Chapter 853: Staples Center
Located in Los Angeles, the Staples Center is undoubtedly one of the most prominent and popular venues in North America. Its prime location in star-studded Los Angeles and proximity to Hollywood ensure it's always under the spotlight. It's the home of the top NBA team, the Los Angeles Lakers, and has witnessed the rise of a dynasty. During the off-season, it becomes one of the premier performance venues in the United States, hosting concerts, boxing matches, charity events, and more.
If the East Coast has Madison Square Garden, the West Coast has the Staples Center. These two top-tier multipurpose entertainment venues face each other, becoming an inseparable and important part of the North American entertainment industry.
October is still the NBA's off-season, and there is still some time before the new season begins. However, the Staples Center is lively all year round, with a full schedule of events every week and every day. Today is no exception; once again, this top venue has become the focus of attention across the country.
But this time, the situation is a bit special. It's not because of basketball, hockey, boxing, or a concert. It's because of football.
In 1994, as the second-largest city in the United States, both the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Raiders relocated, leaving a void in the city for professional football. The lack of an NFL team was a major regret for the city hall. Every year, when other major cities celebrated the nation's number one sport, Los Angeles always felt a little lonely.
In fact, like New York, Los Angeles is a prime market for professional sports leagues, but its situation is a bit unique.
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which hosted the Olympics twice, was the city's football venue. Putting aside the fact that it was nearly ninety years old and in disrepair, it was also one of the largest venues in the United States, with a capacity of over 90,000, second only to the Rose Bowl.
The two teams that had been based in this city historically encountered different problems.
After the Los Angeles Raiders moved here, they had an impressive record and won the 18th Super Bowl in January 1984. But the team was mired in controversy off the field. The team's silver and black colors were the same as those of Los Angeles' street gangs. More importantly, the stadium's management committee never fulfilled its promise to add luxury suites to the stadium, and repairs were progressing slowly. In a fit of anger, the team moved again.
The Los Angeles Rams were a top-tier team when they moved here and remained competitive, reaching the playoffs for eight consecutive years in the 1970s, but they faced different issues. The size of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum made it difficult to sell out tickets, which caused broadcasters to dislike airing the Rams' games. Moreover, the stadium was located in the most dangerous and chaotic part of Los Angeles' southern downtown area, and parking was a major issue.
The Rams' owner tried to convince the Los Angeles City Hall to build a new stadium but was unsuccessful. They even moved to Anaheim in the southeastern suburbs of Los Angeles to negotiate, but they still couldn't persuade the local government, which refused to build a new stadium to avoid burdening the city hall. In desperation, the team moved to St. Louis.
In other words, the dilapidated and enormous Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was the biggest problem. In addition, the high cost of living and doing business in Los Angeles was much more demanding than in smaller cities. Even for the league's top teams, it was difficult to consistently attract 90,000 fans for a weekly regular-season game, which presented a severe challenge to a team's business operations.
After all, across the world, there are only a handful of venues like Wembley Stadium, which can hold 90,000 people and remain popular.
This is what led to Los Angeles not having an NFL team for the past two decades. Nevertheless, ever since the Los Angeles Raiders moved to Oakland, the city's lack of a top professional football team has been a concern for many parties.
For the Los Angeles city government, having a team from a top professional league would bring an immeasurable boost to the economy and have an impact on surrounding industries. The Los Angeles Lakers are the perfect example. For the NFL, the massive market of Los Angeles has always been a target they covet. Major cities like Chicago, Houston, and New York have already proven the unlimited potential of a top sports market.
Similarly, the thirty-two teams are also looking forward to Los Angeles joining the league to further expand the league's footprint, which would have an irreplaceable and important impact on the league's overall revenue.
However, the problem of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has always been in the way and needed to be solved urgently.
In 2007, the mayor of Los Angeles publicly announced that they would adjust their policy on NFL teams moving to Los Angeles and would explore other options.
In late September of this year, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a proposal to build Farmers Field. This brand-new stadium would attract an NFL team to relocate here. The stadium would be completed and put into use in 2016 and would be located in the city center, seamlessly integrating into the daily lives of the local people.
It can be said that although the city currently has no professional football team, football has never truly left. Not to mention the rivalry between UCLA and USC in the NCAA, their annual game is a city-wide celebration.
Today, football is once again associated with Los Angeles.
When Rolex announced that they would be holding a formal press conference at the Staples Center and sent out invitations to all major sports media outlets, stating that this would be a major breakthrough for Rolex in North American professional sports, people didn't immediately think of football. They were more likely to guess about the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, and other potential possibilities.
As people were letting their imaginations run wild, more news came out from the industry:
Rolex's press conference was related to football, and Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner, would be attending the press conference as a special guest.
Boom!
In an instant, everyone went wild, and all sorts of speculations emerged.
Last season, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had explicitly stated in an open letter that the league would prioritize building a stadium in Los Angeles and looked forward to a team returning to the city in the future. This season, the Los Angeles City Council gave a positive response by unanimously approving the new stadium proposal.
Naturally, people came up with a major possibility:
Is Rolex going to sponsor the new stadium? Does this mean that it's a sure thing that a team will move to Los Angeles? Furthermore, did Rolex get involved? So, will Rolex get further involved in NFL sponsorships? Has it already gotten an initial idea?
All sorts of thoughts began to bubble up.
What's for sure is that this is going to be big! Absolutely huge!
Jay Fox arrived at the Staples Center early. The bustling scene in the plaza outside was very lively. He could even see the broadcast vans from Fox, ESPN, and NBC, with three of the top public networks showing up, which spoke volumes. As for the major sports media, there were countless of them. From a rough estimate, the number of media outlets present was at least in the triple digits.
This was the most grand press conference of Jay's career so far.
Inside the Staples Center, there was an oak stage, a long blue table, movable seating, and a surging crowd. And there was a huge Rolex branded backdrop that dominated the view. It was mainly light blue with a wine red trim and occasional pale pink and mint green accents. Of course, it also had Rolex's classic gold color, making it simple, elegant, and luxurious.
In this environment, all the conversations were lowered, leaving only a rustling sound. But the heat and excitement in their eyes were boiling. It was clear that everyone was excited and happy, and they couldn't hide it.
Even for them, the collision of the words "Rolex" and "NFL" was electrifying.
Jay stopped and looked around. Three hundred media outlets, or even more, filled every corner of his sight. A quick scan showed that almost all the famous sports media outlets had arrived, and so had the top multipurpose media.
For example, the Los Angeles Times sent five reporters, including Jay. All the media outlets gave this event the highest level of treatment.
"So, does anyone know what's going on?"
"Rolex's news was kept under wraps so well. There was no wind of it at all. It seems to be top-level confidential. We couldn't get any news in any way. Did you guys get any?"
The answer to this question was a series of shakes of the head.
"Okay, it seems like Rolex is taking this very, very seriously. This... should be good news, right?"
"Do you think Rolex will sponsor the NFL's official timekeeper? If so, this would be the first official partnership between Rolex and the four major leagues, right?"
"Wow, the first time in history. This is definitely big news."
"No, no. If it were an official partnership with the league, Roger Goodell wouldn't be so low-key. The league office would definitely have let the news out."
"Could it really be the stadium? That's too much. Rolex doesn't seem interested in stadiums."
"Or... is it Tom Brady?"
"Brady still has a watch contract now."
"Then what about Aaron Rodgers?"
...
Amid the bustling discussions, someone next to Jay noticed his arrival and asked naturally, "Hey, Jay, do you have any news?"
Jay sighed. "No, I don't know either."
But one thing was for sure: even though no details had been leaked yet, the entire North American region was already in a frenzy.
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