Chapter 14 Clear Situation

After understanding his current situation, Zhao Xuming sighed silently.

It seemed that today's trip would be in vain.

Although Zhu Yan didn't say anything, his attitude was definitely firm. This public opinion incident was practically a godsend. If he didn't take advantage of it to cut down a million or two, he would be derelict in his duty!

In this situation, the possibility of both parties reaching an agreement on the price now was approaching zero. It could only be delayed further.

Before leaving, Zhao Xuming asked, "President Zhu, may I be so bold as to ask, what is Langya Streaming's ideal price for the iCL broadcasting rights?"

Zhu Yan said with a smile, "Seven million. But don't worry, President Zhao, Langya Streaming will definitely invest a lot of resources to promote the iCL League. If this deal can be reached, your side will have many implicit benefits."

Zhao Xuming snorted inwardly.

You were already offering 7 million, and now that we've spent a lot of money to promote the iCL League and its popularity has clearly increased, you're still offering 7 million?

Not even Eric would agree to that, let alone Zhao Xuming.

As for those "promotional resources" that Zhu Yan mentioned, they were just polite words. These were all unquantifiable things. Whether he gave a lot or a little was up to Zhu Yan.

Real money was more practical.

After Zhu Yan spent a lot of money to buy the iCL League's broadcasting rights, he would also mobilize the platform's resources for promotion.

Zhao Xuming was well aware of Zhu Yan's rhetoric, but at this time, the iCL League was in the midst of a public opinion storm stirred up by Tengda. Zhao Xuming was in a weaker position, so he couldn't say much. He could only force a smile and nod. "Okay, then we'll both consider it further, and hopefully we can facilitate cooperation between our two companies soon!"

...

After returning to the Longyu Group headquarters, Zhao Xuming immediately rushed to the conference room without stopping.

He received a call on the way back that Eric was waiting for him in the conference room.

In the conference room, Eric was sulking with a dark face, and the atmosphere in the entire room had dropped to freezing point.

Clearly, Eric already knew about the promotional video, "Breaking the Cocoon."

Seeing Zhao Xuming return, he looked up and asked, "How was it?"

Zhao Xuming shook his head slightly. "You should have seen the promotional video Tengda released, right? Because of that video, Langya Streaming is still sticking to its offer of only seven million."

Zhao Xuming spoke carefully, afraid that Eric would immediately slam the table and shout, "Outrageous!"

However, Eric, who was ashen-faced, did not explode in anger. Instead, he let out a long breath and slowly calmed down.

"As expected, you can't relax for a moment when dealing with President Pei."

"This time, we invested heavily in the iCL promotional video, and we all thought it was foolproof. But we didn't expect that there would still be problems."

"Let's all calm down and think carefully about how to respond this time."

Eric's words had a certain effect. The conference room had been lifeless, and everyone was hit hard, but after Eric finished speaking, the atmosphere clearly improved.

That's right, we're fighting President Pei!

When fighting President Pei, it's normal to encounter major setbacks. It would be strange if things went smoothly.

Now, for the sake of everyone's jobs and performance bonuses, they could only rack their brains to think of ways to deal with it.

Zhao Xuming had been thinking about this on the way back, and he already had a general idea. So, he was the first to speak.

"President Pei's move is really vicious. It can be described as killing people and punishing their hearts."

"The scariest thing is that he planted this foreshadowing as early as the establishment of the gpL League, and only took it out today to deal with us."

"If we want to benchmark iCL against gpL, it means that as long as we don't do well in any aspect, we will be caught by President Pei and beaten hard. And the rights and interests of the players are the easiest to trigger topics and discussions. If we ignore it, it will definitely have a very fatal impact on the popularity of the iCL League."

"So, we must make up for this shortcoming."

Eric nodded. "Yes, that's right."

Although he was reluctant to accept it, the fact was that the launch of such a big news at the beginning of the iCL League was too damaging to its popularity. If it wasn't handled properly, the league might be dead before it even started, which was a risk that Eric could never accept.

Zhao Xuming continued, "Standard contracts, minimum salaries and insurance for players, better food and accommodation, and health security… It will definitely not be a small number to fully popularize these things."

"On the one hand, we must guarantee the basic rights and interests of all players, not only the main players, but also the substitutes and youth training players, accumulating over time. On the other hand, standard contracts will actually impose certain restrictions on the clubs, which will also make them dissatisfied."

"In short… It can be solved with money, but the money spent will definitely not be a small amount. A large sum of money must be invested in the initial stage to improve the environment of the training base, replace all the equipment, and then continue to pay the players' minimum salaries, food expenses, insurance, and other expenses. I'm afraid it won't be less than twenty or thirty million in the first year."

After hearing this number, Eric was very unhappy.

"Of course we can take out twenty or thirty million, but it's too outrageous to take the money for this reason!"

"If this money is spent in other places, to promote iCL, how much popularity can it create!"

"Just because of a video from President Pei, we have to take out twenty or thirty million to subsidize these clubs and improve their training environment? Why!"

"Did President Pei pay for this money?"

Zhao Xuming hesitated for a moment and replied, "Uh… he paid, but he didn't pay."

Eric: "?"

Zhao Xuming explained, "That's right, the spots in the gpL were publicly bid for, and the prices were very high. A single spot was sold for 20 million. Shenhua Real Estate was the top bidder at the time, raising the price of the gpL spot to 26 million."

"The results of the auction were also reported in the news, with a total price of 180 million yuan."

"Then… President Pei turned around and returned all the money."

"A large part of it was returned to these clubs, allowing them to use the money specifically to improve player treatment and establish youth training bases."

"So, the money is nominally paid by President Pei, but in reality, it is the money of the clubs. Although it is the clubs' money being transferred from the left hand to the right hand, these clubs are particularly grateful to President Pei."

Eric: "..."

When these things happened, Eric had already been fired by Finger Company and replaced by Kretian. He was lying low in the United States, so he didn't know much about these things.

As a result, after hearing what Zhao Xuming said, Eric realized what kind of situation he was facing.

President Pei's left-hand-to-right-hand operation was equivalent to borrowing flowers to offer to the Buddha. Without spending a penny of his own, he improved the treatment of the players. At the same time, the clubs were able to improve their training environment and gain real popularity, and they were also very grateful to President Pei.

But Eric couldn't play this kind of operation!

The spots in the iCL were basically half-bought and half-given away, and he basically didn't make any money.

There were only a few clubs in China with ioi divisions and good strength, and their financial resources were not very strong. Finger Company and Longyu Group needed their support, so they didn't ask for much money, giving them very low friendship prices, dirt-cheap prices.

Moreover, with the financial situation of these clubs, even if Eric wanted to choke them to make them spend more than ten million to buy spots, he probably wouldn't be able to squeeze out any money.

The gpL actually relied on President Pei's connections to attract a lot of big capital to enter the market, which was equivalent to playing a trick of "creating something out of nothing." Everyone contributed money to run the gpL League.

But Eric and Zhao Xuming didn't have that much energy.

What's more, gog already had extremely high popularity in China before it started to prepare for the gpL, which was a natural thing. In contrast, ioi's game was not popular enough, and the iCL was held to promote the game, which was completely the opposite.

Eric's idea was to only open a limited number of spots in the early stage, only allowing six or seven teams to enter. After the competition started, he would gradually sell spots every season, so that he could maximize profits.

But this also meant that Finger Company basically didn't make any money from this when the iCL League first started.

The gpL's way of playing could not be used in the iCL.

So, in the end, this large sum of money could only come from two places: either the clubs would pay for it, or Finger Company and Longyu Group would pay for it.

The clubs would definitely not pay for it. Why would they spend an extra two million a year to improve player treatment? It wouldn't be of much benefit to the clubs.

So, in the end, this money could only be paid by Finger Company!

If he didn't pay this money, the iCL would always be inferior, and President Pei would definitely keep bringing it up. But if he paid this money, Eric would feel too aggrieved!

Eric's face was ashen as he fell into a tangle.

But after thinking about it, there was no good way. This was like a dead end, either lose money or lose popularity.

After thinking about it, Eric could only choose to lose money.

Because for the iCL League, popularity was equal to money. If he ignored it, causing the popularity of the iCL to decline, the effect of all the previous investments would be greatly reduced, and the actual loss would be even greater.

Conversely, if he spent money to maintain the popularity, then there was a possibility that this money could be earned back in the future.

After repeated consideration, Eric gritted his teeth and said, "We'll pay for this money!"

"Immediately communicate with the iCL clubs and let them cooperate with our work. Then spend more money on publicity. Before the public opinion storm has fully fermented, let everyone know about our efforts to regulate the iCL ecosystem and protect the rights and interests of the players!"

Eric knew that since this matter had to be done sooner or later, the sooner the better.

Hesitating would only allow everyone to discuss it, which would definitely be a greater damage to the popularity of the iCL.

Responding quickly and showing enough sincerity might turn the crisis into an opportunity and leave a good impression of the iCL on the audience.

Zhao Xuming quickly nodded. "Understood, I'll arrange it now!"