Turning the clock to 2003, the year the league blew the wind of reform, as an important year that made up the league's chronicle, this season took place to this day for fans to talk about events - the golden generation jumped to try, the god of basketball returned to the hidden world, the grassroots Pistons lifted the O'Brim Cup... Nothing more.
When we look at history, we often look at public opinion, but we don't see anything. Many of the minutiae of the League's chronicles are often obscured by the entropy added to a period of tedious and significant events. Today, what needs to be told is the incident when Yao Ming rejected Nike's 7-year 120 million yuan and chose Reebok's 50 million contract.
Retrieving the relevant reports of that year, the general synopsis was obtained - ESPN quoted the Associated Press article and played the title of "Reebok replaced Nike to grab Yao Ming". Regarding Yao Ming's signing and endorsement, why did the commercial game between Nike and Reebok ultimately declare Reebok's anti-defeat victory? What kind of grudge does Nike and Yao Ming have? And listen to me.
In fact, before entering the league, Yao Ming and Nike had a corresponding cooperation - in 1996, the 16-year-old Yao Ming joined the Shanghai men's basketball team, and it is worth mentioning that Nike was the sponsor of the Shanghai men's basketball team at that time. At that time, Nike's supervisor was Yao Ming's childhood friend Sha Yifeng, and they spent nearly six years of their childhood together.
After graduating from Shanghai University in 1997, He joined Nike China to promote some of the star athletes who packed basketball, football and tennis. Yao Ming went wider and wider on the basketball road and was selected for the Shanghai Youth Men's Basketball Team. The insidious mistakes of fate allowed them to meet again in the field of basketball.
In 1996, at the age of 16, Yao Ming joined the Shanghai men's basketball team. Perhaps it is based on past friendships, or perhaps it is kaitianyan that sees Yao Ming's talent. Sha Yifeng sent a pair of sneakers to Yao Ming, who had not yet played the game, which was the shoes of NBA superstar Mo Ning, and it should be known that Nike only supplied equipment for the main players at that time. In the subsequent Nike summer camp and a series of activities, Nike's performance made Nike shine.
Yao Ming attends the wedding of his friend Shay Feng
In 1999, as a representative of Nike, Shay Feng signed the first four-year sponsorship contract with Yao Ming, the first year was less than 20,000 US dollars, and gradually increased since then. Nike's discernment got the results they wanted - in the 2001-02 season, Yao Ming's last season in the CBA, the 22-year-old Yao Ming averaged 32.4 points, 19 rebounds + 4.8 blocks per game, and Shanghai also won the CBA championship this year. In 2002, Yao Ming landed in the NBA as a champion. Schey Peak's efforts and Nike's waiting also seem to have paid off.
The third year of 2003 was the year of the reform of the alliance, and the rising generations were eager to try, wanting to compete with the Tiangong test; the nameless grassroots rose up to resist, and the prince xiangning had a kind of feeling. There were too many events in that year that caught the eyes of fans, and the excessive entropy value made people ignore that this was the year when Yao Ming's contract with Nike expired. Last season, Yao Ming averaged 13.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in the league's debut, which was not bad but did not meet Nike's initial expectations, and the Nike representative who negotiated with Yao Ming at that time was no longer Shay Peak, and his representative was only willing to symbolically give a 4-year, 1.6 million contract. It should be noted that the contract of LeBron James who did not play was 7 years and 90 million US dollars, which was undoubtedly an insulting offer for Yao Ming at that time.
At that time, the rocket gave Yao Ming an average annual salary of $4.5 million, and Yao Ming's team expected that the contract with Nike should be 5 million per year, which was obviously too different from the expected annual 2-5 million. During the negotiation process, some staff even ridiculed "Are you kidding me?" ”
In the course of the negotiation stalemate, Reebok saw an opportunity – both to see Yao Ming and Nike fall apart, but also to covet his potential and to gain the key to opening the Chinese market. Immediately signed a contract with Yao Ming for 7 years and 50 million yuan.
Yao Ming does various types of TV and print advertising for Reebok in China, and participates in various commercial promotions for Reebok. At the same time, Yao Ming's series of Reebok basketball shoes and sportswear will also quickly land in major markets. Reebok's quarterly revenue on Thursday was the best in six years — a testament to Yao and Reebok's mutual achievements. After Nike learned of this news, he was also shocked and very dissatisfied, after all, Yao Ming was trained by Nike, and the drama of being "stolen" halfway made Nike let go of a 7-year 120 million US dollar super contract. But Reebok's sincerity, coupled with Nike's previous humiliating behavior, made Yao Ming not accept the sky-high contract.
All in all, for a Chinese player who did not perform amazingly in his debut season, he was able to get a $50 million contract, which is enough to reflect Reebok's great sincerity and respect for Yao Ming, who was also selected for the best team three teams and All-Stars, and started his journey with a foot in Reebok. Of course, in 2006, Reebok was acquired by Adidas, and Adi ignored and downplayed the Reebok brand. From the perspective of the time, Yao Ming's choice was beyond reproach.