Eek, the door to the conference room at the Marriott Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles, swung open, the sound of footsteps absorbed by the wine-red carpet, completely silent. Continue reading at empire
A gentleman was coming forward, and despite Los Angeles's relentless sumr in September, he was still impeccably dressed in a full three-piece suit, and his sparsely haired crown was neatly grood—details that showed he was serious about the occasion.
Upon his entrance, the gentleman bypassed Donald, looking earnestly and warmly at Li Wei, opening the conversation with a bit of light humor.
Li Wei didn't catch on at first, following the gentleman's gaze, he then saw the billboard erected atop the skyscrapers of Century City—
"Los Angeles Chargers VS Kansas City Chiefs."
But importantly, what should have been a promotional poster for both teams now only featured Li Wei without any Chargers player.
Upon reflection, this wasn't surprising.
The Los Angeles Chargers had just moved back this season and hardly had any fan base in the city; thus, it made sense to promote the league's new face instead.
Honestly, Li Wei was still not quite used to suddenly seeing his own face on a billboard, which started to feel unfamiliar.
With his head slightly tilted, Li Wei looked back at the gentleman and joked, "They must have done quite a bit of photoshopping, are you sure that's really ?"
The gentleman laughed heartily, reaching out his right hand, "That's why I said, in person, you look even more handso. Trevor Edwards."
And thus, Donald was just a backdrop.
But Donald didn't mind, as Edwards, Nike's current Executive Vice President of Brand Marketing, unquestionably belonged to the top echelon of managent and had shown sincere intent by coming to negotiate in Los Angeles in person; this gesture further proved his sincerity.
Typically, facing rookie players, these seasoned executives knew well that these were kids inexperienced with the world, and throwing a few figures at them would suffice to keep them in line, hence the real negotiation power lay with the agents—
Getting the agent ant getting the rookie.
If the agent was also a top shark in the industry, then rookies had no say in front of their agents and would just nod in agreent.
However, Edwards didn't follow this approach.
Even though Donald was in charge of negotiations, Edwards knew that the final decision lay in Li Wei's hands, showing utmost respect from the first encounter.
It was apparent from the details that Nike had indeed researched Li Wei thoroughly.
Edwards seed confident, fully controlling the conversation.
"People often think that professional players should let their performance on the pitch do the talking, and indeed, it's true; competitive sports don't pay attention to the losers, but from a business market perspective, performance isn't the only criterion."
"Otherwise, David Beckham wouldn't have been the most profitable footballer over the past twenty years, and he hasn't even won a single Ballon d'Or."
Beckham: An arrow to the knee.
Li Wei spread his hands, "People often think David is just a pretty face without real talent, and I'm not sure if it's his success or failure."
Beckham: Another arrow to the knee.
Edwards laughed cheerfully, "So, are you happy or disappointed that the dia hasn't yet discussed your looks?"
Li Wei shrugged lightly, "Oh, in my case, there are too many things for them to attack, the pretty face probably doesn't make the list, too weak of an attack. I guess, I'm luckier than David?"
Is this... self-deprecation?
Appreciation flickered in Edwards's eyes—
Looks, very important, extrely important.
Let's take a straightforward and intuitive example: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel ssi are now at the pinnacle of professional soccer, vying for superiority in an evenly matched battle, but why is Ronaldo's inco higher than ssi's?
Appearance is an important reason.
It's not that ssi's appearance isn't good, but relatively speaking, Ronaldo knows more about packaging, managing, and promoting himself, and appearance indeed plays a significant role.
But appearance alone is not enough; there are too many pretty faces in basketball and soccer, yet what truly attracts fans and even breaks out of the circle is personal charm.
Now, Edwards saw in Li Wei a unique temperant that belied his age, even more remarkable than what he had seen at the press conference.
Incredible as it might seem, Edwards believed that the dia hadn't even pushed Li Wei to his full potential; Li Wei was completely at ease.
After a thorough evaluation, Edwards exclaid.
"You know? I see a shadow of Roger Federer in you,"
A tennis legend?
Like Jordan, Federer too had tead up with Nike to build a comrcial empire.
Even though Li Wei had ti-traveled back from 2023, his foresight advantage was very limited. Nonetheless, he knew one thing: in 2018, at the Wimbledon first round, after fifteen years of appearing in Nike, Federer had subtly switched to a Uniqlo outfit, announcing the most sensational and shocking split in professional tennis with such understatent.
Years later, the CEO of Nike candidly admitted that it was a mistake; they should have kept Federer, they should have kept the Federer brand at Nike.
So, now?
With not much ti left until that mont next June, had Federer and Nike started negotiations, or had Nike internally made a decision about Federer's future?
A hypothesis: if Nike had decided not to renew Federer's contract, one major reason could be that they believed Federer's physical condition wouldn't last much longer, that he would soon retire, and it wasn't worth a high-value renewal; they had to look further ahead, particularly at younger talents.
So, in this future young market, does that include Li Wei?
Li Wei was sowhat surprised that Edwards brought up Federer.
He looked over, "Oh, my honor. Does this an I could get a contract like Federer's?"
Clearly, it was a joke.
Edwards caught on instantly and couldn't help but burst out laughing, "Rather, let's say we're looking forward to discovering the next Federer."
Appropriately, Donald spoke up, "Or perhaps say, football's first Li Wei."
Ambition, just beginning to show.
To tennis, Federer is essentially what Jordan is to basketball.
Before them, each sport had already entered a comrcial mode and produced a series of superstars; but their arrival marked a true turning point. The sport powerfully broke out of its circle, becoming highly comrcialized, and truly opened new possibilities for other players' endorsent deals—
A whole new world.
Hence, the significance of Donald's words was self-evident.
Edwards looked at Donald seriously for the first ti.
It seed that Nike had underestimated not only Donald's ambitions but also his preparation for this eting; could Donald truly be planning to use Li Wei as a pivot to push football into an era of individual superstars?
Could this be possible?
Reviews
All reviews (0)