Yi Jianlian's first game back in the CBA created another suspense - not whether the Guangdong team can quickly get rid of the shadow of being brutally beaten by the Shanxi team in the first game, but what brand of sneakers will Yi Jianlian wear?

Which shoes to wear? Who touched whose cheese?

Nike or Li-Ning? Five years ago, since Li Ning invested 2 billion and became the top strategic partner of the CBA, in the past five seasons, every year players have complained and even fought against each other because of the issue of what shoes to wear, and every year some clubs have been banned from basketball because of this. Association fine.

The fact is very simple. The big financier Li Ning has bought out the CBA’s player equipment distribution rights. All players must not only wear Li Ning brand jerseys, but also Li Ning sneakers. The jersey is not controversial, but the shoes are not fair to Yi Jianlian, Zhou Qi and others who have signed contracts with Nike for a long time.

Since the Anta era of the CBA, the Chinese Basketball Association has drawn up a list of licensed players every season. These players can wear shoes of their own brand, but they need to pay a "redemption fee" from the personal sponsor brand. However, if you think about it from another perspective, Li Ning's huge advertising expenses can actually only work on a few star players. Even if the entire league wears Li Ning and Yi Jianlian wears Nike alone, who will consumers remember?

Naturally, the franchise list has been shortened year by year, and the penalties have become more and more severe. Former Beijing team player Li Xuelin forced himself to wear Nike to play in the 2012-13 season and was fined a total of 1.5 million yuan. Foreign players can choose their own brand of shoes, but they must use tape to remove non-Li Ning trademarks. Last season, Chouzhou Bank's foreign aid Warren was fined a total of more than 400,000 yuan because his tape fell off during the game.

This season is the last year for Li Ning to sponsor the CBA. They simply canceled this list. Even Yi Jianlian, who has never worn any other brand except Nike, will wear Li Ning.

All players will use the reason that they have injuries and must wear special shoes to protect their feet. The Guangdong team sent a "letter of request" to the Basketball Association yesterday, still using Yi Jianlian's foot injury as an excuse to request a concession. Previously, Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin also used the safety of non-personally signed brand sneakers as a weakness.

It’s true that there are injuries, but wearing Nike is definitely safer than other brands? I'm afraid you can easily find a lot of injured soldiers in the NBA as counterexamples.

And Li Ning, who has been stigmatized for "quality problems", also has troubles that he can't express. In fact, for any player who claims to be injured, Li Ning will send someone to his club before the season to make a foot mold for the player and customize the sneakers. As long as the player says they are not suitable, they will have them redone.

There are also some players who were signed by Li Ning in the past. Now that they have changed sponsors, they complain about their predecessors and are immediately caught by shoe fans. It is not wise to have pictures and the truth.

We are all experienced Chinese medicine practitioners, so we shouldn’t prescribe each other’s medicines. To put it bluntly, whether it is for the players, the Basketball Association, or Li Ning, it is a matter of money.

The sky-high contract is just around the corner, and who can represent whom has not yet been resolved

In a plot that repeats every year, the Chinese Basketball Association and Li Ning are the ones who are scolded the most. Why don't they let players wear their own shoes? Everyone agreed, and the two companies were forced to argue, especially Li Ning, who spent money to gain popularity and reputation, but spent money to deal with crisis public relations.

So should they be scolded?

The only way to clarify is to come up with the terms of the contract. In fact, the Basketball Association has repeated it N times in the penalty notice - the Basketball Association entrusted Infront to sign the sponsorship terms with Li Ning, and the terms stipulated Li Ning has such rights, and the Basketball Association has such obligations.

To be fair, many people say that players have not taken any money from Li Ning, so why should they advertise for it? However, according to public statements, the five-year business development agreement between Infront and the Basketball Association has an average annual income of 636 million, of which 336 million will be handed over to the Basketball Association, and the Basketball Association will give each club a dividend of about 12 million. Proportionally, two-thirds of the dividend funds come from Li Ning, which contributes 400 million a year. Can you say that there is no money from Li Ning in Yi Jianlian's salary?

400 million yuan a year, this is big business. CBA's business will grow even bigger in the future.

CBA's commercial development contract expires next year, and various business giants are already eager to give it a try. The Basketball Association has organized a similar investment warm-up meeting in July this year. After the establishment of CBA next year, it is expected that CBA’s TV broadcast and commercial development rights will be sold separately. It is entirely possible to replicate the myth of 8 billion in Chinese Super League broadcast sales. Commercial Development rights are also expected to be sold for 800 million a year.

The person who pays is the uncle, and his words are rough and his reasoning is not rough. It is even possible for some clubs to operate on dividends and make a profit, with sponsors becoming the bread and butter of the players. Correspondingly, the "big men" will inevitably put forward requirements corresponding to the amount of the check, and use more stringent monitoring and supervision to implement it.

Some people may also say that individual players may not agree to sell their personal shoe contract rights, but how much is the salary they get through dividends? Indeed, even in the future CBA shareholders' meeting, there will only be 20 clubs and the Basketball Association, with a total of ***21 votes. Is it missing one vote from the players? Is there a players union missing?

In any case, the Basketball Association finally had a rare quick response to this sneaker controversy. In response to the protests of Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin in the first round, it quickly issued a supplementary clause that detailed the suspension of players who violated the rules. Competition punishment method. In this sky-high-priced business, it is far more than just this detail that needs to be checked and filled. The Basketball Association, the League Committee, and the CBA have too many loopholes to fill.