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Chapter 103: I Love Sports, I Love This City!
Kane, as well as Julie, stared dumbfoundedly at Lin Qi. Their minds couldn't fathom how, just because of a difference in opinion, Julie, who had been working at the club since she was nineteen, was abruptly kicked out by the new management after twelve years of service.
During the past twelve years, Julie had poured her heart and soul into the club. Even though the club had been downgraded to an amateur level, and her monthly salary was barely enough to cover living expenses, she had never thought of leaving. She even imagined herself spending her entire life here, and then training her son to become an athlete, representing Sabin City in competitions worldwide.
However, Julie never expected to be fired for simply contradicting Lin Qi's opinion.
She continued to stare at Lin Qi in disbelief, while Lin Qi repeated, "You can leave now, Ms. Julie..."
With Lin Qi's reminder, Julie left in a daze. Kane hesitated to speak, but eventually, he couldn't bear to see Julie's desolate figure and stood up, "Mr. Lin..."
Lin Qi raised his hand to stop Kane's plea. These people had been at the club for too long, and the previous owners had essentially only wanted to launder money, delegating power to the club's management team, which led to a distorted perception of power among everyone in the club.
There was only one person who had the final say in the club, and that was the club owner. Everyone else was just serving him, and they needed to understand that.
They could oppose any of Lin Qi's orders; as long as they resigned, they could do whatever legal activities they wanted. Otherwise, Lin Qi would have his lawyers sue them until they couldn't afford to defend themselves.
Even if Julie hadn't stepped forward, Lin Qi would have still targeted someone, and that would have been the coach. Today, the coach didn't show up, and as far as he knew, there should have been one here.
Because apart from the original operating company, some players including the coach were also implicated in the money laundering scandal.
It was a simple truth—players and coaches, if not involved in the entire process, it would be hard to perfectly execute money laundering through transfers.
This also made it difficult for the original coach to find a new job. Not every club was willing to accept a coach with a professional stain to lead their team, so the coach stayed here to live off old savings.
Kane knew where he stood, so the one Lin Qi needed to use to assert authority was between the other two. Until Julie stepped forward voluntarily.
After Lin Qi stopped Kane from continuing, he changed the topic, "I agree with your previous statement. Sports represent the spirit of a city. Sabin City needs to show something new this languid summer. We need a professional men's rugby team to boost morale. If I take over here and restart the professional club, how much money would it need?"
Initially, Kane wanted to discuss some matters concerning Ms. Julie with Lin Qi, but at this moment, he was suddenly struck with a dizzy feeling, making him forget about the woman he had worked with for over a decade, who had just been dismissed by his new boss.
After a brief calculation, he gave Lin Qi a figure, "We'll need approximately two to three hundred thousand this year, and it might increase in the future. If we want to recruit star players, the cost might be higher."
His voice lowered as he continued. Managing a professional rugby club wasn't a simple task. This year's transfer period saw the transfer fee for top rugby star Jonathan (乔纳森) exceed three million and ten thousand, creating history.
Think about it, how would a star worth over three million possibly cooperate with a group of ‘blue-overall workers’? He also needed excellent teammates, at least three to four star players, and then some higher-level ‘blue-overall workers’. Just the lineup costs alone could exceed tens of millions, not to mention the annual salaries. Even subpar tycoons might not be able to afford this game.
Lin Qi remained silent, and Kane, after biting his lip, added, "I think our immediate goal should be to advance to the professional league. Once we complete the transition from amateur to professional, we can train our own stars, which will significantly reduce costs, and maybe even make a profit."
A smart person knew how to get capitalists like Lin Qi to support their ideas, and that was to show them profits.
In reality, Lin Qi wasn't concerned about expenses and income. Many times, club managers like Kane had sufficient knowledge about the club and the sports industry but lacked understanding of higher-level aspects.
For example, the municipal government would establish a sports fund this year. Everyone knew what this fund was for, even if it couldn't cover the cost of recruiting top players for Sabin City's rugby club, it could alleviate some financial pressure.
There were also revenue shares from the rebroadcasts of the Athletes' Association's competitions, and bonuses from professional league matches. As long as it was managed properly, and his club was arranged to compete against some of the top federal teams, he would be able to make a lot of money just from broadcast fees alone.
Not to mention some cooperation plans between him and the mayor. After knowing that he willingly “sacrificed” himself to save Sabin City's endangered sports and improve Sabin City's image, how would the mayor not provide some policy support?
So, he wasn't worried about the expenses. He was only considering how to quickly set these things up, show results to people, so he could ask for money and policies.
"Give me a comprehensive development plan, both for women's and men's rugby, following professional standards. Put your heart into this plan; it will determine how much I invest here," Lin Qi paused briefly, "Also, does the club have its own training base?"
Kane's eyebrows twitched, shaking his head. Even in the past few years when the big shot was around, they hadn't considered arranging a professional training base for the club. They were only here to launder money, not to support sports. It wasn't possible for them to invest much here.
Even when recruiting players, they had their own agendas.
Lin Qi nodded, roughly understanding what he needed to do next. It wasn't just about asking for money and policies; he also needed land!
Sometimes, whether a businessman could make money, and how much money he could make, had nothing to do with the type of business he was doing. It only depended on how daring he was and whether he could make people believe in him!
Soon, at Lin Qi's request, just after lunch, the Sabin City Professional Rugby Club issued a public announcement to the society—posting notices and publishing information in newspapers.
Effective immediately, the club was renamed the "Interstellar Professional Sports Club (星际职业俱乐部)." Men's professional rugby was just one project under this club. In addition, there was the women's professional rugby, which was already in the preparatory stage, as well as baseball, cricket, polo, basketball, tennis...
In short, anyone who saw this announcement would feel that the club, which had languished for three years, had suddenly risen up. They could also sense something they hadn't felt in a long time—a thing called the spirit of the city—through this announcement.
In the afternoon at the city hall, witnessed by the mayor, Lin Qi, representatives from the Athletes' Association, and the club manager signed a club equity transfer agreement. The city hall and the Athletes' Association, as the club's liable parties, transferred all club equity and power to Lin Qi at the price of "one buck," including approximately thirty thousand in debt.
During the club's owner-less period, the Athletes' Association had been responsible for maintaining the club's daily minimum expenses, using over ten thousand annually just for basic staff salaries. Now that the debt was effective, Lin Qi had to repay the money to the Athletes' Association.
In front of the reporters, Lin Qi spoke about his feelings for the city, his support for sports, and his love for rugby and other sports.
Previously, he was just an ordinary person, unable to do anything about these matters. But now, with some power in his hands, he should take responsibility and contribute to the revival of Sabin City!
"That was a very inspirational speech." After a simple press conference, Ferrall led Lin Qi out, saying somewhat gloatingly, "But you're in trouble. I heard you fired the club's assistant?"
Lin Qi nodded, "What about it?"
Ferrall chuckled, "People from the Sabin City Women's Rights Protection Association(女性权益保护者协会) are here. They say you discriminated against women and plan to sue you."
This caught Lin Qi by surprise, but he didn't pay it much mind. "Give me their number; I believe we can resolve this misunderstanding quickly."
In this world, there was nothing that couldn't be resolved through communication. Even wars could be resolved through negotiation, let alone some trivial issues.
To Lin Qi, this was simply not a big deal!
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