Other sponsors have long been unhappy with Nike.
So they have met in private and want to change this situation, and today is the opportunity.
Wang Yi was suspended for not wearing a jersey with the Nike logo, and the league's ratings dropped sharply. This is a huge loss for other brands.
But at this time, Xiao Hua was also riding a tiger and was unable to get off.
If you want to increase the ratings, the easiest way is to unban Wang Yi.
But when Wang Yi was released from the ban, there was no way to explain it to Nike. Secondly, he had just said before that if Wang Yi didn't correct himself, he would not be allowed to play again. As a result, Wang Yi was allowed to play in the next game. This was a slap in the face.
There's a snapping sound.
Wang Yi's feelings have not changed, but the alliance has changed.
How can the alliance have any credibility after this?
Xiao Hua was so anxious that he was sweating profusely.
He immediately notified the vice president of the NBA and held a meeting with several other senior executives overnight.
Originally, if there was a meeting about this matter, Paul, the chairman of the players union, should also be called.
But first of all, Paul is playing a game, and secondly, there is no need to mention the relationship between Paul and Wang Yi, so if he is called, he will definitely turn to Wang Yi.
As a result, Xiao Hua left Sacramento overnight and flew to New York to go to the NBA headquarters.
On the way to NBA headquarters, Silver kept paying attention to the data.
The resulting data showed that the Kings trailed by 7 points in the third quarter of the game.
At this time, the number of real-time viewers was only over 4 million.
In the last five minutes of the fourth quarter, although the score could not be opened up and was still 7 points, the number of real-time viewers had dropped below 4 million, leaving only 3.79 million.
In the end, Wang Yi was suspended for this game. At the same time, Middleton and Antetokounmpo broke out at the same time on the Bucks. Antetokounmpo scored an exaggerated 48 points and 16 rebounds.
The Kings lost this game.
The big score between the two sides came to 1:1.
Xiao Hua and a group of NBA executives studied it all night but couldn't come up with a reason.
But everyone had dark circles under their eyes.
All those senior executives cursed secretly.
The stupid things you Xiao Hua did have really troubled us.
At 9:00 in the morning, Xiao Hua asked his secretary to pour him a cup of coffee. He planned to drink a cup to refresh himself as there would be another meeting later.
But just as he closed his eyes, the phone rang.
Turning on the phone, the call was from Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss.
Jenny Buss asked as soon as she opened her mouth: "Adam, are you planning to make all the bosses lose money? The final real-time viewership of the last finals was less than 4 million. This is the lowest point since you took over as NBA president."
"The league makes money by gaining attention. If you reduce the NBA's attention to freezing point, how can all the team owners still make money?"
"Reality tells you that banning Wang Yi is definitely the stupidest decision you have ever made in your life. You must take immediate measures to restore Wang Yi's eligibility to play."
Xiao Hua felt a little dizzy when he heard this.
I complained in my heart: There is no Lakers in this year's finals. You didn't even make it to the playoffs. Do you have anything to do with the drop in ratings in the finals? What stupid decision did you make to send Wang Yicai away?
It's the stupidest decision in history.
Although he said this in his heart, he still dealt with Jenny Buss in his mouth.
Just after hanging up the phone, Bucks owner Herb Kerr called again.
Xiao Hua immediately answered respectfully.
He is the NBA president. To put it bluntly, he works for all the NBA bosses.
Of course he must be respectful when receiving calls from these bosses.
Naturally, this is what the Bucks boss said.
In fact, although Herb is the owner of the Bucks, he should theoretically support Wang Yi's suspension.
But in fact, he is the fifth-lowest asset among all NBA owners.
In the NBA, most owners have other industries, and the team is only a relatively small part of all their industries.
But Herb Cole was different.
Although he started in the retail industry, in recent years due to the impact of the epidemic, the retail industry has suffered heavy losses.
His assets have shrunk significantly.
Apart from the team, his other assets total only US$200 million, which is a fraction of what other team owners have.
So the team's income is very important to him now.
Now that Wang Yi is not playing, the ratings will drop significantly, and the team's revenue will also drop accordingly.
This is naturally not what he wants to see.
Xiao Hua said some words and reluctantly dealt with Herb Cole.
Just after hanging up the phone, the mayor of Sacramento called again.
Asked Xiao Hua why Wang Yi was suspended.
Wang Yi's absence from games has already had an impact on the economy of Sacramento.
Many fans came to watch Wang Yi play games. Now that Wang Yi is suspended, many fans will no longer come to Sacramento.
Then those hotels, restaurants, etc. in Sacramento have been affected.
The sporting goods store in Sacramento used to be crowded with people buying Wang Yi’s jerseys and sneakers.
However, in the two days since Wang Yi was suspended, the traffic of these sports goods stores has dropped by two-thirds.
Next, calls came in one after another. Xiao Hua was the first and the second.
He originally thought that banning Wang Yi for one game would at most result in fewer viewers, but he never expected that troubles would come one after another.
His phone was almost buzzing with calls.
At this time, he even had some psychological shadow, and his heart skipped a beat when he heard the phone ringing.
In the past, he liked to hear the phone ringing the most, because it probably meant a big business deal.
But today the phone rings and it's all trouble.
He originally wanted to take a nap, but now it seems that it is impossible to take a nap.
At 10:05, his phone rang again.
He looked at the phone and saw a Chinese character: Ma.
There was another sound in his heart, this time it was no longer a thump, but a click.
This Ma is the CEO of the NBA China Region and also serves as the special assistant to the NBA President, Ma Xiaofei.
The responsibility of the special assistant to the NBA president is to report some information about the Chinese market to the NBA president and communicate with the president on China affairs.
After Xiao Hua answered the phone, he asked: "Ma, what's the situation over there in China?"
He could imagine that China would be unhappy with Wang Yi's suspension.
Ma Xiaofei's voice came:
"China's reaction to Wang Yi's suspension was very intense. Netizens said that banning Wang Yi was because the referee was helping the Bucks. Now the Bucks are called the Milwaukee Referee Team in China."
When Xiao Hua heard this, his long face seemed to continue to look slimmer.
But this was something he had expected before. Which year would not see some controversy in the NBA Finals?
Ma Xiaofei continued: "A call has been launched on the Internet here. As long as the NBA does not lift the ban on Wang Yi, netizens here will no longer watch the NBA."
With just this sentence, Xiao Hua's long face suddenly grew a little longer.
Chapter completed!