Rao is a person like Min Congda who dares to say and do, and he knows in his heart that the legalization of gambling is not something he can control at will.

There are huge interests involved behind this, and many major shareholders of the NBA, bookmakers, overseas groups, and even the mafia may be involved.

During David Stern's 30 years in office, he developed the commercialization of the NBA to the extreme, and the North American market, the international market, the TV broadcast market, and the network broadcast market have basically opened up almost the territory that can be explored.

If Silva wants to make his own achievements as a successor, he must find a new growth point, with the current level of human technology, the NBA is unlikely to develop to an alien planet, so the growth point should still be placed on the earth.

The betting market is currently the largest piece of the cake known, but because of the particularity of this cake, the NBA has not crossed the thunder pool for nearly 50 years.

Now that capital is finally ready to move, and even influenced the choice of the NBA's successor, it is enough to prove that there is a huge force behind it, and it is by no means the whim of Silva alone.

Even Stern himself could hardly stop this force, so how could Min Congda change it easily?

So in the face of Silva's inquiries and temptations, Min Congda appeared very cautious and gave an ambiguous answer.

On the issue of the "Referee Association", Min Congda reversed the situation through public opinion, in the final analysis, because the major shareholders of the NBA did not oppose Min Congda's participation in refereeing affairs.

On the contrary, several big financiers in the NBA, such as ESPN, Turner TV, etc., are very happy to participate in this public opinion carnival, making programs, publishing news, eating traffic, and helping Min Congda create a character at the same time.

The referee association, which was originally unpopular among fans, was defeated in this contest of public opinion, which achieved Min Congda's "righteousness", making him more tall and majestic in his personality, and his position in the league office was more stable.

However, when it comes to the legalization of gambling, it is not so simple, although everyone knows that "gambling" is not a good thing, except for Las Vegas, there are a small number of Indian settlements in the United States that have a license to legally open casinos, and gambling is still illegal in most states.

It's just that this thing is really profitable, and like pornography, gambling is deeply engraved in the genes of human nature, and it can't be eradicated no matter how many generations pass.

Therefore, behind the gambling industry are huge interest groups and a large number of related practitioners, who have a strong voice and action in American society, and they are by no means comparable to referees.

Just like the gun association, there have been so many shootings in the United States, and there are constant voices of gun bans, but arms dealers are so powerful that they can lobby Congress, and there is no way to ban guns.

Min Congda is an average IQ but not a fool, not long after he arrived in the United States, he has a deep understanding of American society, and now six years have passed, he understands everything.

"Legalization of gambling" is a thing that cannot be touched casually, even if you oppose it in your heart, you must pay attention to methods and strategies.

Otherwise, if you die in the bathtub at home one day, you don't know what's going on, and there may be no one to avenge you.

In mid-August, negotiations between the Referees Association and the league remained deadlocked, and the league held back the payment of summer league referees' work allowances as a threat.

Faced with this situation, Min Congda persuaded Bozia to give the subsidy to the young referees in order to ease the relationship between the league and the referees.

His move has won the favor and support of the referees, especially the young referees, and the resistance of the referee association is gradually weakening.

Especially the young referees, they think that those star referees do not care about the life and death of the bottom and marginal referees for their own interests.

The new plan is obviously conducive to the overall development of referees, so why resist it? Just because the referees with old qualifications take less money?

But veteran referees can blow the playoffs, and they get more subsidies in the playoffs, so what's not to be satisfied with?

The contradictions and conflicts between the old and new referees have reduced the internal cohesion of the referee association, and their confidence to compete with the league is getting weaker and weaker.

Coupled with the fact that McCutchen was persuaded by Min Congda, even without Silva's assurance, the referees' association signed the new agreement on August 17.

In this case, Silva did not blindly resist Min Congda's new plan, but shook hands with McCarchen, and a new agreement between the two sides was officially reached.

The reason why Silva did this was not because Min Congda supported the legalization of gambling, nor because he compromised, but because he happened to have a very important matter that Min Congda needed to do.

That is about the copyright of NBA resources in the Chinese market.

The summer of 2015 was indeed a year for Adam Silva to shine.

He officially launched his strategic plan for the future development of the alliance, and one of the most important ones is the development of the Chinese market.

This is one of the most precious pieces of David Stern's legacy.

The NBA claims to be the best internationalization among the four major leagues, but some critics claim that the so-called internationalization of the NBA is actually sinicization.

Because the Chinese market has a huge population, the rapid development of the economy means that a large number of young people have a strong demand for sports and cultural consumption, and it happens that the marketization of China's professional leagues is very imperfect, which leads to a huge market vacuum, giving the NBA the opportunity to take advantage of the void.

In contrast, in Europe, which is also populous and economically developed, professional football has long been firmly dominant.

Even if it is basketball, the professionalism and marketization of European basketball are also very good, and it has European local characteristics, although the level is not as good as the NBA, but it is enough to compete with the NBA in the market.

There is also India, a country with a large population, this former Commonwealth country does not love football or basketball, and people love cricket the most, and the NBA cannot find a large audience at all.

Only China has a good basketball market and mass base, and the local professional league is quite stretched.

Stern began to lay out in China as early as the 80s and cultivated a group of NBA basketball enthusiasts.

With Wang Zhizhi, Yao Ming and others entering the league, the Chinese market has become a big cake that cannot be ignored in the NBA.

However, although the NBA has been cultivating in China for 30 years, from the perspective of monetization, this market is still an incomplete virgin land.

Because China's TV consumption habits are very different from those in the United States, Chinese do not have the habit of watching pay TV, so they can only rely on advertising to provide income.

Advertising revenues are volatile and not conducive to cultivating die-hard fans, and the NBA's popularity in China has been waning with Yao Ming's retirement.

The NBA is very keen to find a strategic partner to take over the development of the NBA in China, integrate the resources and influence left by the NBA in China in the past, and provide the league with monetized income.

Min Congda, as a Chinese, and his Asian Youth Basketball Development Foundation, has been operating for more than five years and has a great influence in China.

Silva believes that involving Min Congda in the operation of this matter will find a good enough path for the NBA.

"Smart, if you can, the position of NBA Asia president is always open to you."

In the conversation between the two, Silva still did not give up the idea of sending Min Congda to the Far East.

Min Congda has no interest in the president of Asia, but he is very interested in cooperation.

Previously, China had the rights to broadcast NBA games, one was the famous CCTV, as well as the TV station in Guangdong, and Sina Media on the Internet.

The problem with TV stations is that they only buy a small number of key game rights, and although in the past TV era played a huge role in the NBA's dissemination in China, in the current Internet era, the influence of CCTV and local TV stations is greatly reduced.

As for the network media, Sina's broadcast can be said to be sparse, whether it is the clarity of the broadcast, or the professionalism of the commentary, as well as the development of peripheral content, it can be said that it is the grass platform team in the grass station team.

Sina's live broadcast effect of the game is worse than some hotlinks, which are not high-definition, but also stuck, and the viewing experience is very bad.

Therefore, the NBA does not plan to cooperate with Sina again, and the current potential cooperation partners are Tencent and Alibaba.

2015 is the era of the great development of China's Internet enterprises, Tencent and Alibaba, one relies on social software, the other relies on shopping Taobao, as the basic plate for all walks of life to start the action of conquering the city.

As an important part of the tertiary industry, the sports and entertainment industry, the big signboard of the NBA has caused fierce competition between two large companies.

The prices on both sides are constantly rising, one out higher than the other.

Silva told Min, "Tencent has put the price up to $500 million over five years, which is a very high price." If this order can be won, the little subsidy that the referees have raised in the playoffs is just a drizzle. ”

The price of $500 million in five years is indeed sky-high, and the broadcast contract signed by the Premier League in China in 2013 is only $15 million for six years, which cannot be compared with five years and $500 million.

Min Congda listened to this price, but his face was not shocked, he knew in his heart that 2015 was the beginning of the era of "big coins" of Internet companies, and the prices of various entertainment assets were speculated higher and higher.

Because of the rapid economic development, social assets are expanding rapidly, first come, first served, all links are making a lot of money, and the big Internet companies are spending money like flowing water, and they are making large-scale mergers and acquisitions abroad.

However, Min Congda, who was working in the bank at that time, had already felt the signs of an economic downturn from the perspective of industry and traditional industries, but the Internet industry was at its peak and had not yet noticed it.

In the years that followed, Min Congda's distant memory showed that the NBA's influence in China did not grow further, indicating that Tencent's operation was not too successful — of course, there was the reason for Yao Ming's retirement and the lack of a Chinese spokesperson for the NBA.

$500 million over five years is a tempting number, but starting in 2016, when the new broadcast contract comes into effect, the NBA expects to make a total of about $6 billion a year.

The weight of $100 million is not as heavy as it seems, and it is by no means the upper limit of the potential of the Chinese market.

Min Congda pondered for a while and said, "Mr. President, do you know what David did to open up the Chinese market back then?" ”

Silva said: "Of course I know, he waited for a long time in the cold wind at the door of our national television station, just to send a few game tapes to the TV station for free, and since then he has opened up the Chinese market and has cooperated for decades." This story is already a classic in the history of the NBA. ”

The classic operation of the capitalists, giving away products for free, developing consumption habits, forming a market, and then starting to harvest.

Min Congda asked again, "Adam, do you think it's time to reap the fruits?" ”

Silva nodded and said, "That's right, I think so, it's time to harvest, isn't it?" ”

Min Congda shook his head and said, "If you do this, you are still eating the leftovers left by Stern, and you are really not smart enough." ”

Silva hated it when people said that about him, but when Min Congda said this, he held back his anger and asked, "Then what do you think?" How long has it been since you been back to China? ”

Min Congda said: "I don't go back to China, but I know China very well. Stern planted a tree thirty years ago, and now it's bearing fruit. But I would like to say that what he planted was the tree of the television broadcasting industry, and it also bore the fruit of the television broadcasting industry. In China, the development of the television broadcasting industry has come to an end. This fruit is not as sweet as you think. ”

"I know, but Tencent is an Internet company, and their broadcasts will be on the Internet, just like YouTube," Silva said. You developed a collaboration with YouTube, and you should know very well. ”

Min Congda said: "That's right, Tencent is an Internet company, but they are not like Internet companies, I know this very well. In the era of online live broadcasting, it does not mean that moving the location of live broadcast to mobile phones and computers completely distinguishes it from live TV. The core meaning of online live broadcast is actually decentralization, freedom, the removal of monopoly, resource sharing, and allowing everyone to participate in the sharing and secondary creation of basketball events. Moving the live broadcast room from the TV station to the online channel is not really networked. If you want to rely on channel payment to expand the market, it won't work in China, I can guarantee it. ”

Silva fell into deep thought, and after a moment he asked, "What do you think should be done?" ”

Min Congda said: "We want to choose a real Internet company and cooperate with him to open the era of NBA live streaming in China and truly expand the international influence of the NBA." My Asian Youth Basketball Development Foundation fully supports it. ”

Silva frowned and said, "Then you mean that we should choose to cooperate with Alibaba?" ”

Min Congda hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Alibaba is not as good as Tencent." I know of an emerging technology company, you know, I have been following and investing in some emerging technology companies when I was at the Clippers, and I am very optimistic about this, and they have a very strong advantage in network communication and algorithms. ”

"What's your name? It can't be Huawei, right? The title company of the Clippers Arena, they are going to be in trouble, you know? ”

"I know, it's going to expire anyway. It's not Huawei, it's ByteDance. ”

"How much can they contribute?"

"Adam! How do you only look at money? They are still developing, and they can't contribute much. But we can work with them at a low price, take advantage of their future development, and drive the spread of the NBA. ”

Silva frowned, as soon as he heard that it was not much money, Silva's brows were furrowed, how could this be explained to the shareholders' meeting?

5 billion in 5 years, this proportion of money is not high, but the absolute amount is really a lot.

Seeing Silva's hesitation, Min Congda said, "Adam, I think you should put aside the tree planted by Stern and plant a tree of your own. ”

(End of chapter)