The Staples Center located in Los Angeles is undoubtedly one of the most high-profile and popular venues in North America. Because the arena is located in star-studded Los Angeles, and its strategic location adjacent to Hollywood makes it shrouded in starlight all year round; because the arena is It is the home court of the Los Angeles Lakers, the most popular team in the NBA, and has witnessed the rise of a dynasty. It is also the top performance venue in the United States during the offseason, including concerts, boxing matches, charity events, etc.
If there is Madison Square Garden on the east coast, then there is Staples on the west coast. The two top comprehensive entertainment venues face each other and have become an inseparable and important part of the North American entertainment industry.
October is still the offseason for the NBA, and there is still some time before the new season resumes. However, the bustle of Staples Field is year-round, and it is full of activities every day of the week. Today is no exception. Once again, this top venue has become the focus of national attention.
However, this time the situation is a little special, not because of basketball or ice hockey, nor because of boxing or concerts, but because of football.
As the second largest city in the United States, the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Raiders moved away in 1994. After that, football became a blank in the city, lacking a team of NFL professional players. This is a big problem for the city hall. This is a great pity. Every year when major cities engage in the carnival craze of North America's number one sport, Los Angeles always seems a little lonely.
In fact, Los Angeles, like New York, is a top ball market that has always attracted the attention of professional sports leagues, but the situation in Los Angeles is a little bit special.
The premise is that the Los Angeles Memorial Arena, which has twice served as the main venue for the Olympic Games, is the city's rugby venue. Putting aside the disrepair caused by the nearly ninety-year history of this venue, this is the national audience capacity. One of the largest venues, with a capacity of more than 90,000 spectators, second only to the Rose Bowl.
The two teams that have historically been stationed in this city have encountered different problems.
After the Los Angeles Raiders moved here, they had a great record and won the 18th Super Bowl in January 1984. However, the team was involved in controversy off the field. The team's silver and black colors were the same as the street parties in Los Angeles; more Most importantly, the stadium management committee never fulfilled its promise to add top-level boxes to the stadium, and the maintenance of the stadium was also slow. In anger, the team moved away again.
The Los Angeles Rams were the top team in the league when they moved here, and have continued to maintain strong competitiveness. They entered the playoffs for eight consecutive years in the 1970s, ushering in an era. However, due to the large size of the Los Angeles Memorial Arena, the ticket price It is difficult to sell out all the stadiums, which leads to broadcasters not liking to broadcast Rams games. Moreover, the stadium is located in the most dangerous and chaotic southern part of Los Angeles, and parking problems around it are even more difficult.
The owners of the Rams repeatedly tried to persuade the Los Angeles City Hall to build a new stadium, but failed. For this reason, they even moved to Anaheim, a suburb in southeastern Los Angeles, for mediation, but they still failed to impress the local government and refused. Building a new stadium increases the burden on the city hall. In desperation, the team headed to St. Louis.
In other words, the dilapidated and massive Los Angeles Memorial Arena has become the biggest problem. In addition, the expensive expenses in Los Angeles are far more stringent and onerous than in small cities, even for the league's top sports teams. It is difficult for the team to attract 90,000 spectators for a long period of time during the regular season every week, which poses a severe test to the team's management.
After all, there are only a handful of venues around the world that can accommodate 90,000 spectators and are as popular as Wembley Stadium.
As a result, Los Angeles has never had an NFL team in the past two decades. Still, since the Los Angeles Raiders moved to Oakland, the city's lack of a top-tier professional football team has been a concern for many.
For the Los Angeles city government, having a top professional league team will have an immeasurable impact on the economy and surrounding industries. The Los Angeles Lakers are the best example; for NFL officials, Los Angeles’ huge football team The city is also something they have always coveted. Big cities such as Chicago, Houston, and New York have all proven the unlimited potential of top football markets.
Similarly, for the thirty-two teams, they also look forward to Los Angeles joining the league and further expanding the league's territory, which will play an irreplaceable and important role in driving the revenue of the entire league.
However, the problem of the Los Angeles Memorial Arena has always been in front of everyone and needs to be solved urgently.
In 2007, the mayor of Los Angeles publicly announced that they would make adjustments to the NFL's policy of moving to Los Angeles and that they would try to explore other options.
At the end of September this year, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a proposal to build Farmers Stadium. This brand-new stadium will attract an NFL team to move here. The stadium will be completed and put into use in 2016. The stadium is located in the center of the city and is perfectly integrated into the lives of local people.
It can be said that although there is no professional football team in this city now, football has never really been far away from here, let alone the rivalry between the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, the NCAA's old rivals, every year. It’s a carnival day for the whole city.
Today, football is once again associated with Los Angeles.
When Rolex announced that it was about to hold a formal press conference at Staples Stadium and sent distinguished invitations to all mainstream sports media, saying that this would be an important breakthrough for Rolex in the North American professional sports arena, people did not pay attention. When thinking about football, I still speculate about potential possibilities such as the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant.
While thinking about it, further news came out from the industry:
Rolex's press conference will be related to football, and Roger Goodell will attend the press conference as a special guest.
boom!
In an instant, everyone was excited, and all kinds of conjectures emerged in an endless stream——
Last season, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made it clear in an open letter that the league would give priority to building a stadium in Los Angeles and looked forward to having a team return to the city in the future; this season, the City of Los Angeles The council responded positively and unanimously approved the new stadium proposal.
Naturally, people think of the biggest possibility:
Could it be that Rolex wants to name a new stadium? Does this mean that it is a certainty that one of the league's teams will move to Los Angeles? Going a step further, is Rolex involved? So, will Rolex further participate in NFL sponsorship? In fact, things have already begun to take shape now?
All the ideas started to boil.
One thing is for sure, this is going to be a big deal! Absolutely heavy!
Jay Fox arrived at Staples Stadium early. The scene of busy traffic in the square at the entrance was really lively. He could even see the studio vans of TV stations, including Fox, ESPN, NBC, and three top public networks. It is full of weight; and there are countless mainstream sports media. A rough estimate of the number of participating media reaches at least three digits.
This was by far the biggest press conference of Jay's career.
Entering the Staples Stadium venue, you will see an oak stage, long blue cloth tables, movable seats, and a huge crowd... There is also an oversized Rolex brand logo back that grabs all the attention, with light blue as the main color and burgundy as the main color. For embellishment, you can occasionally see pale pink and mint green trim, and of course Rolex’s most classic gold, which is simple, neat, elegant, graceful and luxurious.
Being in such an installation environment, all the discussions involuntarily lowered their pitch, leaving only the sound of breathing. However, the heat and excitement between the eyes are boiling. It can be clearly noticed that every one of them is. Everyone is excited and excited that cannot be concealed.
Even for them, the collision of the two words "Rolex" and "NFL" is sparking.
Jay stopped and looked around. There were three hundred media outlets, at least three hundred, and even more. Every corner in sight was crowded with people. After a random count, almost all of them were... All the well-known sports media have arrived at the scene, and similarly, all the top comprehensive media that can be ranked are not absent.
Take the Los Angeles Times as an example. They sent five reporters, including Jay. All media gave it the highest standard of treatment.
"So, does anyone know what's going on?"
"There is really no news about Rolex this time. It seems to be the highest level of confidentiality. No matter how I inquire, there is no news at all. Do you have any news?"
The question was met with a series of head shakes in response.
"Well, it seems that Rolex really takes it very seriously. This...should be good news, right?"
"Do you think Rolex will sponsor the NFL's official timer? In this way, this will be the first official cooperation between Rolex and the four major leagues?"
"Wow, first time ever. This is definitely huge."
"No, no, if it was an official cooperation with the league, Roger Goodell would never be so low-key. The league office would definitely let the news out."
"Is it really the stadium? This is too exaggerated. Rolex doesn't seem interested in the stadium."
"Or...Tom Brady?"
"Brady still has a watch contract."
"That's Aaron Rodgers?"
…
Amidst the bustling discussion, someone nearby noticed Jay's arrival and asked freely, "Hey, Jay, do you have any news?"
Jay also let out a long breath, "No, I don't know either."
But what is certain is that the news has already caused a sensation throughout North America before any clues have been leaked.
