Chen Qiang plans to give George McCann a sneaker contract, making George McCann the first star under Nike.

So Chen Qiang asked Edward Ireland beside him: "I plan to let George McCann endorse my sneakers. How much do you think I should pay for the endorsement fee?"

"What? Are you talking about letting George McCann be the advertising endorsement for sneakers?" Edward Ireland opened his mouth in surprise, as if he had heard it wrong.

"You heard right, I'm talking about George McCann." Chen Qiang said, pointing his eyes at George McCann who was playing on the court.

"Mr. Chen, why are you looking for him? He is just a college student. If you need a star to advertise your sneakers, you have more choices. There are many more powerful professional basketball players in our league, who can all serve as spokespersons for Nike sneakers." Edward Ireland said.

"What I value is George McCann's potential. I think in the future, he will become a superstar in basketball when he enters professional basketball!" Chen Qiang said.

"Superstar?" Edward Ireland repeated the somewhat strange word, and then advised: "Mr. Chen, when it comes to potential, I think Bob Curran is better. In the college basketball world, George McCann is far inferior to Bob Curran. I mean not only height, but also record and fame. Bob Curran is already a star player in college basketball. Compared to this, George McCann is just a fledgling. And the two are the same age. At present, Bob Curran's potential is obviously better."

Edward Ireland said and pointed at another giant on the court, "Bob Curran".

Chen Qiang is not familiar with Bob Curran, on the contrary, George McCann's name has long been well known. So in Chen Qiang's heart, of course, he is more inclined to sign George McCann.

But in fact, Bob Curran was really more famous than George McCann in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

In high school, Bob Curran was already well-known in Missouri, otherwise Oklahoma State would not have provided Bob Curran with a scholarship. In contrast, George McCann had never even played in the high school league. He moved slowly, clumsy, and high myopia made George McCann regarded as a "decayed wood" by middle school coaches.

George McCann was only valued by the coach of the university team after he entered DePaul University. However, he had been training in his first year of college and did not play. At the same time, Bob Curran was already the absolute main force of Oklahoma State University.

Bob Curran also proved that he deserved a scholarship with his grades, winning two Naa titles for Oklahoma State University and personally winning two Naa Player. He also won two awards, Hulmus Player of the Year and Sports News Player of the Year.

Both awards are awards specially awarded to college basketball players. Among them, Hulmus Player of the Year was established by the Hulmus Foundation, which lasted from 1904 to 1978, with the last winner being Larry Bird.

The Sports News Player of the Year award has continued from 1942 to today. Now this award has become part of the competition for the Naa Best Player. If you can win this award, the probability of becoming the Naa Best Player of the Year will increase greatly.

There are never a shortage of top stars among the winners of Sports News Player of the Year. For example, Michael Jordan won this award for two consecutive years in 1983 and 1984. Patrick Ewing in 1985, David Robinson in 1987, Tim Duncan in 1997, Kevin Durant in 2007, Anthony Davis in 2012, and the winner of Sports News Player of the Year in 2019 was the new No. 1 pick, Zion Williamson from Duke University. As for LeBron James, the reason why he did not win this award is not because James is not strong enough, nor because James is not very popular, but because he went to play NBA directly without going to college.

After graduating from college, Bob Curran did not play professional basketball, but joined the Phillips Oil team of the Aau League. Aau is an amateur league. The reason why Bob Curran went here to play is mainly because he could directly become a formal employee of Phillips Oil. After Bob Curran retired in the future, he did serve as a senior director of Phillips Oil.

After all, in that era, playing basketball did not make a lot of money. Many basketball players just barely had to fed and fed. There were also many players who had to work part-time to support themselves during the offseason. Compared to working in an oil company, the salary and treatment were much stronger, so it was understandable that Bob Curran chose to work in an oil company rather than playing professional basketball.

However, playing amateur basketball is also beneficial, such as participating in the Olympics.

At that time, professional basketball players were not allowed to participate in the Olympics. This rule lasted for many years, so there was no NBA stars in the Olympics in that era. Later, in order to improve the ratings of the Olympics, the International Olympic Organizing Committee and the World Basketball Association had to modify the participation rules and allow professional players to participate in the Olympics and other international basketball competitions, which led to the American basketball "Dream Team".

Bob Curran is not a professional basketball player, so he participated in the two Olympic Games in 1948 and 1952 and led the American team to win the championship twice. Especially at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, the reason why the American team was able to defeat the Soviet Union was Bob Curran, a giant tower player. The final score of that game was 36 to 25, and it was also known as the most boring Olympic basketball final in history. It was precisely because this game was too boring that the World Basketball Association decided to introduce the 30-second violation rule.

The 1952 Olympics was also the pinnacle of Bob Curran's athlete career. At the opening ceremony of that year, the American team's flag bearer was Bob Curran. The position of the opening ceremony of a country's team has special significance for a team, and it is even more so for a sports power like the United States. Bob Curran's ability to become the flag bearer of the opening ceremony of the United States is enough to show that he is extremely popular in the United States.

At the same time, George McCann, although he had already won the scoring and rebounding champion of the NBA and led the Minnepolis Lakers to the championship, he was really not as popular as Bob Curran. The NBA for fifty years was not as powerful as the later generations, and it was not even as high as the four major sports leagues. At that time, the NBA was only a small professional league in the United States, and it could not compare to the influence of the Olympics. George McCann, the first NBA player at that time, was far inferior to Bob Curran, the flag bearer of the Olympic opening ceremony.

Back in 1945, this was an extremely important year in his life for George McCann. It was during this year that he grew up as his skills matured and he grew into a leader-level player. Although he was unable to lead DePaul University to win the Naa League championship, he won the Nit championship. The value of this championship is no worse than that of the Naa championship.

nit is the abbreviation of national i female itation tournament, which is the National Invitational Championship. Before the 1960s, nit was a league as famous as Naa. Even in the 1930s and 1940s, nit had an advantage over Naa's league. Nit's competition only invited strong universities to participate in the competition. The rules of the competition are like Naa's crazy March, and they are eliminated in a single game. Since the participating teams are all strong teams, the viewing value of the competition will naturally be higher.

However, this kind of invitational tournament has a huge disadvantage, that is, it is not easy to expand its influence. Since the number of invitations is limited, only a dozen universities can receive invitations from the nit league in a year, so for schools that have not been invited, they will not pay attention to nit competitions.

In comparison, Naa casts a wide net. Although there are only a few teams entering the "March Crazy" every year, every university has the opportunity to participate in the Naa League. Finally, with its extensive participation, Naa gradually took the lead in the competition with Nit.

The last straw that crushed Nit was the TV broadcast. In 1973, NBC adjusted the broadcast time of Naa's game to provide prime time TV exposure for Naa's game, which also made Nit unable to match Naa. In the end, Nit was acquired by Naa and became a league under Naa, which was used to "comfort" those teams that did not enter Naa's March madness.

George McCann is still on the way to the nit championship, and compared with the long-standing Bob Curran, he is indeed much weaker.

The two are the same age, Bob Curran became famous earlier, Bob Curran is more famous, Bob Curran has better grades, and Bob Curran seems to have more potential. Therefore, Edward Ireland believes that Chen Qiang should choose Bob Curran more.

Chen Qiang was also in the middle of thinking. Originally, he planned to choose George McCann brainlessly, because George McCann is a superstar in the NBA, while Bob Curran is an unfamiliar name.

However, after Edward Ireland Yifan introduced, Chen Qiang also thought that Bob Curran was a very good spokesperson.

"Or else, sign both of them!" Chen Qiang finally made the decision.

In this era, athletes’ advertising endorsement contracts are not as exaggerated as those in later generations. For ordinary athletes, the advertising fee of $500 can be signed. US$500 is less than half a year’s salary for ordinary Americans, but they are already very content with athletes. In the future, ordinary people’s six-month salary will not be invited to advertise for athletes.

...

The highly-watched "Titans Battle" ended, with Oklahoma State finally defeating DePaul University in Chicago 55-44.

George McCann walked off the court in disappointment. He wanted to win this game, not only to lead the team to advance to the finals, but also because his opponent was Bob Curran.

A center forward who is taller than himself, becomes famous earlier than himself, also has very outstanding skills. In George McCann's view, Bob Curran will inevitably become his lifelong enemy!

However, George McCann was already very satisfied to be able to play a game in Madison Square Garden. Since watching the All-Star game, George McCann has dreamed of playing in Madison Square Garden, and now his wish has finally come true.

"Mr. McCann!" Someone suddenly called George McCann. George McCann turned around and saw a man in a suit.

It is close to the players' locker room and belongs to the internal area of ​​Madison Square Garden. It is impossible for ordinary fans to enter this position. It is obvious that this man in the suit is the staff here.

"Sir, are you okay with me?" George McCann asked.

The man in the suit immediately introduced himself: "Mr. McCann, my name is Jared. I wonder if you are interested in endorsing a sneaker?"

"Sports shoes? Endorsement? Me?" George McCann was stunned on the spot.

"Yes, we chose you." Jared said with a smile.

"But I am still a college student. Why do you choose me?" George McCann asked subconsciously.

"Of course we know, but we have a taste of your future potential." Jared replied.

...

Until he signed his name on the contract, George McCann was still in a state of confusion.

Nike actually gave him a five-year sports shoes endorsement contract. In George McCann's opinion, this was simply incredible. He was just a college student, not an influential big-name athlete. Nike was willing to sign him. What's the difference between giving him money for free?

Of course, George McCann's signing fee is not high, with a total of US$1,800 in five years, with an average of US$360 per year. But George McCann was already very satisfied. US$1,800 is worth his living expenses for several years. At least in the next few years, he can have food and clothing.

There are also some additional terms in the contract, such as Nike has the priority signing right after the five-year contract is over; for example, if George McCann enters the NBA, he will immediately receive an additional bonus of 300 US dollars, etc.

On the other hand, Bob Curran also received a sneaker contract from Nike, and Bob Curran also signed a five-year contract for the sale.

Bob Curran's family conditions are not very good. He has several younger brothers in school and the family needs money. So in the face of the olive branch sent by Nike, Bob Curran agreed without hesitation.

Although the advertising endorsement amount of George McCann and Bob Curran is not large, Chen Qiang's choice of them as the spokespersons of Nike sneakers made many people puzzled. There are so many excellent players in the professional league, Chen Qiang did not choose, but chose two college students. Chen Qiang's operation is really incomprehensible.

Chen Qiang was too lazy to explain. In Chen Qiang's opinion, it was really worth it to sign George McCann for 1,800 US dollars for five years!

However, Chen Qiang did not put all the eggs in the same basket. Edward Ireland's words reminded Chen Qiang that there are indeed many excellent players in the current professional league. Although their influence is not as good as George McCann, who will become superstars in the future, they also have many fans.

"Anyway, the advertising endorsement fee for athletes is cheap now, so let's sign a few players from the league!"
Chapter completed!