At this time, the bull held a press conference at the hotel where he was staying in Seattle.

The event was televised live on Seattle TV.

"Why don't you let us ask? What are you Chicago bulls afraid of? ”

"Mr. Host, are you cooperating with those media?"

"Protest, we have the right to ask questions."

At first, the host of the Bulls' press conference did not ask questions from local media, and after eight minutes of the press conference, dozens of local reporters expressed their anger.

The press conference was in chaos, and the host couldn't bear it, so he had to compromise and let the staff hand the microphone to a Seattle Times reporter.

The reporter immediately asked, "Mr. Jordan, do you think Hughes Blake's racist behavior is tolerable?" ”

"Of course not." Jordan replied immediately.

"Most of the media doesn't report Hughes Blake's racism against Tekken right now, do you think that's right?" The reporter asked again.

Jordan shook his head and said, "I'm black, I am against any racist behavior, and I also think the media should have the right attitude towards this." But I can't control the media, and you should ask those media about it. ”

"Do you think Tekken should be expelled from the league and sports?" The reporter asked again.

Jordan hesitated for a moment and said: "At that time, he was really impulsive, because it is taboo to play refereeing, he should be the first person in the league to play refereeing, and Van Exel just pushed the referee last year." As for your question, I'm sorry, but it's complicated and I don't have anything to comment. ”

No. 4, the day of the G3 match of the finals.

The media has revised the chances of the Bulls and the SuperSonics winning the championship again, such as NBC TV, the Bulls' probability of winning the championship has been adjusted from 52% after the G1 game to 85%, and the SuperSonics are only 15%.

In the morning, only one day and one night had passed, and Stern looked haggard as if he had aged a few years. The pressure on him to change his penalty decision is still there, and it is very strong.

There was already a stack of resignation letters on his desk, full of company executives, as well as executives of the referee committee, and dozens of senior referees.

These people have only one demand, a lifetime ban on Tekken.

At nine o'clock, in the president's conference room, he held a special meeting.

This special meeting was attended by executives, the entire referee committee, and five referee representatives.

At the beginning of the meeting, he stood up and said: "Gentlemen, I understand your request, and I don't like a player who violently beats the referee, but you need to be clear about what the consequences of a lifetime ban on Iron Fist are. ”

"Mr. President, no matter what the consequences are, Iron Fist must be banned for life."

"Yes, that's how it should be."

The crowd spoke babblingly, and their attitudes were quite tough.

Stern's face also turned cold, and he said: "After all, you and I are just part-time workers, and the attitude of the bosses is very important, do you want to know their opinions?" ”

The executives and referees looked at each other, and the last thing they wanted to know was the attitude of the team owners, because the attitude of the capitalists was very clear, whoever helped them make money was their own son.

Compared to their gang of people who take wages from the bosses, Iron Fist is the own son of the team owners, isn't this clear?

"I'll ask them for their opinions."

Stern picked up the landline microphone, pressed the speakerphone, dialed a call, and it was quickly connected.

"Hey, I'm Jerebas."

"Jerry, I'm David, David Stern."

"Oh, David, hello. David, are those guys still pushing you? As I said, fried their squid. Let me tell you, this world lacks everything, that is, there is no shortage of people, and some people are willing to take their high salaries. If you announce your recruitment now, countless people will send you cover letters. Jerebus said.

When the executives and referees in the conference room heard this, their faces immediately darkened.

"Jerry, I'll think about it again."

"David, remember my words, what we need are obedient people, and if you are disobedient, let them go! If anyone dares to harm our interests, we will let them know who has the final say in this alliance. ”

"OK, goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Stern hung up the phone, glanced at everyone, smiled and asked, "Do you want me to keep calling?" ”

“……”

Everyone looked at each other.

Stern smiled and said, "So gentlemen, we're just working for the bosses, don't mess with those bosses, otherwise they'll fire us at any time." ”

Borrowing the deterrent power of the team owner, Stern finally withstood the internal pressure and breathed a sigh of relief.

In fact, he took a gamble because not all bosses supported him.

For example, Sterling, the owner of the Clippers, when he contacted him, Sterling made it clear that he did not support the act of beating the referee.

Now that all team owners, including minority shareholders, are white, how many racists are there among these owners and shareholders?

These people may not openly oppose Iron Fist because of their interests, but they will not support Iron Fist either.

He contacted four or five team owners, including Jerry Bas and Ballmer, to get their support, and the other owners said they would not be involved.

Fortunately, he won the bet, and these executives and referees didn't dare to let him fight at all, they were all afraid of being fired by the boss.

But this situation may change after the G3 game, because once the G3 game does not drop significantly, these executives and referee committees will definitely make a comeback and be stronger.

The G1 match has an average viewership of 42 million and a high of 46.7 million, which makes him look forward to this Grand Final series.

NBC's last TV contract has been completed, and a new TV contract is about to be signed, and this Finals is the key, if it can maintain such high ratings, then the NBA will definitely get the best broadcast contract in history.

The G2 battle was also good, after Zhou Quan was punished, the ratings declined, but it was already the end of the season at that time, so it didn't have much impact.

The next G3 battle is a game to test the influence of Iron Fist, without him, can the ratings be maintained?

If it can be maintained, it is the best, which shows that Michael Jordan still has a strong influence and ratings appeal.

But if he can't keep it, then it's troublesome, and he can't imagine what NBC's attitude is.

As for the external pressure, it is also very large, he can only carry it first, and then carry it for a while, at least this finals will be finished.

As for the future, time will wear all the time, and after a few months of offseason, this matter will definitely pass.

In the evening, Seattle Center Coliseum.

Without Zhou Quan's supersonics, they are a completely different team, and they all play in completely different styles.

George Karl has become accustomed to Zhou Quan's ball-holding and nuclear style of play, and now without Zhou Quan, he has to return to the previous team style of play that does not require superstars.

But the players have become accustomed to Zhou Quan's ball-holding style of play, and they are not suitable at all, and the game was a mess, with as many as 35 turnovers in the whole game, and was blown up by the Bulls at halftime, losing by 35 points in the whole game, and the score was 75:110.

In fact, it was blown out in the first quarter, trailing by 21 points in the first quarter.

"Adam, how much data?"

After the game, Stern took the initiative to play TV to Xiao Hua in a nervous mood.

"Mr. Stern, the best in this game is only ...... 21.8 million, with an average rating of 17.5 million. Xiao Hua's voice was full of loss and unease.

"What?"

As soon as David Stern heard these two data, his brain suddenly hurt, blood rushed to his head, his brain buzzed, and the phone fell from his hand to the floor without feeling it, and fell directly on the sofa.

"Oh! David, calm down. ”

His wife, Dina Burke, was startled and quickly brought him blood pressure medicine, gave it to him, and immediately contacted the doctor.

"I'm fine, Dina, no need to find a doctor." He smiled wryly and waved his hand.

"Are you really okay?" Dina Burke's face turned white with fright.

"It's really okay, you go and rest, I'll sit down for a while and sleep." He got up and walked a few steps before Dina Burke was reassured.

"Damn, how could it have dropped so much? Isn't this a fight back to square one? After persuading his wife away, he muttered.

Now he knows very well that without the Iron Fist King, just one Michael Jordan can't support the ratings of forty or fifty million.

He couldn't help but rejoice that he had withstood the pressure, and if he had banned a few more games, the president of NBC, the TV broadcaster of the finals, would have come to his house and scold him.

If he imposes a lifetime ban on Iron Fist and kicks him out of the league, the ratings will only drop significantly next season.

6/5/97, NBA Headquarters Building, New York.

At 9 a.m., more and more blacks gathered in front of the building, holding signs and shouting slogans.

Like, "Get that racist Hughes Blake out of the NBA!" There are also a few large photos of Zhou Quan, and in less than half an hour, it has reached the scale of 300 people.

As soon as David Stern arrived at the headquarters and saw these demonstrators, his head began to hurt, and he knew that the NBA was in big trouble.

As soon as I arrived at the office, I received a call from Tom Wellings, the president of NBC.

"Mr. Stern, on behalf of NBC, I am formally notifying the NBA league that the television contract is temporarily suspended." Wellings said.

"What?"

David Stern was hit again.

"You know why, so you don't have to ask me why." After Verings said this, he hung up the phone directly.

Stern smiled bitterly and put the phone down, his hand was a little shaky, and he was depressed, so he put it three times before putting it down.

The TV contract that is being executed now is from '94 to '98, a total of $892 million, and there is one season left, and the league's wages will not be paid unless it is negotiated in advance.

Originally, he saw that the ratings of the G1 game were so good, far exceeding the second largest league MLB, he was very strong when negotiating, and NBC was also willing to give a 4-year $2 billion contract, far more than the current contract, doubled, but he was not satisfied and asked for a 4-year $2.5 billion contract, and NBC did not refuse, saying that it could be negotiated.

It's just that now that the ratings have returned to their original shape, how can this contract be negotiated?

"President?"

Xiao Hua couldn't help but worry when he saw Stern like this.

But it's not Stern's body that's worried, it's what the ratings will do for last night.

Stern glanced up at Xiao Hua, and said with a cold look in his eyes: "Adam Xiao Hua, notify me that NBC has suspended contract negotiations with us." ”

"What? Why? ”

Xiao Hua was dumbfounded, if there was no TV contract, the NBA would only be afraid that it would go bankrupt immediately.

"Why? Why? ”

Stern's tone changed sharply, and he shouted: "The ratings have dropped from more than 50 million to less than 20 million, why do you ask me?" If it were me, I would have suspended the negotiations as well. I'm telling you now that if the ratings don't come back, all of you will be purged, including you, Adam Shaw. ”

“……”

Xiao Hua's mouth opened wide and he couldn't say a word.

"Go and pray to God, pray to Iron Fist, and pray that the ratings of the G5 battle will come back. Now go call the police, hurry up, don't let the demonstrators smash our headquarters. Stern said angrily.

"Got it, got it, I'll go right away." Xiao Hua was sweating profusely and left in a panic.

Then, the police dispatched a large number of officers, but by the time they arrived, there were already thousands of them, and many more blacks were converging.

"Mr. Stern, trouble, they're all supporters of Iron Fist, holding up his picture."

Adam Shaw went down to find out and panicked, didn't know what to do, and ran up again to report David Stern.

"Xiao Hua, you are responsible for handling this matter." David Stern stared at Xiao Hua and commanded calmly.

"Huh? Okay, okay. ”

Xiao Hua felt deep malice from Stern's attitude, but he could only obey and had no qualifications to say NO.

"What conditions do you have?"

He was bold enough to take several company security guards to the first floor and negotiate with the demonstrators under the protection of the police.

"Kick Hughes Blake out of the league."

"Let that damn Blake apologize to the Iron Fist King."

"Get more black people to be NBA referees."

"G2 fights hard."

Xiao Hua's head is as big as a fight, and he doesn't want to agree to any of these conditions.

By noon, the number of demonstrators had reached tens of thousands, and there were even several times of chaos, with acts of smashing and looting, and the police had cordoned off nearby neighborhoods.

In a nearby hotel, Arum, Don King, and Philip are watching a good show.

Originally, they only promoted a small march of thousands of people, but after the incident began, it was not their turn to call the shots, and countless idle blacks spontaneously joined in, and the demonstrator crowd quickly exploded to tens of thousands.

Tang Jin said proudly: "I don't think it will be long before it can even reach the scale of tens of thousands of people." ”

Arum laughed: "It's time for the media's attention to shift, right?" We're going to make Tekken a warrior against racism, and I don't think anyone would dare to target him? ”

Philip sighed in his heart, these two old guys can play, and with a mere donation of one million dollars, such a demonstration of tens of thousands of people was created.

And if this scale continues to grow, it is really possible that it will expand to tens of thousands of people in the afternoon, millions of black people in New York, and many black people without jobs in the slums.

Arum suddenly said: "It's better for the three of us to know about this matter, by the way, and the two black leaders, otherwise it will cause trouble." ”

"What's the trouble, this is an anti-racism campaign, we just donated a little money, what are we afraid of?" Don Kim didn't care about authenticity.

Arum advised: "It's better to be careful, we are not politicians, it is better not to get involved in these things." ”

Philip nodded, "Be careful, indeed." ”

"Don't talk about it on the phone, you know, the authorities will hear our calls," Arum said. ”

The demonstrations in New York are still underway, and they have already shocked the world.

The NBA is now truly famous all over the world, because it was an anti-racism protest in support of Zhou Quan.

By four o'clock in the afternoon, the neighborhood where the NBA headquarters is located and several nearby neighborhoods had all been occupied by demonstrative blacks, and the number of demonstrators had reached tens of thousands.

There was a lot of smashing and looting, and the police kept firing tear gas canisters to disperse the demonstrators, and it was not until the evening, when it was time for dinner, that the demonstrators began to disperse.

The NB headquarters was the first to be smashed and robbed, almost all the office computers were robbed, and nothing of value was let go, and water dispensers and chairs were carried away.

At the NBA headquarters, in David Stern's office, his leather executive chair has also been carried away, and now he can only stand for meetings with a bunch of executives.

Stern was a very elegant man, but at this time he roared: "Our headquarters is in a mess right now, losing at least a few million dollars, and the loss of ratings, sponsors, and reputation is even greater, at least hundreds of millions of dollars."

NBC has stopped negotiating contracts with us, and if we can't get a new TV contract, it's not a matter of losses, it's about whether our league will go bankrupt and now anyone wants to expel Iron Fist? I'm sorry, I'll fire you before I expel him. ”

The executives looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

Things are getting bigger, they have reached this point, even the headquarters have been smashed, and now the alliance may go bankrupt, and even their jobs will not be able to be saved, and the little thing about beating the referee with an iron fist is nothing.

Xiao Hua, who was pale, lowered his head and kept silent, his face was red and swollen in several places, his right eye socket was black, and the brand-name suit on his body had been torn, which was very embarrassing.

He was at the front, there was a verbal confrontation, he was pressed to the floor by the demonstrators and beaten, if it had not been for several security guards and police to rescue him, he did not know what the consequences were, he was so scared that he would have to see a psychiatrist tomorrow.

"We've agreed to their terms, fired Hughes Blake, and made him apologize to Iron Fist, hopefully they won't come back tomorrow." An executive whispered.

"I hope so." Xiao Hua hurriedly said.

"G4 is back, I believe the ratings will come back, and NBC will definitely start contract negotiations with us again." Another executive said.

"yes, the ratings will definitely come back."

"Mr. President, don't worry, the ratings will come back."

Everyone said in a gossipy voice.

David Stern said coldly: "Didn't you say that the ratings won't drop? Didn't you say that with Michael Jordan here, can the ratings be maintained? ”

The faces of the crowd were extremely embarrassed.

David Stern also calmed down, and he was glad that he had withstood the pressure of these guys and only banned Iron Fist one game, otherwise this Finals would really be over, and even if NBC renegotiated, the contract would not be much.

He also hopes that after the return of Iron Fist, the ratings of the G4 game can return, and the NBA will have hope.

"President, do you want to re-purchase office supplies? Will they come back tomorrow? Humbers, the head of logistics, asked.

"Don't rush to buy it yet, lest you be robbed again. By the way, do you still have a chair, go get me one. David Stern said helplessly.

……

Since just after 9 a.m., Zhou's mobile phone has been ringing non-stop, full of interview calls about the demonstrations at the NBA headquarters in New York.

"New York, NBA headquarters, what demonstrations?"

"Yes, right in front of the NBA headquarters, it's the ...... that supports you"

"Support me?"

At first, he didn't know what was going on, but he was really surprised to learn from reporters that there was an anti-racism campaign at the NBA headquarters in New York in support of him.

"Will you rush to New York to participate in this anti-racism march and demonstration?" A reporter asked.

"Oh, sorry, I'm going to play the finals, and I don't have any plans for that." Zhou Quan said.

"What do you think of this demonstration in support of you?" A reporter asked.

"It's shocking, I have so much prestige in New York, do they want them to support me like this?" Zhou Quan was still in a state of shock.

(End of chapter)