The basketball league founded by Chen Qiang is about to enter its third season, and before the start of the season, Chen Qiang got the good news that a newly formed team is willing to join the new league.

The newly formed team is located in Chicago, and the owner of the team, Morris White, opened a factory in Chicago to produce gears, so the newly formed team is also called the Chicago Gears.

World War II made the U.S. industrial system full of firepower, and gear machinery products are necessary parts, so Morris White also made a lot of money, as a basketball enthusiast, Morris White plans to set up a basketball team.

The historical Chicago Gears were also founded in 1944 and then joined the NBL league at that time, and the team held on until 1948, when the NBL and the NBA merged, and teams such as the Lakers and Nuggets chose to join the NBA, while the Gears formed another league with other teams called the Professional Basketball League of America (PBLA). It's just that this league didn't hold on for even a season and disbanded, after all, even the NBA was on the verge of collapse at that time, and it was even more difficult for other basketball leagues to survive.

It is worth mentioning that the legendary superstar George McCann signed with the Chicago Gears when he graduated from college, because George McCann attended college at DePaul College in Chicago. And George McCann also helped the Chicago Gears win the 1947 NBL championship. Later, the NBL and the NBA merged, and the Cogs soon disbanded, and George McCann went to the Minneapolis Lakers, the future Los Angeles Lakers, and became the first legendary superstar in NBA history.

Now that Chen Qiang has established a new basketball league, and the new basketball league is obviously more popular with the audience, the Chicago Gears did not choose the NBL, but chose Chen Qiang's new basketball league.

With a new team joining, Chen Qiang is naturally very welcome, and the city where the gear team is located is still a big city like Chicago. You must know that in those days, the second largest city in the United States was not Los Angeles, but Chicago.

It is certainly much better to develop professional sports in big cities than in small cities, team owners can get more profits, and sports leagues can expand their influence. Chicago is also one of the famous "sports holy cities" in the United States, and sports are very marketable in the city.

But unfortunately, in the forties, basketball was not even ranked in the top five in the popularity of the city of Chicago, and in the future, basketball can have a place in Chicago, mainly because of the emergence of Michael Jordan in Chicago.

Chicagoans love athletics, the city often hosts track and field competitions, and the future Chicago marathon is world-famous.

In addition to this, the betting industry has driven boxing and horse racing in Chicago, and boxing is popular all over the United States. Horse racing is also fueled by the well-developed livestock industry in Chicago, and for many Chicagoans, going to the horse park on the weekend to watch a horse race is an essential leisure activity.

Chicago is located further north, and the winters here are really cold, with the average temperature of the coldest month reaching minus 10 degrees Celsius, and the lowest temperature of minus 20 or 30 degrees Celsius is also common. Even many Americans feel that Chicago is the coldest place in the United States. In this cold climate, it was inevitable that hockey would become popular, so the game has been around in Chicago since the twenties.

Baseball is also very popular in Chicago, after all, until the 80s, baseball was the number one sport in the United States, and in terms of popularity, basketball could not be compared to baseball. Even in the future, baseball will still occupy a huge market in Chicago, just imagine that even Michael Jordan will choose to play baseball after retiring, which shows how popular baseball is in the city.

Rugby is a hot and cold situation in Chicago, and college football is very popular, attracting more than 50,000 spectators. However, the NFL of professional football has been quite cold, and it is difficult for the Chicago Bears to attract 5,000 spectators in the NFL. This is also related to the general environment at that time, after all, that era was the most difficult era in the NFL, and in the future, football became the number one sport in the United States, and the Chicago Bears, who were known for their defense, were also a team loved by Chicagoans.

In a sports environment like Chicago, it's not easy for basketball to have a place in it.

Before 1939, Chicago never had a professional basketball team, and it wasn't until 1939 that Chicago had its first professional basketball team and joined the NBL league, but it closed down after only three seasons. Chicago Gears is the second professional basketball team in the city.

The future Chicago Bulls were only established in 1966, in the first two decades of their establishment, although the Chicago Bulls had achieved good results, they could only be regarded as barely gaining a foothold in Chicago, Chicagoans love other sports far more than basketball, for Chicagoans, the Bulls are just a spare tire for other sports, and when there are no games in other sports, they will go to watch basketball games. Fortunately, the Chicago Bulls drafted Michael Jordan in 1984, creating a basketball era that belonged to the Chicago Bulls in the 90s, and since then, basketball has been able to compete with other sports in Chicago.

Chen Qiang can have a hunch that it may take a long time for the newly established Chicago Gears to gain a foothold in Chicago until it is completely recognized by Chicagoans.

The historical Chicago Gears persisted for four years before disbanding, and now that the basketball rules have been modified by Chen Qiang, the basketball games in the new league are more beautiful, and Chen Qiang feels that the Chicago Gears should be able to hold on longer.

In the 40s, the operating costs of the team were not as exaggerated as later generations, and if 2,000 tickets were sold for a game, it was enough to keep the team running, and in a big city like Chicago, it was not difficult to sell 2,000 tickets.

The more people watched, the more money the team made, and the Chicago Coliseum could only hold 6,000 spectators, and the Gears owner Morris White apparently felt the venue was too small, so the Chicago Gears rented the Chicago Drama International Theater as their home stadium, which could accommodate 9,000 spectators.

A newly formed team is completely unfamiliar to the spectators, and even if it is playing at home, it will not attract too many local fans. But the stars of other teams are a highlight, and many Chicagoans buy tickets to watch the game, perhaps not to see the Cogears, but to see the New York Knicks, to see the Boston Celtics, or to see the Philadelphia Warriors.

It's like the NBA coming to China to play a preseason game, and the two sides of the game are not local Chinese teams, but the fans are very willing to spend a lot of money to buy tickets to watch the game, just to be able to watch an NBA game at home. Another example is that the Chinese Super League team invited the La Liga giants to come to China to play a friendly match, which was definitely full, and the fans did not come to see their Chinese Super League teams, but to see the La Liga giants.

This way of making money by taking advantage of the fame of the opponent is the best way for the new team to make money, and this is also the way for the Chicago Gear to survive in previous seasons, and the Gears do not expect many local Chicago die-hard fans to support themselves, but only hope that when the strong teams visit, they can continue the fame of the strong team and sell some tickets.

……

After confirming the joining of the Chicago Gears, Chen Qiang launched a reform plan for the new season.

In the first year of the new league, Chen Qiang introduced new rules such as the expansion of the three-second zone and the 24-second offensive violation, and another draft rule in the middle of the season. The next day, Chen planned an All-Star weekend, which was also a reform of the new league.

Now in its third year of the new alliance, Chen Qiang has once again launched a reform plan.

"An annual awards ceremony? At the end of the season, the season's awards are selected and an award ceremony is held for the winners? Boston Celtics boss Walter Brown looked at the acknowledgment with a hesitant expression, as if waiting for Chen Qiang's explanation.

Chen Qiang said: "Everyone should know the Academy Awards, right? I'm going to have an awards show like that, too. The Oscars have awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and so on, and we can also make similar awards. For example, the best team of the season, the regular season MVP, the best defensive player, the scoring champion, the rebounding champion, the assist champion, the best sixth man, the best rookie, the best coach, etc.......

"Is it in any way for us to do this?" Someone asked.

"Of course there are benefits. First of all, we can create a buzz to expand the visibility and influence of the alliance, and to put it bluntly, by holding an award ceremony to build momentum for our alliance. Don't forget, we are not the only basketball league in the United States, we have always been in competition with the NBL and ABL. In the United States, there is not only basketball as a professional sport, but also baseball, football, and ice hockey. If our alliance wants to survive and continue to grow, it must constantly build momentum for itself. Chen Qiang said.

Everyone nodded their heads, and when it came to the survival and development of the alliance, no one would object.

Chen Qiang continued: "Secondly, I hope to use this award ceremony to create a competitive atmosphere. For example, the scoring champion I am talking about will be awarded to the player with the highest points per game, so the player who wants to compete for this honor will definitely work hard to score. In the same way, those who want to compete for the rebounding king will work hard to grab rebounds, and those who want to get the assist king will try their best to make beautiful passes. In this way, the players will play harder and the game will be more exciting. And the more exciting the game, the more fans will be attracted, and our league will be able to develop better. ”

"Mr. Chen, what you said is very reasonable, a wonderful game is indeed the foundation of a sport. But I have a question, like the scoring champion, why is it the person with the most points per game and not the person with the highest total points in the season? Someone asked.

"Because the players are going to get injuries." Chen Qiang continued: "In a long season, injuries are unavoidable, if the scoring champion is judged according to the total score of the season, when a player is injured and has to be suspended for three or five games, then he will completely bid farewell to the competition for the scoring champion, which is unfair to this player, and this player will also give up the competition for the scoring champion." ”

It's like when a person knows he's not going to pass an exam, will he still study hard? The same goes for players, once a player withdraws from the competition early, it's hard to guarantee that he'll play as hard as he did in the next game. And the original intention of setting up the award is to stimulate competition between players, so I hope that this competition can last a little longer, rather than making a lot of people choose to give up halfway. ”

"Is there a situation where a player only plays one or two games and averages a high number of points per game, and then he gets injured and doesn't play in the next game, but because he averages so many points per game, he still gets the scoring title according to the rules, isn't that unfair to other players who have played all season?" The man then asked.

"So I set the premise that if I want to win the top scorer award, I need to play more than 80% of the games in the season. In this way, we can put an end to the behavior of relying on only a few games to farm data. Chen Qiang replied.

Before 1968, the NBA's scoring champions were based on total scores, and as a result, there was a situation like Chen Qiang said, a player was originally ranked very high and hoped to win the scoring title, but he missed a few games due to injury and instantly lost the qualification to compete for the scoring title, because if you compare the total score, the full-time player must have an advantage.

Players who are injured and absent know that they are destined to not win the award of the scoring champion, so they will not score desperately, and if the players do not work hard, the enjoyment of the game will be greatly reduced. So as the schedule progresses, many stars will become less and less trying.

As a result, the NBA began to change the rules for selecting the scoring champion in the 1969 season, using the average points per game as the evaluation criterion, and stipulating that the selected player must meet one of the two conditions of playing at least 57 games or scoring more than 1,400 points. At that time, the NBA did not have 30 teams, and 57 games accounted for more than eighty percent of all games. In 2011, the leading scorer, rebounding and assist leader was changed to 70% of the games completed.

……

At the end of the meeting, Chen Qiang's plan for the annual award ceremony was still unanimously approved.

And Lester Harris, the general manager of the Rochester Royals, specifically called Chen Qiang.

"Mr. Chen, can I talk to you alone?" Lester Harris looked around, then lowered his voice and continued, "I'd like to talk to you about the Royals." ”

Chen Qiang's heart was suddenly shocked, he wondered if the royal team would not be able to support it, and he wanted to quit!

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