Dominate the Super Bowl

Chapter 256 255 Sincerity-filled

Eek, the door to the conference room at the Marriott Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles, swung open, the sound of footsteps absorbed by the wine-red carpet, completely silent. Continue reading at empire

A gentleman was coming forward, and despite Los Angeles's relentless summer in September, he was still impeccably dressed in a full three-piece suit, and his sparsely haired crown was neatly groomed—details that showed he was serious about the occasion.

Upon his entrance, the gentleman bypassed Donald, looking earnestly and warmly at Li Wei, opening the conversation with a bit of light humor.

Li Wei didn't catch on at first, following the gentleman's gaze, he then saw the billboard erected atop the skyscrapers of Century City—

"Los Angeles Chargers VS Kansas City Chiefs."

But importantly, what should have been a promotional poster for both teams now only featured Li Wei without any Chargers player.

Upon reflection, this wasn't surprising.

The Los Angeles Chargers had just moved back this season and hardly had any fan base in the city; thus, it made sense to promote the league's new face instead.

Honestly, Li Wei was still not quite used to suddenly seeing his own face on a billboard, which started to feel unfamiliar.

With his head slightly tilted, Li Wei looked back at the gentleman and joked, "They must have done quite a bit of photoshopping, are you sure that's really me?"

The gentleman laughed heartily, reaching out his right hand, "That's why I said, in person, you look even more handsome. Trevor Edwards."

And thus, Donald was just a backdrop.

But Donald didn't mind, as Edwards, Nike's current Executive Vice President of Brand Marketing, unquestionably belonged to the top echelon of management and had shown sincere intent by coming to negotiate in Los Angeles in person; this gesture further proved his sincerity.

Typically, facing rookie players, these seasoned executives knew well that these were kids inexperienced with the world, and throwing a few figures at them would suffice to keep them in line, hence the real negotiation power lay with the agents—

Getting the agent meant getting the rookie.

If the agent was also a top shark in the industry, then rookies had no say in front of their agents and would just nod in agreement.

However, Edwards didn't follow this approach.

Even though Donald was in charge of negotiations, Edwards knew that the final decision lay in Li Wei's hands, showing utmost respect from the first encounter.

It was apparent from the details that Nike had indeed researched Li Wei thoroughly.

Like Jordan, Federer too had teamed up with Nike to build a commercial empire.

Even though Li Wei had time-traveled back from 2023, his foresight advantage was very limited. Nonetheless, he knew one thing: in 2018, at the Wimbledon first round, after fifteen years of appearing in Nike, Federer had subtly switched to a Uniqlo outfit, announcing the most sensational and shocking split in professional tennis with such understatement.

Years later, the CEO of Nike candidly admitted that it was a mistake; they should have kept Federer, they should have kept the Federer brand at Nike.

So, now?

With not much time left until that moment next June, had Federer and Nike started negotiations, or had Nike internally made a decision about Federer's future?

A hypothesis: if Nike had decided not to renew Federer's contract, one major reason could be that they believed Federer's physical condition wouldn't last much longer, that he would soon retire, and it wasn't worth a high-value renewal; they had to look further ahead, particularly at younger talents.

So, in this future young market, does that include Li Wei?

Li Wei was somewhat surprised that Edwards brought up Federer.

He looked over, "Oh, my honor. Does this mean I could get a contract like Federer's?"

Clearly, it was a joke.

Edwards caught on instantly and couldn't help but burst out laughing, "Rather, let's say we're looking forward to discovering the next Federer."

Appropriately, Donald spoke up, "Or perhaps say, football's first Li Wei."

Ambition, just beginning to show.

To tennis, Federer is essentially what Jordan is to basketball.

Before them, each sport had already entered a commercial mode and produced a series of superstars; but their arrival marked a true turning point. The sport powerfully broke out of its circle, becoming highly commercialized, and truly opened new possibilities for other players' endorsement deals—

A whole new world.

Hence, the significance of Donald's words was self-evident.

Edwards looked at Donald seriously for the first time.

It seemed that Nike had underestimated not only Donald's ambitions but also his preparation for this meeting; could Donald truly be planning to use Li Wei as a pivot to push football into an era of individual superstars?

Could this be possible?