Chapter 1880 The Lockout Is Finally Over

Ji Feng would never have thought that the thing that would push the lockout from the cold winter to the ice-breaker would be the charity match he held on a whim, but he could roughly guess the reason, which was nothing more than profit.

To be honest, if in the beginning everyone was acting for their own interests that led to the lockout, then now, there is already some vindictiveness in it. The players, the league and the owners have been unable to reach an agreement, causing them to lose their cool with each other.

The direct result is that the situation keeps getting worse, and the worsening situation and visible losses make them angrier. The angrier they are, the more they will do extreme things, which will worsen the situation again, and finally fall into an endless loop.

After the players made concessions, the management insisted on a 50-50 split during the negotiations. The players were naturally unwilling to agree, and the two sides reached a deadlock. Stern, who had a tough attitude, held a press conference to announce the cancellation of the new season's preseason.

By October, each negotiation between labor and management took longer and longer, but progress has been slow. The players made concessions and were willing to accept 53% of the revenue share, but the owners insisted on only giving 50%. In desperation, Stern announced the cancellation of the regular season for the first two weeks of the new season, which means fans will miss about 100 regular season games.

On the days when Ji Feng held the charity match, the labor and management parties negotiated for three consecutive days without reaching an agreement. Stern's attitude continued to be tough. He announced unceremoniously that all games in November would be cancelled. The players are determined to fight the boss to the end. Multiple media outlets have reported that the NBA has decided to cancel 100 games in the first two weeks of December. So far, a total of 301 games have been canceled.

The day after Ji Feng came back, that is, October 10, after 15 hours of long negotiations, the result still came to nothing. The bosses sent an ultimatum, asking the players to accept a 55-50 ratio, or else The season was completely cancelled, and in the face of the employer’s ultimatum, the player representatives decided to dissolve the union and use legal channels to sue the employer and safeguard the economic interests of the labor.

At this point, the marathon negotiations have turned into an ugly garbage drama, and the NBA's brand value and fan base have been greatly damaged.

At the same time, Ji Feng's five charity matches were in full swing. Three matches in three days in the United States alone generated a profit of 45 million yuan, and the hidden profits were even more terrifying. Broadcasters and fans are also very satisfied.

The subsequent two games in China were even more terrifying. The two games generated a total revenue of 600 million yuan, which can reach nearly 80 million US dollars if rounded up. Moreover, this greatly enhanced the reputation of the players participating in the game in China. Many spokespersons extended olive branches to them.

Such income and the social effects have forced the NBA to face up to all this.

Moreover, at this time, they discovered that if the new season is completely canceled, the entire NBA will lose 4.3 billion US dollars in revenue... This is an unbearable figure for any team, and it is immeasurable for the league. With the loss, the brand Stern had spent decades building could collapse overnight.

For the governments where the teams are located, the losses are equally huge. Once the new NBA season is completely canceled, the South Florida region will lose a considerable source of financial revenue. In a previous interview with CBS Sports, economic experts said that if there is no NBA this season, the local area will lose up to 200 million US dollars in consumption, which is approximately equivalent to three times the annual income of small city teams. Similarly, the impact of the shutdown on teams in other big cities and the economy of the cities where they are located is bound to be obvious.

According to reports, 35% of hotel revenue in Cleveland comes from those visiting with NBA connections. The Portland Trail Blazers are expected to suffer direct losses of $59 million due to no games. Oklahoma City Thunder fans will lose $60 million if they don't see Kevin Durant in the game. The San Antonio Spurs, with an annual revenue of approximately US$90 million, can no longer become a strong economic pillar and the core of the industrial chain for local governments.

Not only that, people in the NBA suddenly discovered that the fans were very dissatisfied with Ji Feng's pearls because they were ahead. Moreover, regarding the lockout, the fans' mentality at this time was no longer sad, but full of despair. It looks like a fish is dead and the net is broken.

Many fans said with great indignation: "A group of billionaires are fighting over each other for a small profit, hurting both sides, and also hurting the fans."

A middle-aged man named Eric said: "I will no longer follow the NBA closely... At this moment, I have no love for the NBA." Seventy-eight percent of fans expressed that the NBA started It doesn’t matter if the game doesn’t start. “Who cares?” has become the fans’ mantra.

Seeing that the new season was about to be cancelled, the fans could no longer afford the injury and began to applaud and cheer for the suspension, becoming bystanders and hecklers who feared that the world would not be in chaos.

Some fans responded directly: "If you have the guts, cancel the entire season!"

Some people even shouted to Ji Feng from afar, inviting him to form a new alliance to fill the gap during the lockout period.

This made the NBA panic.

Speaking of which, the negotiating players were also in a panic, especially the Heat team led by James. At this moment, he suddenly discovered that despite his hard work, he was still crushed by Ji Feng.

And more importantly, due to various tragic negotiations failures, players began to place their hopes on Ji Feng. In two days from the 10th to the 12th, hundreds of players left messages for Ji Feng, inviting him to join the negotiating team. , Fisher also called and complained a lot, and asked Ji Feng if he could help them.

At this time, Ji Feng also felt that it was time to stand up and do something.

"The situation should not continue like this, we need a solution." Ji Feng posted on social networking sites that night.

This also made the fans excited. After so long, Ji Feng is finally going to take action!

Of course, many fans expressed sourly that Ji Feng is just a player, what can he do!

However, someone soon reminded them that Ji Feng is not just a player. Not to mention the huge Chinese market and rich second generation status behind him, he is a rich man himself. He was in the limelight in the Los Angeles real estate company last year, and That mansion area has also become the most famous gathering place for rich people in the United States, and his worth has also soared repeatedly. Not to mention that he also owns a player agency company and has contracts for more than 20 players. When he speaks, Players, league and owners all hold great weight.

The fate of Ji Feng's team also marked the official turning point of the lockout.

Ji Feng attended the two negotiations as a representative.

Then on October 18, Stern said that the negotiations were a big step closer.

But despite this, the negotiations were still long. Although everyone took a step back, due to the numerous agreements and treaties, each one needed to be discussed, so the time still dragged on for more than a month.

This month Ji Feng is no longer in charge. The general direction has been decided. Now it just depends on when a new contract can be drawn up.

Finally, on December 7, David Stern held a press conference to announce that the NBA lockout was officially over!