After understanding his current situation, Zhao Xuming silently sighed.
It seemed that today’s trip was going to be wasted.
Although Zhu Yan hadn’t said much, his attitude was definitely firm. This public opinion incident was practically a gift from heaven—if he didn’t take advantage of it to slash one or two million from the price, he would be failing at his job!
Under these circumstances, the possibility of both parties agreeing on a price now was practically zero. They could only delay further.
Before leaving, Zhao Xuming asked, “Mr. Zhu, may I be so bold as to ask what Wolf Fang Streaming’s acceptable price range is for the ICL broadcasting rights?”
Zhu Yan smiled and said, “7 million. But rest assured, Mr. Zhao, Wolf Fang Streaming will definitely invest substantial resources to promote the ICL league. If this deal can be reached, your side will receive many implicit benefits.”
Zhao Xuming mentally scoffed.
They originally offered 7 million, and now, after we’ve spent heavily promoting the ICL league with noticeably improved popularity, they’re still offering 7 million?
Forget Eric—even Zhao Xuming himself wouldn’t agree to that.
As for those “promotional resources” Zhu Yan mentioned, they were merely pleasantries—these were all unquantifiable things. How much or how little would be provided was entirely at Zhu Yan’s discretion.
Cold, hard cash was more practical.
After Zhu Yan spent big money buying the ICL league’s broadcasting rights, he would mobilize platform resources for promotion anyway.
Zhao Xuming understood Zhu Yan’s rhetoric perfectly, but at this moment, the ICL league was caught in a public opinion storm stirred up by Tenda, and Zhao Xuming was in a weak position. So he couldn’t say much, only forcing a smile and nodding: “Alright, let’s both give it more thought. I hope we can establish cooperation between our two companies soon!”
…
After returning to Longyu Group headquarters, Zhao Xuming immediately rushed to the conference room without stopping.
On his way back, he had received a call informing him that Eric was waiting for him in the conference room.
In the conference room, Eric sat with a stern face, brooding silently. The atmosphere in the entire room had dropped to freezing point.
Evidently, Eric had also learned about the promotional video “Breaking Out of the Cocoon, Not Yet a Butterfly.”
Seeing Zhao Xuming return, he looked up and asked, “How did it go?”
Zhao Xuming shook his head slightly: “You’ve probably seen that promotional video Tenda released? Because of that video, Wolf Fang Streaming is still adamant about offering only 7 million.”
Zhao Xuming spoke carefully, fearing Eric would immediately pound the table and shout “Outrageous!”
However, the grim-faced Eric did not fly into a rage. Instead, he let out a long sigh and gradually calmed down.
“Indeed, when facing Mr. Pei, we can’t let our guard down for even a moment.”
“This time we invested heavily in the ICL promotional video, thinking it was foolproof, but unexpectedly problems still arose.”
“Let’s all calm down and think carefully about how to respond to this.”
Eric’s words had some effect. Originally, the conference room had been deathly silent, everyone feeling deflated, but after Eric finished speaking, the atmosphere noticeably improved.
That’s right, we’re battling against Mr. Pei now!
In a battle against Mr. Pei, encountering major setbacks was perfectly normal—smooth sailing would be the strange thing.
At this point, for everyone’s jobs and performance bonuses, they could only rack their brains to think of countermeasures.
Zhao Xuming had been pondering this issue on his way back and now had a general idea. He was the first to speak up.
“Mr. Pei’s move is truly vicious, killing the person and destroying their soul.”
“The most frightening part is that he laid this groundwork when the GPL league was first established, only to use it against us today.”
“When we position ICL to compete with GPL, it means that any aspect where we fall short will be seized upon by Mr. Pei and ruthlessly exploited. And player rights are the most likely to trigger discussion and debate. If we ignore this, it will definitely have a devastating impact on the ICL league’s popularity.”
“So, we must fix this weakness.”
Eric nodded: “Yes, that’s right.”
Although he was reluctant to accept it, the facts were undeniable. Such major news breaking out just as the ICL league was being established would severely damage its popularity. If not handled properly, the league might fail before it even began—a risk Eric absolutely could not accept.
Zhao Xuming continued: “Standardized contracts, base salaries and social security for players, better food and accommodation, health guarantees… implementing all these comprehensively would definitely not be a small expense.”
“On one hand, we need to protect the basic rights of all players, not just the starters, but also substitute players and trainees. These costs accumulate day by day. On the other hand, standardized contracts would place certain restrictions on the clubs, which would make them unhappy.”
“In short… money can solve it, but it won’t be a small amount. Initially, we need to invest a large sum to improve the training facilities’ environment, replace all equipment, and subsequently continue to pay for players’ base salaries, meal expenses, social security, and other expenses. The first year alone would require at least twenty to thirty million.”
Hearing this figure, Eric was very displeased.
“We can certainly provide twenty to thirty million, but spending it for this reason is absurd!”
“If this money were spent elsewhere, promoting the ICL, think of how much popularity we could generate!”
“Just because of one video from Mr. Pei, we have to spend twenty to thirty million to subsidize these clubs and improve their training environments? On what grounds?”
“Did Mr. Pei pay for this?”
Zhao Xuming hesitated for a moment, then answered: “Well… he did, but also didn’t.”
Eric: “?”
Zhao Xuming explained: “It’s like this—GPL spots were publicly auctioned, and they sold for very high prices. Even a single spot sold for 20 million, with Shenhua Real Estate being the highest bidder at 26 million.”
“The auction results even made the news, with the total price reaching the astronomical sum of 180 million.”
“And then… Mr. Pei immediately returned all that money.”
“A large portion was returned to these clubs, earmarked specifically for improving player benefits and establishing youth training bases.”
“So, nominally, Mr. Pei paid, but in reality, it was the clubs’ money. Although it was just the clubs moving money from one hand to the other, they were extremely grateful to Mr. Pei.”
Eric: “…”
When these events occurred, Eric had already been removed by Finger Corporation and replaced by Cratian. While lying low in the United States, he hadn’t kept up with these developments.
Now, hearing Zhao Xuming’s explanation, Eric finally understood the predicament he faced.
Mr. Pei’s maneuver of moving money from one hand to the other was equivalent to making a gift with borrowed flowers—improving player benefits without spending a penny of his own, while clubs could enhance their training environments, gain tangible popularity, and feel indebted to Mr. Pei.
But Eric couldn’t replicate this operation!
ICL spots were basically half-sold, half-given away, and hadn’t generated much revenue.
Currently, there were only a few domestic clubs with IOI divisions that had decent strength, and their financial resources weren’t particularly abundant. Finger Corporation and Longyu Group needed their participation, so they hadn’t charged much, offering friendly, bargain-basement prices.
Moreover, given these clubs’ financial situations, even if Eric tried to squeeze them to spend over ten million on spots, they probably couldn’t come up with the money.
GPL, on the other hand, had relied on Mr. Pei’s connections to attract substantial capital, essentially creating something from nothing. Everyone contributed funds together to establish the GPL league.
But where did Eric and Zhao Xuming have such influence?
Furthermore, GOG already had extremely high popularity in China before organizing GPL, making it a natural progression. In contrast, IOI’s popularity was far from sufficient, and organizing ICL was meant to promote the game—completely the opposite approach.
Eric’s plan was to initially open a limited number of spots, admitting only six or seven teams. After the competition was established, they would gradually sell more spots each season, maximizing profits.
But this also meant that when the ICL league first launched, Finger Corporation wouldn’t earn much from it.
GPL’s approach wouldn’t work for ICL.
So all things considered, this large sum of money could only come from two sources: either the clubs or Finger Corporation and Longyu Group.
The clubs definitely wouldn’t pay—why would they spend an extra 2 million a year to improve player benefits? It wouldn’t benefit the clubs much.
Ultimately, this money would have to come from Finger Corporation!
Without this investment, ICL would always be one step behind, and Mr. Pei would certainly keep bringing it up. But having to spend this money left Eric feeling extremely frustrated!
Eric’s face darkened as he became entangled in this dilemma.
But after thinking it through, there were no good alternatives. It was like a deadlock—either lose money or lose popularity.
After careful consideration, Eric could only choose to lose money.
Because for the ICL league, popularity equaled money. If they ignored the issue, leading to decreased popularity for ICL, the effect of all their initial investments would be greatly reduced, resulting in even greater actual losses.
Conversely, if they spent money to maintain popularity, there was a possibility of recouping these funds in the future.
After repeated deliberation, Eric gritted his teeth and said: “We’ll cover this expense!”
“Immediately communicate with all the ICL clubs to coordinate our work. Then spend more on promotion—before the public opinion storm fully erupts, let everyone know about our efforts to standardize the ICL ecosystem and protect player rights!”
Eric knew well that since this had to be done sooner or later, the sooner the better.
Hesitation would only allow more discussion, causing greater damage to ICL’s popularity.
Responding quickly and showing sufficient sincerity might actually transform the crisis into an opportunity, leaving a good impression of ICL on the audience.
Zhao Xuming quickly nodded: “Understood, I’ll arrange it right away!”