am i proud?

Chapter 227 Sky-high endorsement contract
There is no need to worry about the "Reaper Special Training Camp". After all, Kobe and Wang Dalin want to "shake people", and it will always take a few days for them to come... How long is the offseason now?Who can practice hard every day like Kobe?

Taking advantage of the free time on June 6, Kobe hurried out in the morning. His trip was to rent the arena.

The arena he wants to rent is at the University of Southern California, only about three kilometers away from downtown Los Angeles... Kobe practiced here in the past few summers, and he has long been familiar with the school's senior management.

Before Kobe went out, he gave Wang Dalin a key to his old house in the "Pacific Fence" in the north of Los Angeles.

Today is an important day for Wang Dalin, because he has to temporarily borrow Kobe's old house to entertain guests from China... Li Ning, the chairman of "Li Ning" company, and his entourage.

I haven't seen him for two years. Li Ning's appearance doesn't seem to have changed, but the aura of a superior person on his body is much stronger than before. It seems that the "Li Ning" company has developed rapidly in the past two years, and Li Ning, the "Prince of Gymnastics", has become more and more wealthy.

Wang Dalin and Schwartz had been waiting for a long time, and when they saw them coming, they took the initiative to go forward.

Wang Dalin and Li Ning shook hands cordially, and said with a smile, "Uncle Li, if you don't come again, I can't wait!"

After Li Ning heard the words, he smiled and said, "Stinky boy, what do you want to do if you can't wait? To sign 'Nike' or 'Adidas'?"

Wang Dalin smiled and said, "How dare I? Are you not afraid that domestic fans will call me a traitor?"

Li Ning couldn't help laughing: "How can it be so exaggerated?"

Wang Dalin said with a smile: "I am very patriotic. I have to go back to play in the Asian Championships in September this year!"

Li Ning didn't answer his question. Instead, he looked at the surrounding environment and said in a bit of bewilderment, "Are you quite frugal, kid? I thought you would buy a house in Beverly Hills!"

Wang Dalin said with a smile: "This house is not mine, I'm just looking for a friend to borrow for a few days."

Li Ning suddenly realized: "So that's how it is...I said you kid has earned so much money, how could you buy such a low-key house?"

The old house located in the "Pacific Palisades" in the north of Los Angeles was bought by Kobe when he first entered the league. Of course, as an NBA rookie's residence, it is very good, but according to Kobe's current net worth, it is obviously too low-key.

After a group of people entered the room, Wang Dalin served iced juices for everyone to understand summer heat.

After taking a sip, Li Ning first said: "We have basically settled with Jeff before, and now we need to finalize the details!"

After he finished speaking, he winked at the entourage, who quickly took out a thick stack of documents from his briefcase and handed them to Wang Dalin and Schwartz respectively.

In fact, "Li Ning" has been negotiating with Schwartz on contract renewal since May. Last time, Wang Dalin only signed a 5-year, 2 million dollar contract. Although it added 800% of the sneaker revenue, compared to Wang Dalin's current status, it is obvious that this contract is too small.

This time "Li Ning" can be said to be bleeding heavily, and directly offered Wang Dalin a sky-high contract amount of 7 million U.S. dollars for 7000 years.

But Schwartz's attitude is very strong.

He made it clear that the new No. 7 pick LeBron James has not set foot in the league yet, and the contract value signed with "Nike" has reached as high as 9300 years and [-] million US dollars. Wang Dalin can't accept a lower price than James anyway.

You know, Wang Dalin has won one MVP and two FMVPs in the past two years. He is a superstar who has proven himself in the league. How can he be inferior to a rookie?
But now it is only 2003, what is the concept of 7 million US dollars in 9300 years?
The so-called "sky-high price contract" signed by Yao Ming and "Reebok" is only 7 million US dollars for 5000 years, which is only a little over 700 million US dollars per year.

Kobe's sneaker contract with "Nike" is only 5 years and 4500 million US dollars, which is exactly 900 million US dollars per year.

And James' 7-year contract of 9300 million U.S. dollars has an average annual salary of 1328.6 million U.S. dollars, which is higher than Wang Dalin's annual salary in the new season!

Schwartz asked Wang Dalin to renew the contract with a higher amount than James. Although Wang Dalin's strength and the honors he had won could not be regarded as a lion's mouth, such a high asking price still made the "Li Ning" company almost refuse directly.

Therefore, the negotiation between the two parties was at an impasse for a time, and in the end it was Li Ning himself who came forward to make the negotiation smooth.

After more than a month of negotiations, the two parties finally reached an agreement that the renewal contract that Wang Dalin will sign is worth 7 million U.S. dollars for 1 years... and an additional 8% of sneaker profits will be added!
If you don’t count the dividends from those sneakers, it’s $1428.6 million per year... Uh, that’s an exaggerated figure!
In the upcoming new season, apart from Kevin Garnett, Shaq O'Neal, Rasheed Wallace, Alan Houston, Chris Webber and Sean Kemp, who has announced his retirement, no one can earn more than this amount, not even Iverson and Kobe Bryant!
In fact, this time Li Ning came to Los Angeles in person, mainly to confirm several special clauses in the contract with Wang Dalin himself. Among them, there are three penalty clauses, namely:

First, during the contract period, Wang Dalin must average more than 30 points per game in each season. If he fails to achieve, "Li Ning" company has the right to deduct 30% of Wang Dalin's contract income for that year;

Second, during the contract period, Wang Dalin must win the regular season MVP at least once. If he fails to do so, "Li Ning" company has the right to deduct 500 million US dollars from Wang Dalin's income in the last year of the contract period;
Third, during the contract period, the total sales of sneakers endorsed by Wang Dalin must exceed 5 million US dollars. If not, "Li Ning" company has the right to deduct 900 million US dollars from Wang Dalin's income in the last year of the contract;
It has to be said that these penalty clauses are indeed extremely harsh.

首先看第一条，单赛季场均得分必须达到30分以上……从2003-2004赛季往后数七个赛季，除了2005-2006赛季场均得分达到30分以上有3个人，其他各赛季都只有一个……甚至2003-2004赛季的得分王麦迪场均得分才28分！
No matter in this era or the small ball era of later generations, if a player averages more than 30 points per game, he is basically certain to be the scoring champion.

Is it difficult?

It is indeed quite large!

But the "Li Ning" company also had something to say when negotiating with Schwartz?

Wang Dalin averaged 32.76 points per game last season, which has proved his super offensive ability. Although the "Li Ning" company's request for an average of 30 points per game is very difficult, it can't be said that it is deliberately embarrassing him, right?
Look at the second article again. During the seven-year contract period, Wang Dalin must win at least one MVP. If he fails to win, he will be deducted 500 million US dollars.

On the surface, it seems quite difficult. After all, there are many All-Star players in the history of the NBA who have never won the MVP in their entire lives... For example, the current "Number One Point Guard" Jason Kidd, although he seems to be awesome, in fact, he has never won the MVP in his entire career!

Otherwise, when Xu Jingyu, a well-known domestic basketball commentator, evaluated the historical status of stars, how could he rank Steve Nash ahead of Jason Kidd?

If you only look at the team leadership results of the two, Nash has only led the team to the Western Conference Finals three times, while Kidd has led the team to the Finals twice, obviously Kidd is better.

But Nash has won the regular season MVP for two consecutive years, and Kidd has never won it once in his career, which is obviously incomparable.

There is an old saying in the NBA-"the top pick in the draft may be a parallel import, but the MVP cannot be a parallel import"!
Stronger than Kobe Bryant, he has only won the regular season MVP once in his career, so even if Wang Dalin won it just once last season, it does not mean that he will definitely win it again in the next seven seasons.

But Wang Dalin didn't think it was too difficult, after all, he would only get stronger and stronger in the future.

His stats in the regular season last season seemed to be so strong that it was insane, and many handicapped people even said that they couldn't hit such stats in the game... But only Wang Dalin knows that he will almost definitely be even more abnormal in the future!
From the moment he was possessed by the "Hanging Coercion System", Wang Dalin knew that he would become the most perverted superstar in the history of the NBA. It was only a matter of time!
Since I have given this system a name of "Hanging Force System"...how can I not open it?

It is true that the NBA is a business league, and it will indeed be influenced by big brands such as "Nike" and "Adidas", especially the selection of awards such as MVP will have greater influence.

So why do NBA stars flock to brands like "Nike" and "Adidas"?

It's very simple... As long as you play really well, you may be able to win prizes!

But Wang Dalin didn't care about this at all, because... your so-called "playing well" was completely crushed by me. Who do you think the league will award this award to?
就像他上赛季的场均32.76分10.99篮板8.99次助攻1.85个盖帽1.77抢断的数据，再加上常规赛73胜9负的历史最佳战绩，如果你是拥有投票权的体育媒体记者，难道……你好意思把票投给其他人？

If that's the case, the league may lose its credibility immediately. Who will watch NBA games by then?
Just because the NBA is a business league, they must try to be as fair as possible. They can choose two players with similar performances at will, but they are obviously too strong and they have to suppress them forcibly. Isn't that obvious?
Perhaps Adam Joke of later generations will do such outrageous things, but the current leader of the league is David Stern, and he won't let shit into his head.

Therefore, it is not difficult for Wang Dalin to win the MVP once in seven years. Among the three items, the third item is actually the most difficult.

During the seven-year contract period, the total sales of sneakers endorsed by Wang Dalin must exceed 3 million U.S. dollars. If not, "Li Ning" company has the right to deduct 900 million U.S. dollars from Wang Dalin's income in the last year of the contract!
Not counting the dividends from sneakers, Wang Dalin can get more than 1428 million US dollars from the "Li Ning" company every year. If he fails to win the MVP in the past seven years, he will be deducted 500 million, plus this 900 million... Basically, it is equivalent to deducting all the basic salary for one year!
The executives of the "Li Ning" company were obviously very careful when they drafted the last two punishment clauses...even the amount was calculated to death!

7 million U.S. dollars in 5 years, an average of about 7143 million U.S. dollars per year. According to the exchange rate of this period, it is about 5 million yuan when converted into soft sister coins!
Wang Dalin's "Vulcan First Generation" is priced at 298 yuan per pair, and the "Vulcan Second Generation" is 348 yuan. The "Reaper First Generation" released last season is slightly taller, but only 598 yuan per pair.

If only relying on domestic consumer groups, "Li Ning" would have to sell more than 98 pairs of "Reaper Generation" every year to achieve this sales target.

It is now 2003, and the per capita income in China is still at a very low level. For example, in Wang Dalin's hometown of Chongqing, the per capita monthly income is less than 1000 yuan.

Even if Wang Dalin's current popularity in China is No. 1 in the sports world, it is not easy to sell nearly 100 million pairs of basketball shoes every year.

And the basketball world has always been "big men don't sell shoes". For example, the domestic sales of the "Reebok" basketball shoes endorsed by Yao Ming in history are not very good, and Tim Duncan's exclusive sneakers are even more messy.

Although Wang Dalin has played small forward in the past two seasons, his height is indeed 211cm, which is definitely a "big player".

Fortunately, his popularity in China is really strong, so the sales of his "Vulcan I", "Vulcan II" and "Reaper I" in the past two years are all good. In 2002, the total sales have reached about 6500 million US dollars, which is not too far from the annual sales target of 7143 million US dollars.

To be on the safe side, Wang Dalin bargained with Li Ning after careful consideration, such as setting a clear limit on the overseas pricing of the "Reaper" series of basketball shoes, and how many limited editions should be released each year.

The most important thing is... Wang Dalin must have the highest right to suggest the appearance of all sneakers!

So far, the "Vulcan" and "Reaper" series of basketball shoes launched by "Li Ning" company have done well, and the appearance is quite cool. Wang Dalin is also very satisfied.

But this does not mean that the designer of "Li Ning" company will always remain wise and powerful in the future. Who knows if he will design an extremely ugly basketball shoe in the future?
If this happens and the sales of basketball shoes drop sharply, Wang Dalin probably won't be able to cry.

Although he doesn't understand the design of sneakers, at any rate, he also traveled from the beginning of 2021. Let's not talk about whether the basketball shoes are good or not. Whether they look good or not always has a say?
From the perspective of a veteran fan like him, as long as a pair of basketball shoes can make him feel good-looking, it is estimated that no matter how bad it is, it will not be much worse.

As for pricing in overseas markets, even if Wang Dalin didn't mention it, Li Ning would still ask for his opinion.

After all, the single purchasing power of domestic consumer groups is limited, and the price of 598 or 698 is almost the same. It is impossible to set a pair of soft sister coins of more than 1000 yuan, which would be too expensive.

However, the pricing in overseas markets can be relaxed. For example, Wang Dalin proposed that the overseas retail price of the upcoming "Reaper II" be 128 US dollars per pair.
After more than two hours, the two parties finally reached an agreement. The staff of the "Li Ning" company quickly printed out the entire contract, and Wang Dalin and Li Ning signed their own names on the contract.

This time it was a big contract of 300 million US dollars, of course Li Ning would not be too stingy, and directly signed a check for [-] million US dollars to Wang Dalin as the signing fee.

Yankees may not like this, but Li Ning thinks it should be given. Who made Wang Dalin earn less than [-] million U.S. dollars for "Li Ning" company in the past two years?

After receiving the signing fee, Wang Dalin burst into a smile and insisted on taking them to a big meal... I have to say that high-end restaurants in Los Angeles are really expensive. There are only seven people in total, and a meal cost him nearly 10 US dollars.

In fact, the dishes alone are not that expensive, and the main thing is the wine... "Uncle Li" may be in a good mood, so he directly opened 5 bottles of "Romanee-Conti" in 1990, and had a great time drinking with Wang Dalin and others.

……

After signing such a high-priced endorsement contract, plus the money previously invested in "Kweichow Moutai" stock, Wang Dalin can barely be regarded as a billionaire now...well, a billionaire in US dollars!
Now that he is so rich, the next step is to buy a large villa in Los Angeles.

The day before, he asked Kobe to help him find a big house in Beverly Hills. Kobe was really not familiar with this. He did buy a big villa in Beverly Hills in later generations, but that was already in 2008.

Therefore, Wang Dalin decided to find a housing agency...

(End of this chapter)