In the United States in the 1940s, it was normal for professional teams to fail to hold on and go bankrupt. Basketball is relatively weak in professional sports, and teams to go bankrupt is even more common.

For example, when the Baa League, the predecessor of NBA, was first established, there were eleven teams, but only the Knicks, Celtics and Warriors, the other eight teams were disbanded within five years of the establishment of the Baa League.

So when Royals general manager Leicester Harris found Chen Qiang, Chen Qiang's first reaction was whether the Royals could not hold on and planned to disband.

However, Chen Qiang thought about it again that the Rochester Royals are the future Sacramento Kings team, and this team has continued to the future. It is logical that it cannot be disbanded easily. When Chen Qiang invited the Royals to join, he also took a fancy to the continuity of this team.

"In 1944, the Rochester Royals should still be an amateur team. However, because of my arrival, the Rochester Royals injected funds, the Royals became a professional team in advance. Could it be that the butterfly effect caused me to make the Royals unable to hold on?"

Chen Qiang thought about it again and felt that this possibility was not very high.

In the first season of the league, the Royals' record was indeed very bad. After the season ended, the Royals ranked last in the league. However, in the following draft, the Royals selected Max Zaslowsky with the No. 1 pick. Max Zaslowsky was the second scoring champion in NBA history. After all, he performed very well in the rookie season and attracted many fans to the Royals. According to the saying that the Royals are developing in a good direction, so they should not be unable to hold on.

So Chen Qiang asked, "Did you encounter any problems with the Royal Team's operations?"

Leicester Harris shook his head slightly: "The Royals' management is pretty good, at least much better than when they were in amateur clubs before. At present, the team can not only maintain a balance of income and expenditure, but also make a little money. However, there is still a consensus within the team, and we hope to get more room for development."

"What are you talking about with greater development space?" Chen Qiang asked.

"Big city, we want to move the team to a big city!" Leicester Harris said.

"So that's it." Chen Qiang nodded suddenly.

Professional teams in small cities will inevitably yearn for big cities. Looking at the history of the four major sports leagues in the United States, it is actually a process of a team gradually relocating from a small city to a larger city. Those teams that are unwilling to leave small cities will eventually end up with disbandment. Only those teams that move to big cities can be better continued.

Of course, the Green Bay Packers in Rugby NFL is an exception. The fans of the Packers are really hard-core. The Green Bay people have real love for the Packers, so the Packers can survive in a small city very well.

Excluding exceptions, small cities cannot support teams in the four major sports leagues. Any team with some ambitions will not be willing to develop in small cities, and any team owner who wants to make money will not keep the team in small cities.

Rochester, where the royal team is located, is the third largest city in New York State, but this "third in New York State" is actually a title of fat.

Because New York State has the world's largest city, New York City.

The magnetic effect of New York City on the entire New York State is too obvious. People in New York State will involuntarily flock to New York City to find more opportunities. Other places in New York State have been sucked away because of this. Take the population as an example. New York in the 1940s had a population of nearly 8 million, while Rochester, the so-called third largest city in New York, had only a population of 200,000, and the population was only one-forty-one of New York.

In other states in the United States, there is absolutely no 40 times the population gap between the first and third countries. This situation occurs only in New York. Therefore, it is not a good thing to be neighbors with a super metropolis like New York, and everyone has run away.

After all, the sports industry serves people. The more populated the city, the easier it will be for the sports industry to develop. In the future, Rochester will not have teams from the four major sports leagues. There is only one baseball team in this city, called the Rochester Red Wings, which belongs to the minor leagues of baseball.

In contrast, New York City has eight teams in four major sports leagues, each with two teams in two sports leagues. Football's New York Giants and New York Jets, Baseball's New York Yankees and New York Metropolis, Basketball's New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets, Hockey's New York Rangers and New York Islanders.

Therefore, it is understandable that the Royals want to leave Rochester and find a larger market.

The Rochester Royals in history are also a team that constantly seeks big markets, or a team that moves frequently. After staying in Rochester for ten years, the team moved to the larger Cincinnati, and then moved to Kansas City, the largest city in Missouri in 1972, and renamed it the Kings. In 1985, they went to Sacramento, where the California state capital is located, which is now the Sacramento Kings. In 2013, they planned to move to Seattle, which has a larger market, but ended in failure.

Given the long "moving history" of the Rochester Royals, Chen Qiang was not surprised when Leicester Harris proposed to go to the big city.

Chen Qiang gave the royal team a large investment, and now the royal team also owns Chen Qiang's equity, so the royal team decided to relocate and first of all, they had to seek Chen Qiang's opinions.

So Chen Qiang asked, "Which city are you planning to go to?"

"Mr. Chen, where do you think is the right place?" Leicester Harris asked tentatively.

Chen Qiang thought for a while and said, "How is Pittsburgh?"

Pittsburgh is the second largest city in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia, and is also a typical sports city. In the future, Pittsburgh has the Steelers for football NFL, the Pirates for baseball MLB and the Penguins for ice hockey NHL, but there is no NBA team.

In the 1940s, Pittsburgh was definitely the top ten major cities in the United States. Because Pittsburgh's steelmaking industry was very developed, it was called the "steel capital" of the United States. In that era when the United States still had many manufacturing industries, Pittsburgh's status was particularly important. Especially during World War II, the demand for steel increased greatly, and Pittsburgh also revitalized and became one of the most promising cities in the United States at that time.

Chen Qiang knew that Pittsburgh's sports industry was very prosperous in the future and could support three and four major leagues teams. Then there would be no problem supporting another basketball team, so Chen Qiang proposed Pittsburgh.

"Pittsburgh is indeed a good option," Leicester Harris replied, and then asked carefully: "Mr. Chen, what do you think the Royals come to New York?"

"You are going to come to New York?" Chen Qiang was slightly stunned.

Leicester Harris nodded hesitantly.

"Good New York, after all, it is the largest city in the United States and has the largest sports market in the United States. If the Royals come to New York, it will definitely be much better than staying in Rochester, and of course it is better than going to Pittsburgh." Chen Qiang replied.

"Mr. Chen, don't you object to the Royals moving to New York?" Leicester Harris asked subconsciously.

"Why should I object?" Chen Qiang asked in confusion.

"Because New York has the Knicks, and the Knicks are your team." Leicester Harris replied.

Chen Qiang instantly understood that Leicester Harris was worried that after moving the Royals to New York, he would form a competitive relationship with the Knicks. Chen Qiang is the owner of the Knicks. In order to avoid competitors, he is likely unwilling to let the Royals move to New York.

Chen Qiang smiled slightly: "Leicester, you're thinking too much. The Royals also have my shares. Of course, I also hope that the Royals' development can get better and better. Moreover, New York City is so big and has so many people, it's completely possible to support two teams."

Leicester Harris breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Since Mr. Chen is not opposed to our moving to New York, we will plan the team's relocation immediately."

"Which stadium do you plan to use as your home court in New York?" Chen Qiang asked again.

"This has not been considered yet. After all, the team has not started planning when it relocated." Leicester Harris replied honestly.

"What do you think of Madison Square Garden?" Chen Qiang asked with a smile.

"Mr. Chen, would you like us to use Madison Square Garden?" Leicester Harris was immediately surprised.

Any team wants to play in top stadiums, especially for small teams like the Royals. If Madison Square Garden can be used as the Royals' home court, it will definitely be something Leicester Harris wants.

"If you want, you can use Madison Square Garden as your home court, but the schedule must be carefully arranged. You cannot arrange the home games of the two teams on the same day, otherwise the two games will be collided together." Chen Qiang changed his voice and asked, "Do you want to be on TV?"

"Can you still be on TV?" Lester Harris felt dizzy and even had a short circuit in his mind.

For a small team like the Royals, it is already very successful to come to New York. It can also use Madison Square Garden as its home court, which is simply a burning fragrance. Now there are still TV broadcasts, which makes Leicester Harris feel like he is dreaming.

Chen Qiang continued: "Madison Garden Plaza has ready-made TV broadcast equipment. At present, only the Madison Square Garden game can be broadcasted. If the Royals also use Madison Square Garden as their home court, I can discuss with the National Broadcasting Corporation to allow them to increase the TV broadcast of the Royals game. Anyway, the equipment is idle, so it is better to use it."

The larger the scale of any industry, the lower the production cost, and the same is true for television broadcasts. Although the total cost of broadcasting ten games is far more than the cost of broadcasting only one game, if the average cost is calculated, the broadcasting ten games will definitely be much lower than the broadcasting one game. The broadcasting equipment in Madison Square Garden has been set up. Even if one game is not broadcast, the money has been spent. On the contrary, the more games there are, the lower the cost of broadcasting even if it is broadcasted, so the NBC should be willing to broadcast a few more games.

...

The Royals' relocation went smoothly. After finding a training hall in New York, it took only two weeks for the Royals to complete the relocation.

In later generations, the relocation of an NBA team was a very complicated matter and involved many matters. However, in the 1940s, the team's scale was not very large. The so-called relocation was mainly the movement of personnel, and all the team members changed their office locations together.

Most of the employees in the Royals are Rochester locals, and even several players are Rochester locals. These locals are definitely unwilling to leave their hometowns, but the reality is not the case. A super metropolis like New York are so attractive to ordinary Americans. It can be said that every American is eager to get a job in New York. Now, people are reluctant to let the employees of these teams move from Rochester to New York. This is like giving residents of third- and fourth-tier cities in China a Beijing household registration, unless they are fools.

Of course, Americans do not have a household registration. Whether it is education or medical care, they will not be limited to a city because their household registration is limited. For Americans, a job is equivalent to a household registration. As long as they have a job, they can live in this city.

The Royals star Max Zaslowski agrees with the team moving to New York. Max Zaslows is basically a New Yorker, living in Brooklyn. He originally hoped to be selected by the Knicks, but unfortunately the Knicks did not have the No. 1 pick, so Max Zaslowski was finally selected by the Royals. Now he can return to his hometown to play, which can be regarded as fulfilling Max Zaslowski's wish.

...

Nike, samples of sneakers have been made.

The sneakers of this era are mainly black and white, so Chen Qiang's "Nike One" only sets two colors, black and white. Black style sneakers use a black upper and a white sole, and there will be a white Nike logo on the sides of the shoe; white style sneakers, the upper and sole are all white, and the black Nike logo on the sides.

Chen Qiang was still very satisfied with the samples of "Nike One". Now he waited until the production materials were in place and then recruited a group of female shoemakers to start production.

By the end of the year, when the US election was over, Roosevelt got re-election as he wished, starting his fourth term, and Truman became vice president. He also fulfilled his promise and provided Nike with some quotas for rubber raw materials for next year. Although the quota was not large, it was enough to produce 700,000 or 800,000 pairs of sneakers.

With rubber raw materials, Chen Qiang's shoemaking plan has finally entered the implementation stage.

—————
Chapter completed!