Chapter 557: Laureus World Sports Awards

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“I just signed a three-year contract with a sponsor. For the next three years, I don’t have to worry about the money for Zhen Chen’s training or the cost of going abroad for competitions,” Jianguo Chen said through the phone.

Dai Li looked at his watch. Although the sun was already high in the sky in Los Angeles, it was still dawn in China. Of course, Jianguo was excited despite the early hour.

As Dai Li said, although Zhen Chen lost the game, he became famous overnight. In the first round of the U.S. Open, Basel had to go through an advantage set to win. His opponent would naturally attract people’s attention. Everyone wanted to know what kind of opponent could give Basel such trouble.

Zhen Chen had also won the favor of many sponsors. After he returned to China, several companies took the initiative to offer advertising endorsement contracts. The most sincere of these was a car company. They gave him a five million dollar, three-year contract for endorsing their products. For the car company, five million dollars was chump change. They could earn that amount back easily. For Zhen Chen, it helped solve an urgent need.

Professional tennis players usually have to spend a lot of money. Professional tennis was a relatively expensive sport. For unassociated players, they had to bear the cost of equipment, training venues, coaches, and travel by themselves. According to some calculations, this could cost at least $40,000 a year. There were relatively fewer tennis tournaments in Asia as well, so Asian players needed to spend a little more.

According to the statistics published by the International Tennis Federation, nearly half of the professional players who were registered with the International Tennis Federation won less than a penny per year. 96% of the tennis players who participated in official competitions were not able to earn a single penny in a year.

According to another statistic, the prize money for male players could only sustain those who were ranked 336 and above, while the female players had to be ranked 253 and above. For those who were ranked lower, the prize money was not enough for them to keep joining competitions. They had to go into debt to play in tournaments.

Looking at this data alone, the world ranking of 350 for men was equivalent to the “poverty line” for athletes. Of course, this data did not take into account endorsements. For athletes who collected sponsorship fees, it was easy to fly around the world and compete.

Zhen Chen was barely in the top 200. Before that, his world ranking was in the three or four hundred. This meant that he was living close to the “poverty line.” If his results were a little bit worse, it meant that it would be necessary to go into debt to participate in competitions. For Zhen Chen, the five million dollar, three-year advertising contract was a well-timed miracle. He wouldn’t have to worry about the cost of going abroad, and he still had enough money to hire a high-level foreign tennis coach.

Dai Li smiled after ending the call with Jianguo Chen.

Men’s tennis in China was quite weak. The living conditions for players there were also very insecure. Those whose family had a good economic background were able to manage, but the average worker was not able to afford the upkeep of a professional player. Zhen Chen was an example of this. He was not the most talented, but he could be considered a top-notch tennis talent in China. This improved his chances of participating in competitions and improving his training environment. It was also good for the development of tennis in China.

Dai Li switched on his computer and took a look at the progress of the U.S. Open. At this time, the tournament had entered the final stages. Although the tennis king Basel had a somewhat bumpy start in the first round, he went straight to the finals. Victory was just around the corner.

As Dai Li was browsing the latest sports news, his phone rang. It was a call from the front desk receptionist.

“Boss, I just received an invitation from the Laureus World Sports Association. They are inviting you to the Laureus Sports Awards ceremony,” the receptionist said.

“Understood. Send the invitation to my office,” Dai Li said.

Seeing this letter made Dai Li aware that he was on the list of candidates for the Laureus Sports Award.

The Laureus Award was the most influential award in the world of sports. It was also the only global award ceremony for sports. The awards at the Laureus Awards were given at the beginning of each year, and the awards were presented to individuals and groups that had made contributions to the world of sports in the past year.

About 2,000 senior sports journalists from more than 70 countries and regions nominated six individuals or groups for each award. Then, 52 officers from the Laureus Sports Association voted in a secret ballot to determine the winners.

If the Olympics or the World Cup were held the preceding year, the Laureus Awards were inclined to include these two major sports events during the selection. For example, when the World Cup was held in the preceding year, the Best Team Award went to the World Cup champions. For example, the 2007 Best Team Award was awarded to the Italian men’s soccer team. The 2011 Best Team Award was awarded to the Spanish men’s soccer team. In 2015, the German men’s soccer team won this award.

This year’s awards coincided with the Olympics, so the Laureus Awards would be more inclined to include those athletes and groups that won in Rio. The American track and field team won 27 gold medals in the Olympic Games, so they were the favorites to win the Best Team Award in the Laureus Awards.

The Laureus Awards this year had added several new awards, such as the Sports Model Award, the Sports Charity Award, and the Best Coach of the Year award. Dai Li had a chance to win the Laureus’ first Coach of the Year award.

Dai Li called the American Track and Field Association and asked the American Track and Field Association to inquire about the other five candidates. Soon after, he received detailed information on the other five candidates.

Fernando, the head coach of the Portuguese men’s soccer team. Portugal won the European Cup this year, so he also received the candidacy of best coach. Although the Portuguese team was strong, Europe is full of strong teams. Winning the European Cup was not an easy feat.

Steve, the head coach of the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors were the NBA champions last season. If it were just an NBA championship, it might not be enough to receive the nomination for Best Head Coach for the Laureus’, but the Warriors made NBA history last season. They had a terrifying 73 wins in a single season.

Helheim, the world-class leader of the Formula One World Championship Ferrari team. After the car king Helheim’s rehabilitation, he seems to have adapted well to his new job. The Ferrari team regained their team champion and champion driver titles in this last season. It seems that I have another chance to see Helheim again at the Laureus Awards ceremony.

Henry, the head coach of the Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox. The Boston Red Sox has always been a strong American professional baseball team, and they also won the MLB World Series last season. Coach Henry has coached the Boston Red Sox for more than a decade. The curse of the Bambino was broken by him. In baseball, he is definitely a legendary coach. Perhaps this is why he got a nominated as a candidate.

Muhammad, the head coach of the Afghan cricket team. In the past two cricket World Cups, the Afghan team has won a semi-final and been a runner-up. It wasn’t easy for a country like Afghanistan, which is still subject to car bomb attacks from time to time, to do so.

Looking at the list of the other five candidates, Dai Li felt that he was in a better position.

The performance of the U.S. track and field team at the Olympics was Dai Li’s best bargaining chip.

This year’s U.S. track and field team was affected by the doping scandal. Before the Olympics, everyone thought they would do poorly. Everyone described the team as the weakest track and field team in history. However, Dai Li took this weak team and counterattacked to achieve the best results in the history of the Olympic Games and, in doing so, created a miracle.

For the other five candidates, the Portuguese men’s football team was one of the best in Europe and the Golden State Warriors were also the strongest team in the NBA. Ferrari was the king of F1 and the Boston Red Sox had always been at the top of the MLB standings. These four teams were dominant, so their wins were not miraculous. Based on this, they were not as good as Dai Li.

The Golden State Warriors and the Boston Red Sox were also American professional teams. There were already at a disadvantage competing against a national team. If they had actually won the competition against a national team and they took an award away from a national team, it would make them public enemy number one.

As for the Afghan cricket team, they were indeed very inspirational. Their achievements were also a model of a weak team’s counterattack, but Dai Li was the head coach of the U.S. track and field team. He was representing the United States. How could Afghanistan fight with America for the award?

F1’s Helheim: For him to get the Best Coach Award was somewhat far-fetched. Although Helheim was a team leader and race engineer, the functions of his role were different from the other sports coaches.

Formula One was a team sport. If you wanted to get good results, it was not enough to have a good driver, you also needed a fast enough car. At the same time, the strategy of the game and the speed of the tire change directly affected the final result. The effects were enormous. So the tasks of the mechanical engineers and strategic engineers were equally important. The strength of the racer needed to be reflected in the car, but it also depended on the entire team behind him. This was not like basketball or football where if you gave the player a ball, he would be able to show the world amazing skills.

…

In February, Dai Li went back to China for the New Year. Before he had a chance to celebrate the Lantern Festival, he had to fly back to London, England hurriedly. The new Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony was being held here.

The first-class cabin of the aircraft provided a variety of the latest magazines and newspapers, some of which were about sports. Dai Li picked up several newspapers and looked at them.

“The head coach of the Golden State Warriors, Steve, misses the Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony because of the NBA All-Star Game.”

“Boston Red Sox coach Henry misses the Laureus World Sports Awards for a preseason game.”

If you people don’t come, it is going to be difficult to present theme the awards. From the look of things, Steve and Henry are intending to give up on this award.