Chapter 452: Money Rolling In
The last time James Murdoch appeared in the conference room of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Miami's South Coast was two months ago. He was also sitting in this place waiting with a stack of newspapers in front of him.
At that time, the International Champions Cup had just completed a grand group draw ceremony, which attracted the attention of the entire United States and even the world football community, and made the International Champions Cup famous.
But even so, there are still many people who are skeptical about this event.
After all, everyone knows that the United States has always been known as a football desert.
Even in the past few years, batches of European top teams have come to the United States to play commercial games, but they still have not been able to arouse Americans' enthusiasm for football. Can a so-called International Champions Cup do it?
Two months later, sitting in this conference room, almost every newspaper in front of me puts the International Champions Cup on the most important page. The popularity of this event has already attracted the attention of the entire American nation.
In the past half month, many European top teams, including Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and Southampton, have played a total of more than a dozen games in the United States, covering urban clusters throughout the east and west coasts.
The subsequent semi-finals went straight to the central region.
In the end, Southampton defeated Juventus in the semi-finals, while Barcelona defeated Manchester United, and the two teams finally met in this game, which will be held in the final tonight at the Miami Sun Life Stadium.
This is a highly anticipated final.
After half a month of competition, the match between Southampton and Barcelona has attracted the attention of everyone in North America, and Southampton has won the recognition of countless American fans with its outstanding performance in the past half month.
The reason is simple. This team is always thinking about attacking.
This kind of aggressive team is always the most attractive team
As the live broadcaster of the International Champions Cup in North America, Fox also made a lot of money from the broadcast of this event.
As for the broadcasting fees, the International Champions Cup's broadcasting fees are not expensive, and Miracle Media is even only considering recovering the costs.
They pay more attention to the promotion and publicity of the event
Therefore, Fox acquired the broadcasting rights at almost no cost and invested a lot of resources to operate it.
As a result, the ratings of this event in the United States are quite high, which directly surpasses countless Major League Soccer games.
With high ratings, advertising revenue also increased, and Fox made a lot of money.
Look, the game hasn't ended yet, and the final hasn't been played yet, but Fox is already considering the broadcasting rights for next year, or even for the next three years, while Sky is also considering acquiring the broadcasting rights in Europe for the next three years.
But don’t think that Miracle Media has suffered a big loss. In fact, what they value is the long-term interests.
A very important point is that they use television broadcasts to expand the influence of the event in a short period of time.
This makes the International Champions Cup more attractive when attracting investment, and is more likely to attract the interest of big-name sponsors including Coca-Cola and Adidas.
At first glance, the broadcasting rights were lost, but in the sponsorship area, a huge profit was made.
And from another perspective, TV broadcasting is indirectly helping event organizers cultivate the market and promote their brands.
To put it bluntly, the ownership of the event belongs to Miracle Media, and the TV stations are just preparing wedding dresses for them now. When the event becomes stable and well-known in the future, by that time, there will be many TV stations vying for it.
The broadcasting rights of Sky TV and the Premier League were quite cheap in the first few years, but after the Premier League became successful, everything changed. Sky TV had to buy the broadcasting rights at higher and higher prices each time.
Whenever he thought of this, James Murdoch couldn't help but exclaim from the bottom of his heart.
“What a smart bunch of Chinese people!”
Just as he was exclaiming in amazement, the door of the conference room opened. Yang Huan was standing outside the door. Just as he was about to come in, he was stopped by Sun Yue who had caught up with him.
"Master Huan"
"What's the matter?" Yang Huan stopped.
"Mr. Cook from Apple called and hopes to meet you before you return to the UK. He also invites you to visit Apple headquarters."
Yang Huan thought about it and nodded, "Okay, tell Cook that I will go to Silicon Valley before returning to the UK."
It would be good to meet Cook, after all, the biggest revenue for WeChat game platform and WeChat games comes from the Apple Store.
Seeing Young Master Huan turning around and about to walk into the meeting room, Sun Yue quickly stopped him.
"Early this morning, the president of Intel also called and expressed his hope to sponsor Southampton and meet with you."
Yang Huan frowned slightly. See you again? What's there to see?
"Go check my schedule, if you can fit it in, go ahead."
"And..." Sun Yue stopped Young Master Huan again.
"MetLife also wants to sponsor our team."
"Insurance company?" Yang Huan was a little surprised. "How strong is it?"
You know, since the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States, the insurance industry has been hit hard.
Just like Manchester United's sponsor, n Insurance Company, almost suffered during the subprime mortgage crisis.
Yang Huan attaches great importance to the Southampton and Saints brands and is very strict in selecting sponsors.
"MetLife is the only insurance company that was not affected by the US subprime mortgage crisis, but went against the trend. The stadium where we played our first match in the International Champions Cup was named after them. In recent years, they have been aggressively expanding into Asia Pacific and Latin America."
Yang Huan listened and nodded, "Okay, you can do it."
"Okay," Sun Yue nodded. "In addition, we plan to discuss sponsorship and software development cooperation with Microsoft. The famous American casual clothing brand TMHIFA is also very interested in sponsorship. British snack giant Cadbury has also contacted us before, as well as KFC..."
Yang Huan was getting a little impatient. "Okay, okay, go talk to Peter and Ron about these things."
Now Southampton is not only popular in North America, but also in the whole world.
As Yang Huan said before, Southampton has created a brand that caters to young consumers, which can easily attract the interest of more like-minded sponsors.
In fact, it's not just Southampton.
"By the way, how are the talks between Manchester United and Chevrolet going?" Yang Huan asked with concern.
Although Manchester United failed to qualify in the group stage of the first International Champions Cup, they performed brilliantly in the first game and won the applause of countless fans.
Seeing the craze of the International Champions Cup in North America, General Motors Chevrolet also became interested in sponsoring football and first contacted Southampton, but the Saints' car sponsor was Aston Martin Lagonda, which was Master Huan's own brand and would not be changed.
So Miracle Media acted as a go-between and transferred Chevrolet to Manchester United, and the two sides hit it off immediately.
"Almost. The average annual sponsorship fee is expected to be as high as 50 million pounds," Sun Yue said with a smile.
The higher the sponsorship fee, the higher the commission of Miracle Media.
Besides, by signing such a big sponsorship contract, Manchester United is actually helping to promote the International Champions Cup and telling all the top teams to come and participate in the International Champions Cup. Not only will they get a generous appearance fee, but they can also win big prizes.
"Wow, fifty million pounds?" Yang Huan got goosebumps on his back when he heard this.
After the team was promoted, Southampton's current sponsor Qatar Airways only gives 30 million pounds a year, which is a huge gap with Manchester United.
But that's only Manchester United.
If it were Southampton, the other party would definitely not be willing to pay such a high price.
The reason is simple. This is definitely a long contract, and for a newly emerging team like Southampton, who knows what will happen to you in a few years?
"Okay, I understand." Yang Huan nodded.
"Oh, by the way, Lao Sun, let's talk quickly. It would be best if we can negotiate a few contracts after the finals to boost our momentum."
Of course Sun Yue understood, "I understand, Master."
Having said that, he turned and left.
Yang Huan walked into the meeting room with a smile and looked at James Murdoch who had already stood up and was waiting.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting, James."
Just now he and Sun Yue were talking outside, and he was not afraid of being heard by James Murdoch.
"It's okay, Mr. Yang Huan." James Murdoch smiled and shook hands with him.
He had long expected that Yang Huan would be very busy.
No, it should be said that the money is rolling in.
"Come, sit down."
Yang Huan was the host and asked James Murdoch to sit down.
"How is it? I heard that Fox and Sky have good ratings."
James Murdoch nodded, "Yes, we also produced two or three football talk shows, which also had very good ratings, thanks to the people that Mr. Sun helped to find."
At that time, Fox was going to do a talk show and wanted to find several superstars to be interviewed. Southampton sent out players such as Ibrahimovic, Drogba, Neymar, Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and Neuer.
In addition, Manchester United's Rooney and Van Persie, Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and Mourinho, Barcelona's Messi, Xavi and Iniesta all actively cooperated with the recording of their program.
"You're welcome. Let's work together," Yang Huan said with a smile.
"James, what's the matter with you coming here this time?"
James Murdoch nodded slightly. "Given that this is such a success in our first collaboration, our group is very satisfied. We hope to continue to cooperate with Miracle Media and broadcast the International Champions Cup live in the next few years."
"Of course, we will show our sincerity in terms of price."
After hearing this, Yang Huan shook his head and said, "James, you underestimate me."
James Murdoch was stunned. Could it be that the other party was so ambitious that after just one successful event, they were already asking for too much?
"I am very satisfied with the cooperation with Fox and Sky TV. Even if you don't come, I will find someone to talk to you."
These words immediately put James Murdoch at ease.
It can be seen that although this Young Master Huan is young, he has a sharp eye and a clear mind, and is not blinded by the current achievements.
"I still say the same thing, I don't care about the broadcasting fee, what I want is promotion and publicity, you should understand what I mean."
After a pause, Yang Huan nodded again and said, "If Fox and Sky TV can meet our requirements, I will be happy to renew the contract with you for three years.
Everyone has tasted the sweetness, so of course we have to continue.
Yang Huan knew very well that the competition had just started and had been successful for one season, but that was nothing great. If it could not continue stably in the next few years, it would not be long before this competition could not be held.
Because the International Champions Cup is different from major tournaments like the European League, the World Cup and the European Cup, the schedule is too short and it also serves as a warm-up match, so it certainly cannot be run hastily.
James Murdoch understood what Yang Huan meant. "Okay, I'll arrange for someone to come over and talk to you later. I wish you a happy cooperation."
"Of course, happy cooperation," Yang Huan agreed with a smile.
Just at this moment, Long Wu outside knocked on the door and came in.
"Master Huan, it's almost time to go to the stadium."