The rest is just noise

Chapter 693: He is also innocent

Everyone is ready for CBS to exit without competition.

Because they have spent one billion on MLB's television broadcast contract, and another five billion on the 1992 Olympics and the 1994 Winter Olympics.

No matter how rich you are, it will be difficult to compete with NBC, which has emerged as a television network, for NBA broadcast contracts.

However, CBS's quotation contract clearly stated: 760 million over four years.

Moreover, there are no hard requirements for the alliance, only "live broadcast autonomy."

In the past, CBS had to negotiate with the league to broadcast games, and it took a long time to decide which teams to broadcast.

If this condition is agreed to, CBS will have arbitrary power in this matter from now on.

Stern then said: "You have all seen that both contracts have their own pros and cons. NBC gives us more autonomy, and CBS gives us more money..."

Before the president spoke, the representatives at the meeting had already begun to whisper and exchange opinions.

"What do you think? Let's discuss it."

Rockets general manager Steve Patterson said: "I think we should open further negotiations with CBS and use this contract to force NBC to increase its offer."

For a team as poor and ambitious as the Rockets, money comes first.

Therefore, they prefer NBC's contract.

"NBC should indeed increase their offer, but the autonomy of live broadcasts should not be given to CBS."

The Clippers are represented by their owner, the infamous Donald Sterling.

Sterling said indignantly: "In the past few years, if one of our games was not broadcast live nationwide, many fans in Los Angeles would not even know that there are two NBA teams in Los Angeles!"

Lakers representative Jerry West joked: "You guys came here uninvited."

"Does it make sense that in six years, none of our games have been broadcast live across the United States?"

Sterling protested.

It is not just a contemporary feature that weak teams are ignored.

This is true in every era. Just like the CBA, do fans want to watch the Beijing-Guangdong/Liao/Xinjiang war or the Bayi team's game in any season in the 10s?

No one wanted to watch except the home fans.

The broadcasters are still relying on the ratings. If you don't succeed, you can't blame others for not giving you exposure.

But CBS not only ignores weak teams, but also ignores mid-level teams and strong teams that lack stars.

However, most of the representatives at the scene were interested in CBS's offer.

At first glance, 760 million in 4 years is not as good as MLB's 1.06 billion in 4 years, but considering the size of the major leagues, the number of players and the maximum salary standard, it is not as good as the NBA.

Last year, MLB's current number one player, Rickey Henderson, received an annual salary of 3 million, the highest salary in MLB.

As we all know, Mr. Youying signed a 10-year contract of 30 million when he debuted. Although it was the result of Louis deliberately not lowering the price, the Knicks replaced a large number of new players every year and the salary cap increased year after year, so Ewing's contract was not as good as after 1998.

Garnett has also become a barrier that hinders the team's reinforcement.

Even if MLB's 4-year, 1 billion contract takes effect, MLB's maximum annual salary will rise to 4 million at most. But with the NBA's new broadcast contract taking effect, let alone 4 million, 5 million, 6 million... 10 million annual salary

, will appear, and the growth rate is very fast.

Most teams want to make a profit, and this contract can bring them huge benefits. They have to consider it, even if the cost is losing the right to participate in the game live broadcast plan.

"Coach Lu, what do you think?" Shafir asked.

Louis asked him back: "What do you think?"

"760 million is good, but if the price is to allow CBS to freely decide which games to broadcast, I don't think it is a good thing." Shafir said pessimistically, "Ratings are their life. If they have complete autonomy,

Can we expect them to give up games of the Knicks, Celtics, Lakers, and Trail Blazers to broadcast games of unattractive teams?"

Although Shafir is not qualified as a professional basketball general manager, his views on many things are clear.

This guy isn't stupid, he's just a bit smart.

Oh no, this guy is a bit smart, but too stupid.

The weak teams hope to start further negotiations with CBS. They hope to sign a contract with CBS, but only if they give up their demand for broadcast autonomy. In addition, they must use the CBS contract to raise the price of NBC.

The opinions of the top teams vary, some are leaning toward CBS, and some are indifferent.

Big broadcasters like the Lakers, Knicks, and Celtics have never worried about their team's exposure.

However, a team like the Celtics that has extremely poor commercialization will prefer CBS.

Garcia Lynn publicly asked Louis: "Coach Lu, as the president of the Knicks basketball operations department, what do you think of these two contracts?"

Louis said shyly: "As the most junior person present, it is inconvenient to say some things, so I only brought my ears."

"Louis, just say what you have to say," Stern said with a smile.

"Does it fit?"

West joked: "Can you please stop being modest?"

"Okay, then I'll just say a few words."

Louis put his hand on the table, and Shafir quickly moved the plate in front of him to prevent him from touching it.

"I think both contracts have their pros and cons. The first is CBS. As many people have said, no matter what, we cannot hand over the broadcast self-determination to them. They are not trustworthy, not just CBS, but all TV stations."

It's trustworthy. I believe everyone here should still remember "Luen's Revenge"⑴. When ABC destroyed the broadcast of professional basketball, what did CBS do? They interrupted the celebration of the Trail Blazers' championship in 1977 to broadcast the golf game; they

They arranged a vast amount of terrible schedules and game times to match their television programming; they also launched a disgusting delayed live broadcast plan that almost destroyed professional basketball."

Louis' smile became scary: "I'm not being alarmist. If they have the right to self-determination in live broadcast, if the ratings of our games drop in the future, these things will still happen."

"So, Louis, your opinion is that CBS should give up its exclusive broadcasting autonomy?"

Stern asked.

"No," Louis said shockingly, "My opinion is that we should tease CBS like a professional stripper, use our own advantages to attract NBC, and then negotiate with them with CBS's offer.

Negotiation. Of course, we might as well give them some time to calm down during this period. We should have in-depth negotiations with NBC, because no matter how generous CBS offers, their live broadcast strategy will not change. The CBS era will not end in one day.

Teams other than New York, Los Angeles, Portland and Boston will not receive attention for a day. In the long run, the world only knows that there are four teams in the NBA and lacks attention to other teams, which is not conducive to the improvement of the commercial value of the league."

Louis said seriously: "My point is that we should have in-depth negotiations with NBC and make them agree to maintain a relative balance of each team's live broadcast share while giving away some of their interests at critical moments."

"Only by promoting all teams can the value of the league rise to new heights, and this is impossible to do at CBS anyway. We have spent 17 years proving this."

Louis' speech won the respect and support of most people. He did not have an indifferent attitude like the teams in Los Angeles and Portland because of his superior conditions and carefree attitude.

As the most popular team in the league, the Knicks do not need to get involved in this matter at all. No matter who they sign with, the Knicks' influence and commercial value will not decrease.

However, Louis stood in the position of all teams and deeply discussed the pros and cons of signing with CBS, and pointed out the direction for the next stage of negotiations.

In fact, this reminds many old people of Reed Auerbach back then.

Louis's speech was at the last stage, and Auerbach often spoke at the last stage.

But the difference is that Auerbach chose to speak at the last stage because he knew that by that time everyone would want to leave the meeting as soon as possible, so some of his suggestions would most likely be adopted by the bosses without hesitation.

Louis listened to the suggestions from all parties and understood everyone's demands and then provided a suggestion that was beneficial to most teams.

From 1978 to 1990, in just 12 years, Louis has been deeply rooted in the league, and this is not just because of his ability as a scout, nor is it entirely because of his coaching and rebuilding of the Knicks.

played an unparalleled role.

What completely separates him from the rest and earns his trust is the fact that he puts aside his own position for the good of the entire league.

At the end of the meeting, Stern held a vote.

Regarding the next stage of negotiations, whether CBS or NBC will be the main one.

In the end, CBS, which bid 760 million, only received support from 5 clubs.

NBC has the support of 23 clubs.

When the meeting ended, in addition to several clubs that had a feud with Louis, representatives from other clubs that had less contact with him—some were even the owners—took the initiative to say hello and wanted to have in-depth exchanges.

Louis accepts everyone who comes. Even though his relationship with the bosses in Chicago and New Jersey is so bad, to be fair, does the reason for those conflicts lie with him?

He is also very innocent.

⑴ In 1973, negotiations between the NBA and ABC, its partner at the time, broke down, so the latter gave up its right of priority to renew the contract, and the NBA instead signed a contract with CBS. The ABC executive in charge of this project was named Ruhn, and he was determined to destroy CBS's NBA broadcast.

He began to promote college football games crazily, crushing the NBA in ratings, and then the NBA's hell schedule and hell game time came. Even the ratings of a garbage sports program he launched on NBA live days (weekends)

They completely destroyed the NBA. Within one year, the NBA’s ratings dropped by 25%. In the 10 years since then, the NBA’s ratings have experienced a free fall. There are no live tie-breakers, and the total number of delayed recorded broadcasts

Finals, and public disinterest - that's what Louis experienced between 1978 and 1983.