In the United States in the 40s, it was normal for professional teams to fail to survive and go out of business, and basketball was relatively weak in professional sports, and team closures were a common thing.

For example, when the BAA League, the predecessor of the NBA, was first established, there were a total of eleven teams, but only the Knicks, Celtics and Warriors can continue to this day, and the other eight teams have been disbanded within five years of the establishment of the BAA League.

So when Lester Harris, the general manager of the royal team, found Chen Qiang, Chen Qiang's first reaction was whether the royal team couldn't hold on and planned to disband.

However, Chen Qiang thought about it, the Rochester Royals are the future Sacramento Kings, this team has continued into the future, and it stands to reason that it is impossible to disband easily, and Chen Qiang invited the Royals to join, but also because of the continuity of this team.

"Historically, in 1944, the Rochester Royals were supposed to be an amateur team. However, because of my arrival, I injected money into the Rochester Royals, and the Royals became a professional team in advance. ”

Chen Qiang thought about it for a while, and felt that this possibility was not too big.

In the first season of the league, the Royals' record was indeed terrible, ranking first in the league after the season, but in the next draft, the Royals selected Max Zaslowski with the top pick, Max Zaslowski is the second scoring champion in NBA history after all, and the rookie season is also very good, and it has also attracted a lot of fans for the Royals.

So Chen Qiang opened his mouth and asked, "Is there any problem with the operation of the royal team?" ”

Lester Harris shook his head slightly: "The operation of the Royal team is not bad, at least much better than when it was an amateur club in the past, and the current team can make a little money in addition to maintaining a balance of payments." However, there is a consensus within the team that we would like to have more room to develop. ”

"What do you mean by more room for development?" Chen Qiang asked.

"Big city, we want to relocate the team to big city!" Lester Harris spoke.

"I see." Chen Qiang nodded in realization.

Professional teams in small cities will inevitably yearn for big cities, throughout the history of the four major sports leagues in the United States, in fact, a team gradually relocated from a small city to a larger city, those who are unwilling to leave the small city, in the end, all end up disbanded, only those teams that move to the big city, can better continue.

Of course, the NFL's Green Bay Packers team is a special case, the fans of the Packers are too hardcore, and the Green Bay people have a real love for the packers, so the packers team can survive in a small city.

Excluding exceptions, small cities can't support the teams of the four major sports leagues, but any team with some ambitions will not be willing to develop in a small city, but any team owner who wants to make money will not let the team stay in a small city all the time.

Rochester, where the Royals are based, is the third largest city in New York State, but this "Third in New York State" is actually a fat title.

Because New York State has New York City, the largest city in the world.

The magnetic effect of New York City on the whole of New York State is so obvious that people all over New York State will involuntarily flock to New York City in search of more opportunities, and the rest of New York State will be sucked away because of this. Taking population as an example, in the 40s, New York had a population of nearly 8 million, while the so-called Rochester, the third largest city in New York State, had a population of only 200,000, and the population was only one-fortieth of that of New York.

In other states in the United States, there is absolutely no 40-fold population gap between the first and third, but this is the case in New York State, so it is not a good thing to be neighbors with a megacity like New York, and everyone runs out.

After all, the sports industry is for people, and the more populous the city, the easier it is for the sports industry to develop. The future Rochester also does not have teams from the four major sports leagues, and the city has only one baseball team, called the Rochester Red Wings, which belongs to the baseball minor leagues.

In comparison, New York City has eight teams from the four major sports leagues, with two teams from each sports league. The New York Giants and New York Jets in football, the New York Yankees and New York Mets in baseball, the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets in basketball, the New York Rangers and New York Islanders in ice hockey.

So it's understandable that the Royals want to leave Rochester and look for a bigger market.

The historical Rochester Royals are also a team that constantly seeks a big market, or a team that moves more frequently, this team stayed in Rochester for ten years, then moved to the larger Cincinnati, and then moved to Kansas City, the largest city in Missouri, in 1972, and changed its name to the Kings, and in 1985 went to Sacramento, the seat of the California state capital, which is now the Sacramento Kings, and in 2013, it planned to move to Seattle, which has a larger market. The result ended in failure.

Given the Rochester Royals' long "moving history", Chen Qiang was not surprised when Lester Harris offered to go to the big city.

Chen Qiang gave a large investment to the royal team back then, and now the royal team also owns Chen Qiang's equity, so the royal team decided to relocate, first of all, to seek Chen Qiang's opinion.

So Chen Qiang opened his mouth and asked, "Which city are you going to go to?" ”

"Mr. Chen, where do you think it is more appropriate?" Lester Harris asked tentatively.

Chen Qiang thought for a moment and said, "How is Pittsburgh?" ”

Pittsburgh is Pennsylvania's second-largest city after Philadelphia, and it's also a quintessential sports city. The future of Pittsburgh has the Steelers in the NFL, the Buccaneers in baseball, and the Penguins in the NHL in ice hockey, but no NBA team.

In the 40s, Pittsburgh was definitely one of the top ten big cities in the United States, because Pittsburgh's steelmaking industry was very developed, and it was called the "steel capital" of the United States.

Chen Qiang knew that Pittsburgh's sports industry would be very prosperous in the future, and if it could feed three teams from the big four leagues, it would definitely be no problem to feed another basketball team, so Chen Qiang proposed Pittsburgh.

"Pittsburgh is a really good option." Lester Harris replied, then asked cautiously, "Mr. Chen, what do you think of the royal team coming to New York?" ”

"You're going to come to New York?" Chen Qiang was slightly stunned.

Lester Harris nodded hesitantly.

"New York is great, after all, it is the largest city in the United States, with the largest sports market in the United States, and if the Royals come to New York, it must be much better than staying in Rochester, and of course it is better than going to Pittsburgh." Chen Qiang replied.

"Mr. Chen, you have no objection to the royal team moving to New York?" Lester Harris asked subconsciously.

"Why should I object?" Chen Qiang asked puzzled.

"Because there's still the Knicks in New York, and the Knicks are your team." Lester Harris replied.

Chen Qiang instantly understood that Lester Harris was worried that after moving the royal team to New York, he would form a competitive relationship with the Knicks. And Chen Qiang is the owner of the Knicks, and in order to avoid competitors, it is very likely that he is reluctant to let the royal team move to New York.

Chen Qiang smiled slightly: "Lester, you think too much, the royal team also has my shares, of course I also hope that the development of the royal team can get better and better, and New York City is so big and has such a population, it can completely raise two teams." ”

Lester Harris breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Since Mr. Chen has no objection to us moving to New York, then we will immediately plan the relocation of the team. ”

"Which stadium are you going to use as your home stadium in New York?" Chen Qiang asked again.

"I haven't thought about this yet, after all, the team hasn't started planning when it moves." Lester Harris replied honestly.

"What do you think of Madison Square Garden?" Chen Qiang asked with a smile.

"Mr. Chen, would you like to let us use Madison Square Garden?" Lester Harriston's face was pleasantly surprised.

Any team wants to play in a top-tier stadium, especially if it's a smaller team like the Royals. If Madison Square Garden could be the home of the Royals, it would definitely be something that Lester Harris could not ask for.

"If you want, you can use Madison Square Garden as your home stadium, but you have to be careful about the schedule, and you can't schedule the two teams' home games on the same day, otherwise the two games will collide." Chen Qiang's voice changed, and then asked, "Do you want to be on TV?" ”

"Can it still be broadcast on TV?" Lester Harris only felt dizzy, and even his brain was a little short-circuited.

For a small team like the Royals, being able to come to New York is already a success, and being able to use Madison Square Garden as their home stadium is simply incense, and now there is a TV broadcast, which makes Lester Harris feel like a dream.

Chen Qiang continued: "Madison Square Square has ready-made television broadcasting equipment, and at present, only Madison Square Garden games can be televised. If the Royals also use Madison Square Garden as their home stadium, I can talk to NBC and ask them to increase the televising of the Royals' games. Anyway, the equipment is idle, so it's better to use it. ”

In any industry, the larger the scale, the lower the cost of production, and the same is true for television broadcasts, the same game in Madison Square Garden, although the total cost of broadcasting ten games is far more than the cost of broadcasting only one game, but when you calculate the average cost, ten broadcasts are certainly much lower than one broadcast. The broadcast equipment in Madison Square Garden has been set up, and even if a game is not broadcast, the money has already been spent, and on the contrary, the more games are broadcast, the lower the cost will be evenly shared, so NBC should be willing to broadcast more games.

……

The relocation of the Royals went smoothly, and it took only two weeks to find a training gym in New York.

In later generations, the relocation of an NBA team was a very complicated matter, involving a lot of affairs, but in the forties, the size of the team was not very large, and the so-called relocation was mainly the movement of personnel, and the whole team changed offices together.

Most of the staff on the Royal team are Rochester natives, and even several players are Rochester natives, and it is said that these locals are certainly reluctant to leave their hometowns, but this is not the case, and the attraction of a megacity like New York is too great for ordinary Americans, and it can be said that every American is eager to get a job in New York. Now that the staff of these teams are moving from Rochester to New York, everyone is even more desperate. It's like giving a Beijing hukou to residents of third- and fourth-tier cities in China, and they will refuse unless they are fools.

Of course, Americans do not have a hukou, whether it is education or medical care, it will not be limited to a city because of the hukou, for Americans, a job is equivalent to a hukou, as long as there is a job, you can live in the city.

Max Zaslowski, the star of the Royals, is even more in favor of the team's move to New York. Max Zaslowski was originally a New Yorker, his family lived in Brooklyn, he originally expected to be selected by the Knicks, but unfortunately the Knicks did not have a top pick, so Max Zaslowski was finally selected by the royal team, and now he can return to his hometown to play, which can be regarded as the fulfillment of Max Zaslowski's wish.

……

Nike, samples of sneakers have already been made.

The sneakers of this era are mainly black and white, so Chen Qiang's "Nike No. 1" is only set in two colors, black and white. The black sneaker has a black upper with a white sole, and the side of the shoe will have a white Nike logo. The sneakers in the white style are white on the upper and soles and have a black Nike logo on the side.

Chen Qiang is still very satisfied with the sample of "Nike No. 1", and now he will wait until the raw materials for production are in place, and then recruit a group of female shoemakers, so that he can start production.

At the end of the year, after the U.S. election, Roosevelt got his wish and was re-elected and began his fourth term, and Truman also became vice president, and he also fulfilled his promise to get some quotas for rubber raw materials for Nike next year, although the quota is not much, but it is enough to produce seven or eight hundred thousand pairs of sneakers.

With rubber raw materials, Chen Qiang's shoe-making plan has finally entered the implementation stage.

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