Interview|"Black" Chen Jianzhou: To start the league, I want to help Taiwanese basketball grow

When "Warcraft" Howard and Jeremy Lin joined the basketball league in Taiwan, the flow of public opinion and topic of Taiwanese basketball in China has increased day by day in the past few months.

Of course, the reason why basketball in Taiwan frequently rushed to the Internet hot search is not simply because of the joining of superstars, but also because of those "lace news" on and off the court - Howard's scandal outside the league, Jeremy Lin's cheerleading "large-scale interference" when making free throws...

"We are still working on it, but we have to have our own characteristics."

Not long ago, after accompanying the Fubon Warriors to the Eastern Super League Championship Week in Okinawa, Japan, P. Bu, one of the three major leagues in Taiwan, China. "Black" Chen Jianzhou, CEO of LEAGUE+ League (hereinafter referred to as PLG), was interviewed by The Paper.

The film and sports star said, "The league must make everyone comfortable and profitable, and the league market is determined by consumers, and I believe that every professional league must follow these principles." ”

Chen Jianzhou founded P. LEAGUE+ LEAGUE.

"Scales can be adjusted, culture and characteristics are important"

There are now 3 basketball leagues in Taiwan - the SBL league has the longest history, but it is labeled "semi-professional"; The PLG league with Jeremy Lin is the most commercialized and entertaining, expanding from just 45 games in its initial season to 120 in two years; Howard's T1 league is the youngest, officially launched in 2021.

The three leagues are not large and not at the top of the game overall, but each of them presents a lively scene, especially in terms of stadium atmosphere.

Not so long ago, several videos of the PLG League went viral on social networks. In the video, when Jeremy Lin of the Kaohsiung Steelers stands at the free throw line, the cheerleaders of the new dreamers use their "best power" under the basket to interfere with Lin.

"Cheerleading is an important part of the league, but the scale of cheerleading can be adjusted, and this scale can be handled." Talking about the heated discussion caused by cheerleaders on social networks, Chen Jianzhou told The Paper.

Chen Jianzhou was a basketball player before entering the entertainment industry.

He originally hoped that the PLG league scene should be a scene of parents bringing children into the stadium, and grandparents can be in the same house for three generations, so entertainment is essential, but the focus is to master the scale.

"We have also made adjustments during this time, and it is definitely to achieve elegant and common appreciation, suitable for all ages, suitable for ancient and modern, suitable for both movement and static, and enjoyed by the family." Uttering a string of four-character idioms to summarize the future performance of PLG League cheerleaders, Chen Jianzhou himself laughed, "This is my goal." ”

In fact, just after the heated public opinion at that time, the cheerleader of Taixin Dreamers has publicly stated that a public review has been carried out within the team, "More clear norms will be made in the future, thank you for your criticism and advice, and sorry for giving some fans a bad look, we will work harder in the future." ”

In Chen Jianzhou's view, these adjustments and changes are a process for PLG leagues to find more suitable for the tastes of fans and spectators, and it is also a necessary way for professional leagues to build their own league culture.

"League culture and character are important." Since the establishment of the PLG League in 2020, Chen Jianzhou has always talked about "entertainment" as an important part of building the league, "We must have our own characteristics, this is the league culture, and more importantly, the goal must be firm." ”

Jeremy Lin has come to play in the PLG League in Chen Jianzhou.

Promote basketball income and employment

At the beginning of the establishment of the PLG League, Chen Jianzhou and his 21-member team set the four cornerstones of the development of the professional league - professionalization, entertainment, data and industrialization.

Chen Jianzhou first led 4 teams to "stand on the mountain" to establish the PLG League, and one of the important reasons is that the SBL League, which was originally regarded as the "highest level basketball league in Taiwan", has always been a semi-professional basketball league, and many players and coaches have other jobs in addition to playing in the SBL League.

In addition, the investors of each team in the league are also complex, and the investment is limited under the condition of self-financing, and the SBL league once had a serious brain drain and its business influence was gradually declining.

"There has been no professional league in basketball in Taiwan for the past 20 years, and there are only two words, that is, 'expenditure'. So I'm trying to find two other words now, which is 'income.' ”

Chen Jianzhou told The Paper that from the first 4 teams to the next year to join 2 teams, all the players are professional players, and each club also has subdivisions including administration, marketing, sales and design, "A team I roughly estimate can add 50 jobs, 6 teams is equal to 300 more positions." ”

Find ways to make money with everyone

In addition to the complete professionalization of the 6 teams in the league, Chen Jianzhou also brought new ideas to the operation of the league.

As a former basketball player, Chen Jianzhou joined the entertainment industry after retiring and has his own trendy brand, and this series of rich experiences has helped him apply his management knowledge more flexibly.

"When I set up the league schedule, I actually thought about designing a 'two-day, one-night' travel itinerary for the fans." Taking the Fubang Warriors vs. New Taipei Kings on March 18 and the Hsinchu Jiekou Siege Lions on March 19 as examples, this common home team "back-to-back" match has become a family weekend trip for many fans.

"In many cases, the first game is scheduled for 2.30pm and the second game is after 5pm. This arrangement is to hope that fans can go to the stadium for lunch as a family, and then after watching the game, they can have dinner nearby, and then continue to watch the game. ”

Chen Jianzhou admits that such tournament packages may not be a "regular operation" of other professional leagues, but the reason for this arrangement is to use the concept of amortization to use consecutive matches on a weekend to spread the cost of the team's games.

"Increasing the number of events will also attract more people to the city, and the vendors, drivers and hotels around the stadium will also be helped."

The change of "basketball + tourism" created by Chen Jianzhou is not just a fantasy, from the first year of the PLG league in 2020 to the present, the league has changed from 44 games to 120 games in more than two seasons, although only six teams have repeatedly played against each other, but still brought "revenue" to each team.

"Just like the Fubon Warriors, a stadium with about 7,000 people, the attendance rate can reach 96.4%, the box office in two days can reach NT$10 million (about 2.25 million yuan), and the sales of peripheral products in two days can also reach NT$2 million (about 450,000 yuan)."

Chen Jianzhou used the PLG league's data to accurately give a series of commercial data about the league, although in his opinion, these figures still have room for improvement - especially the sponsorship principle of independent investment of each team, and the lack of exclusive equipment cooperation, so that some teams in the league are already profitable in less than 3 years.

"Any professional league is the same, all have to profit, the key is that the league must make everyone comfortable profit." Chen Jianzhou told The Paper that now, among the 6 teams in the PLG League, 2 teams have begun to make money, and the other 4 teams are basically at breakeven.

Chen Jianzhou and Yao Ming, chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association.

Participate in the Eastern Super League and improve Chinese Taiwan basketball

The new schedule, lively atmosphere and star players full of attention and topics have helped the PLG League occupy an important position in the three major leagues in Taiwan in just a few years.

However, as a retired player, Chen Jianzhou admits that the core competitiveness and most important asset of the league is the players and games.

Because of this, while helping team owners make money, he is also looking for ways to improve the competitiveness of PLG teams and the enjoyment of games.

Joining the East Asian Super League (East Asian Super League), which is about to start the home-and-away format, is an attempt by Chen Jianzhou.

"Actually, I have known Matt the CEO of the Eastern Super League for more than 10 years, and when I first met, he was Yi Jianlian's translator."

Chen Jianzhou told The Paper that this is not the first time he has tried to lead the team to participate in such a "cross-league" intercontinental basketball league, "When Matt first created the extraordinary 12 and Super 8 games, I took the Fubon Warriors to participate as the deputy leader, and I felt that such exchanges between different league teams helped the players a lot, and the quality of the game was also very high." ”

Chen Jianzhou took Fubon Warriors to the East Asian Super League Championship Week as the CEO of the PLG League this time, which can also be regarded as a "warm-up" for the home and away games of the Eastern Super League that will start in October this year.

'We have also given a proposal in several league management meetings that we can give Wednesday to the UEFA game during the league.

Chen Jianzhou (second from left) led the Fubon Warriors to the Eastern Super League Championship Week.

Chen Jianzhou already has his own plan, which is that after the weekend's matches, PLG teams competing in the Eastern Super League can fly to other league venues on Monday, adapt on Tuesday, play on Wednesday and then fly back to Taiwan on Thursday to prepare for the weekend's match.

"Because we are not an association, but a shareholder, this proposal has been discussed with other shareholders in the PLG alliance."

The reason why Chen Jianzhou is so active in promoting the PLG League to join the Eastern Super League is not only his "trust in Matt", but also that he led the team to participate in these continental competitions, and saw the gap between the basketball strength of Taiwan, China, and other Asian countries and regional leagues.

In the Eastern Super League championship week, without Lin Zhijie and several main Fubon warriors, it is basically difficult to pose a threat to other teams.

"It is important to take players to see the world", Chen Jianzhou looks forward to helping players in Taiwan grow better through such basketball exchanges.

"Compared to the major leagues, PLG is like a child, but the younger you fall, the easier it is to get up, and the younger you are frustrated, the less you have self-esteem and dignity. Never try, never know. ”