Min Congda's series of actions actually laid the groundwork for negotiations between the league and the referee association.

Looking back, the people of the Referee Association will definitely regret opening the film with Min Congda, because the negotiations between the two sides were originally relatively hidden.

Fans and the media have never cared about how much money the referee gets, how it operates, how it is selected, and how it blows penalties.

For this sensitive position, the more covert it is, the better it is for them.

The referees have received enough controversy and scolding, and if they are brought to the stage, it will only cause more negative public opinion, which is not conducive to the referees' work.

But because of the traffic bomb against Min Congda, the NBA and the referee association were put on the table.

Moreover, Min Congda used the weapon of public opinion to attack the referee association openly and covertly, which was unfavorable in business distribution and taking care of the bottom and marginal referees.

"Those star referees have too many resources at their disposal, especially since they have tripled their salary increase this time, from $200,000 a year to more than $600,000. I don't mind referees getting more wages, in fact, the prosperity of the league and the good looks of the game are inseparable from the hard work and on-the-spot performance of referees, but the question is whether such a high salary increase can be clearly reflected on the field, and whether the gap between the rich and the poor between referees and referees will be widened? As the enforcers on the field, referees deserve to be treated favorably, not to compromise their impartiality for money. But I think that this treatment should be comprehensive and benefit the entire group of referees, not just a group of senior referees. ”

"Balance, benefiting the development of every level, I think is a healthy and reasonable system. While in a competitive sports system, resources, money, and attention will naturally converge towards the brightest stars, from players to teams to referees, being the manager of the entire league is about having the foresight, the vision, and keeping the whole ecosystem in balance. That's something I've been living with since I was with the Los Angeles Clippers, so you can see that the Clippers have the best results in the league, the best team culture, and the most stable team environment in recent years. I hope to bring that experience and strengths with me when I come to the Alliance office. ”

In an exclusive interview, Min Congda mentioned his views on the issue of referee salaries, as well as his management philosophy.

In fact, it is the same as David Stern, that is, balance, maintain a healthy ecology, allow celebrities and even encourage the emergence of celebrities, but must not seize the space of the underlying ecological niche.

From Min Congda's conversation, it can be seen that he may even be more aggressive than David Stern, because he has the idea of hitting those big-name referees, star referees.

In fact, after the two sides began negotiations in August, Min Congda and Bozia's Referee Development Department did the same.

In the negotiations, they did increase the referee's salary by 300 percent, from an average of $150,000 a year to $450,000.

However, Bozia put forward a request to establish a referee development fund, which will deduct a part of the salary of high-paid referees to enrich the fund for the training and reward of young referees.

This is actually to take the money of high-paid referees to subsidize young and marginal referees, which is normal in terms of national taxation, but the referees are definitely not happy, because their income has been stripped of by the US tax once, and they have to use another part to enrich the fund, so that the final arrival of 450,000 US dollars may be one-third.

Experienced veteran referees do not agree with this plan, they have a strong say in the referee association, and theoretically they oppose it, and an agreement cannot be reached.

But the problem is that the negotiation has been put on the table and weighed, which has attracted the attention of the media in the sports circle.

The media has always watched the excitement and is not a big deal, and the previous Fox TV documentary interviewing the NBA's low-level and marginal referees started.

Subsequently, everyone followed up and stood up to "speak up" and speak for the weak referees, believing that they deserve protection in terms of treatment.

In particular, the documentary on Fox TV also recorded the career of a female referee, which instantly raised the topic to the height of feminism.

In fact, the NBA has always been a small circle with serious gender discrimination, but in addition to the NBA, there is also a WNBA, where men and women play their own games, and each sells tickets to earn money based on their ability, but it doesn't matter whether it is discriminatory or not.

It's just that in American society in 2015, all kinds of politically correct and feminist groups have begun to proliferate, and once they get involved in this topic, they will inevitably be under great pressure from public opinion.

Therefore, at this time, some people in the referee association began to regret it, shouting that they were fooled, who is not good to provoke, why should they provoke Smart, a mad dog? Did you suffer less from him in the past?

Well, if Bozia's proposal is agreed to (obviously, this proposal was made by Min Congda), the mainstream referee group will bear the loss in terms of income.

If Bozia's proposal is not agreed, the referee, which is already full of controversy, less money and more work, and a group that bears a bad name, will suffer more criticism and pressure.

The referees' association is in a dilemma, with negotiations in a rare stalemate (in the past, such negotiations were generally quick to resolve, but not as difficult as player-team collective bargaining). ）

In this case, McCutchen privately found the key person Min Congda, hoping to have a good talk with him.

"Why do you want to find me, I don't have the right to decide, the final decision is actually in Silva's hands, you should look for him."

Min Congda pretended to be when he met McCartchen in a small café in New York.

McCutchen took a sip and said, "Obviously it was Silva who hinted at kicking you out, and then we can talk about everything." Now he doesn't squeak, because your plan is beneficial to the alliance and can establish a better image of the alliance! ”

After saying that, McCartchen also muttered a few swear words, which was not his style at all, he had always been a very neutral and peaceful person, and now he was swearing, which showed how dissatisfied he was with Silva's two-faced swords.

Everything is easy to say when he wants to use the Referee Association to kill Min Congda, and once the situation reverses, he will stand on Min Congda's side and oppose the Referee Association.

As the person in charge of the negotiations, McCartchen also has a lot of pressure, and Jarvey, Crawford, Delaney and other cadres are behind his back, making McCartchen feel like a man.

Min Congda said: "I know it's hard to do, and our original intention is to give those young referees a better space to develop. You used to be young, and you know how hard it was to be a referee back then. ”

"Of course, it was a lot harder then than it is now, with low wages, terrible accommodation, and I had to go to AAU competitions every summer to support myself. Now the environment for young referees is stronger than we were back then, and we have to subsidize them? ”

Min Congda said: "The times are developing, and the dividends of the development of the alliance should benefit everyone, not just focus on the head. Although they have the highest prestige and the strongest abilities, from the perspective of the entire ecosystem, the status of tigers and rats is equally important, and even rats are a little more important. ”

McCutchen said: "That's also those stars taking too much, they should share some of the money!" ”

Min Congda said: "This is a matter of the future, you don't have to worry about it." Well, I'll make a suggestion and go back and report to Bozia. We have lowered the commission ratio by 5 percentage points so that your income loss is not too large. Then, on the subsidy of important games such as the playoffs, the league will add money, what do you think? ”

McCutchen wondered, "Are you sure you can?" Smart, I've been working in the league for so many years, and I know that it's not easy to increase your expenses, and everything has a strict financial budget. ”

The total income of the alliance is a relatively accurate figure, and how much money each family shares is strictly stipulated in various agreements.

For example, the core of the dispute in labor negotiation is the distribution of income, the proportion of the employer, the proportion of the labor, and the often quarrelsome head for a few percentage points.

Because those few percentage points are often the ownership of hundreds of millions of dollars, it must be a life-and-death struggle, even if it is suspended.

And Min Congda's statement undoubtedly requires the alliance to spend more money, it is impossible for you to do good things, and you want to pay less, but where does the money come from?

Min Congda did not explain this, but said: "I am just giving my advice, if you agree, everything will be reflected in the agreement." As an investor, you don't have to worry about where the money comes from, even if it grows in the ground, you can use it. ”

McCarchen nodded, he knew that Min Congda had great powers, and since he dared to open this mouth, he was naturally prepared.

The two exchanged some opinions, and McCutchen tentatively agreed to the plan, and decided to go back and discuss it with the members of the association.

And when Min Congda came to Silva with the plan after the exchange of views, the Jew really knocked on the table and said: "Our income is strictly distributed, you said to increase the subsidy for the playoffs of the veteran referees, will you pay for it, Smart?" ”

Min Congda said: "Of course not, I think we can take a 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 stick to the matter of the referee fund, I advise you to just give up. ”

Min Congda said: "We are about to negotiate the legalization of gambling, isn't this a considerable amount of income?" ”

Speaking of legalizing gambling, Silva pushed his glasses and softened his tone, asking, "How Smart, do you agree with the legalization of gambling too?" ”

At present, the general trend of the league is to agree to the legalization of 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 that eats away at the sport's vitality.

In 1951, the NCAA college basketball gambling case broke out in the United States, and the famous New York University and Manhattan College were involved in it, which caused 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 had just started in a faltering way, and since then, the NBA, a broken league that hockey owners have put together with nothing to do, has begun to get development opportunities.

In the 1953-1954 season, the NBA also broke out in betting, match-fixing, a Jewish player named Molinas was involved in the match-fixing turmoil, he scored 18 points in the first half to help the Pistons lead the Celtics by 11 points, but in the second half he made a series of mistakes and scored only 2 points, resulting in the Pistons being reversed by the Celtics, and finally won exactly 1 point more than the betting handicap.

As a result, the bookmaker later stopped playing Pistons games, and the league installed bugs in the Pistons' locker room to investigate the matter and successfully obtained evidence that at least six Pistons players were involved in match-fixing.

In the end, Molinas was taken away by the police for investigation, the FBI intervened, and then NBA commissioner Podorov (the first president and founder) intervened in the case, and he let the impact of the incident stay on Molinas alone, and he took all the blame, 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, Podorov prevented the public hearing and the investigation of the famous gambling investigative reporter Hogan, so that the match-fixing scandal did not spread to the larger picture, the Pistons played as usual, the NBA games went on as usual, and the league has developed to this day.

Seven years later, Molinas sued the NBA to initiate a hearing and request an antitrust investigation into the NBA, but was suppressed by the powerful Podorov, and the judge accepted Podorov's testimony in its entirety and rejected all of Molinas' requests.

Two months later, Molinas was arrested, but not because he sued the NBA, but because after he left the NBA, he allegedly manipulated 27 college sports competitions, affecting the outcome of 43 games, affecting a total of 476 college players.

The year was 1961, and college sports in the United States were hit hard again.

Match-fixing is just a small chapter in the gambling career of Molinas, and his life is a history of fraud.

After being released from prison with a sentence of 10 years, Molinas continued his career as a cheater before receiving $300,000 in insurance coverage after the accidental death of one of his business partners in 1975.

That same year, he was shot dead by the mafia in his backyard.

This year, Podorov has retired, and the league's MVP Most Valuable Player trophy is named after him.

After experiencing these ups and downs, the NBA has long hated gambling, which has become taboo in the league, and signed a memorandum to strictly prohibit players, teams, and referees from participating in any gambling incidents.

As a result, in 2006, the Donassi gambling scandal broke out, and finally Donassi also died under the guns of the mafia.

Now, Silva wants to legalise gambling in a way that benefits everyone, and there is understandable resistance.

However, the temptation of money is endless, and the management also believes that instead of letting some criminals take advantage of the loopholes, it is better for us to do this village in person, wouldn't it be more profitable?

For Silva, if he can get Min Congda's support on the legalisation of gambling, the subsequent board negotiations will be much smoother.

Even David Stern has a soft mouth, as long as Smart doesn't go crazy, everything is easy to say.

Now it was Min Congda's turn to sit opposite Silva and knock on the table, he rolled his eyes with his mouth open, and said, "I'm just an assistant vice president, and I'm not qualified to take care of this matter." But...... I do have some opinions on this matter, and I hope to exchange them in the future. I'll leave it here for the Referees' Association's suggestion, so you can think about it, Mr. President. ”

(End of chapter)