experience, but in fact, employees are punished indiscriminately, and the top management becomes a non-stick pot. All conflicts and responsibilities are passed on to the grassroots. The grassroots are miserable, and the service is getting worse and worse, and the customer experience is also getting worse. It’s getting worse and worse, and there are more and more contradictions.
The NBA's zero-tolerance policy is the same. It seems that zero-tolerance gives referees the power to call technical fouls immediately, but in fact the players' grievances and conflicts have not been resolved. Instead, the players have become more and more hostile to the referees, and some referees have become more and more hostile. He is becoming more and more arrogant and surly.
The league, which was supposed to mediate and issue fair penalties, disappeared, leaving everything to the referees and players to resolve, and was responsible for issuing tickets indiscriminately, completely failing to play the role of a fair arbiter.
Min Congda's speech was supported by the player representatives at the meeting. It's not just a day or two that players hate the zero-tolerance system.
However, President Silva did not immediately agree with Min Congda's suggestion, saying that the zero-tolerance policy has its own significance and cannot be canceled at will. It will be discussed later.
After reaching basic consensus on various issues such as referees, court penalties, and replay centers, the league office signed a memorandum and formally established the replay center.
Not surprisingly, Joe Bozia was elected director of the Replay Center, a position he had been waiting for for a long time.
He completed the basic structural design of the entire replay center. As a referee from a family, he dedicated his life to basketball refereeing.
He truly deserves to be the first Center Director.
Bozia burst into tears when Silva announced the appointment.
Thinking about it, it has not been easy for him these past few years. He has been tortured by Min Congda for many years.
Recently, he was challenged by this guy again at close range, and the one-on-one defense made him extremely uncomfortable.
Now he's fine, he's finally free, and has his own replay center where he can fight in the new season.
Bozia became the director of the replay center, leaving the position of vice president of referee affairs vacant.
Originally, Silva's number one candidate to take over this position was Delaney, but because Min Congda did not make any mistakes in the discussion on legalizing gambling, and Silva had the intention to win over Min Congda, the position was given to Min Congda.
"After the resolution of the board of directors, as well as the recommendation and nomination by myself and Mr. Bozia, the NBA league office decided to appoint Smart Min to take over the position of vice president of referee affairs of the league."
As a result, in less than two months, Min Congda was successfully promoted from assistant vice president to vice president of the alliance.
On the night after he became the vice president, David Stern called Min Congda to congratulate him and invited Min Congda to a Chinese restaurant near his home tomorrow night. He said, “I want to treat you to a meal. Just celebrate."
(End of chapter)
