Champion Creed
Chapter 634 - 634 224 Get Roger to behave Votes for the month please!

634: 224: Get Roger to behave (Votes for the month, please!) 634: 224: Get Roger to behave (Votes for the month, please!) In that stinking and lengthy lockout drama, it was the fans who truly got hurt, as well as the workers associated with the basketball industry, the small business owners of the nearby gym hotels and diners, and even the beauties in the nightclubs.

Can you imagine a bright young woman full of ideals joining a famous national corporation like the Gold Club, only to find that after a month of work her income barely suffices to make ends meet?

The overall environment was just too harsh.

Fortunately, the industry’s winter finally passed.

After the players and the league signed that new labor agreement, at least for the next six years, the league wouldn’t have to go through something similar.

Reebok was very satisfied with Roger’s performance during the lockout and they just hoped that Roger would keep a high profile.

This summer, when the league was in a lockout and Roger was battling it out with eloquence, he still found time to sign a lifetime contract with Reebok, with a signing bonus of 50 million US Dollars.

Of course, the key point was that the two sides also reached a licensing agreement: until Roger’s death, he would receive an annual 6% of sales from his personal brand.

Some might think that a 6% share of the spoils is little, especially since it’s only from his personal brand, not 6% of the entire Reebok sales.

But the fact is, last year, Roger’s personal brand merchandise sales reached a hefty 670 million US Dollars, making the 6% share almost 40 million, which was already far more than the annual salary he earned from playing basketball.

Moreover, this figure would continue to increase as Roger’s personal brand influence expanded.

As Roger knew, in 2023, AJ’s sales amounted to 6.6 billion US Dollars, and Jordan received a 5% share of the dividends from AJ.

This meant that Jordan’s pre-tax dividend income that year was as much as 330 million.

Just one year’s income was almost four times his entire career earnings!

So, as long as Roger could elevate his brand influence to the level of AJ, for a very long time afterward, he too could experience the feeling of sitting on the couch each year, waiting for hundreds of millions of dollars to land in his lap without lifting a finger.

Now you know why Jordan is the only person who has a gambling habit and yet almost never let it affect his lifestyle, right?

He can’t lose it all; it’s simply unstoppable.

Of course, this was a huge gamble for Reebok, as this licensing agreement would cost them dearly, and sooner or later, Roger would become the first sports brand spokesperson to earn over a hundred million a year.

Reebok owner Paul Fireman dearly hoped the contract would be worth it, thus he needed Roger to show his face on various occasions to increase visibility.

Over the past offseason, Roger’s significant role in the labor negotiations undoubtedly expanded his influence greatly.

The Reebok publicity machine was also more than willing to extensively report on such matters.

“A Chinese man forced the US national team to change their roster for the World Championships at the last minute.

I think this is a testament to Roger’s influence,”

“At a time when the incompetent NBPA President Patrick Ewing was about to mess everything up, Roger saved the players’ rights and salvaged the 98-99 season,”

“Despite the burden of Shaq, Roger still got everything under control, just like he did in Orlando.”

The Reebok media went crazy in promoting, attempting to mold Roger into a great player leader, to make him the most unique figure of the era.

But the effect of these kinds of actions was ultimately limited.

Just like, if you’re not a die-hard fan, who would know about the significant role Big O played in the labor negotiations?

People only remember him running to the freezing cold Milwaukee to ride on Jabbar’s coattails and winning a pitiful championship at the end of his career.

To truly expand his influence, he had to rely on the game itself.

What followed was a new beginning, with Roger aspiring to build a new dynasty in Atlanta, something both he and Reebok anticipated.

On the first day of the new season’s training camp, Roger went to the Emory Healthcare Center early.

When Roger arrived, the healthcare center was still the same one, but the teammates were no longer the same.

Nearly everyone had visibly gained weight!

Seeing Clifford Robinson’s protruding belly, Roger could only lament that time was like a sack of pig feed.

Just half a year was enough to change a man’s species.

In this era, the players were different than later on, even Ben Simmons knew the importance of fighting for MVP during the offseason.

But the players of that time, most of them really rested from the offseason right up to the present.

Moreover, this was the NBA’s first real lockout.

The league had actually locked out a few times before, but problems were always resolved before the start of the new season.

This time, however, many players didn’t expect the league to take it seriously.

Encountering a delayed season for the first time, many didn’t know what to do.

Play overseas?

Streetball?

That was just an option for the few.

And self-financed training during the lockout?

That was even rarer.

90% of NBA players just hung out for months on end.

So, Clifford Robinson’s situation was relatively good.

When the media releases the Reign Man’s photos tomorrow, folks will then know what a transformation really looks like.

And don’t say the Reign Man didn’t try; to maintain his condition, he set strict rules for himself: “I’ve sworn never to hook up with the same woman twice; it’s a matter of principle!”

As for Vin Baker, who had demonstrated the best professional attitude of his career last season, he probably didn’t even know the lockout was over, because he’d been drunk from the summer of 1998 until the spring of 1999.