Extraordinary Genius

Chapter 1376 – Sports Mogul

Feng Yu, and the other three, are eating and chatting in New York’s top Italian restaurant. Although the Li brothers were taught not to speak during meals since young, it’s different when dining with friends.

Maybe it was because Feng Yu and Kirilenko like to chat over meals.

Li Zeju is good at chatting. He knows Kirilenko had invested in a basketball team and is targeting a football club in Europe recently. So, he started chatting about sports with him.

It’s the Olympics this year, and the whole world is more interested in sporting events.

“Kirilenko, I heard your basketball team had started to make profits after two years and even won the NBA championships. This is impressive.”

“Hahaha... This is nothing compared to Feng. His team starts to profit in one year and won the championships earlier than my team. But my team is making more than him now. His team might be in LA, but mine is in New York!”

Brooklyn’s ticket prices are higher because there are more wealthy people in New York. Although LA is prosperous too, there are too many low-income people there.

“I saw in the news that you want to buy a football club in Europe.” Li Zeju asked.

“I find sports clubs are interested and can make money. I can also use it to promote my companies’ brands. But not many club owners are willing to sell. The ones selling are lousy teams, and some are only willing to sell some of the club’s shares. What a joke! Those people don’t have much money, and how can they be the major shareholder?”

Kirilenko replied with a disdainful expression. He is the top billionaire in Europe, and how can someone inferior to him manage his club? If anyone is going to be his company’s major shareholder, it must be someone like Feng Yu!

Those ordinary billionaires... psst!

“Brother Ki, are you interested in managing a football club?” Feng Yu asked.

“It’s fun. Are you also interested? Can you offer some suggestions? Which team do you think is better? I will buy it regardless of how much it costs!” Kirilenko looks at Feng Yu with sparkling eyes.

“Which team do you prefer, or should I say, which country’s club are you buying? I need to remind you that many clubs in Europe do not only have football. They also have basketball, volleyball, teams. Even the football clubs have men, women, and youth teams.”

Feng Yu is not lying because he was shocked when he heard Bayern Munich Basketball team in his previous life.

Bayern Munich... is a basketball team?!

Feng Yu found out later that some large sports clubs in Europe have multiple teams in different sports. But most of their football clubs are more famous.

The clubs do not only have men teams. They also have a women’s team, but women’s teams are not profitable. At least, the youth team can groom the youths for the senior team. Feng Yu heard this is because they want to prevent women from accusing them of discrimination.

Feng Yu felt this is nonsense. No one watches women’s football, and no one is buying the tickets and broadcasting rights. The female football stars cannot attract any advertisers, and they are a burden to the club.

But these are the regulations, and Feng Yu cannot do anything about it.

Of course, Kirilenko can buy the football club’s shares from the team. But he will be restricted when it comes to managing the team. This is worthwhile, and he doesn’t need to get involved with those loss-making entities of the club.

But the clubs are not stupid. They will not sell their most valuable football club and keep the rest of the loss-making teams. How are they going to make money?

The most valuable sports team will be football in the future, followed by baseball and basketball.

The sports clubs are not worth a lot now because it has not reached its peak. Two years later, football teams’ jersey sponsorships, TV and online broadcasting rights, etc., will reach their peak, and the players’ value will sky-rocket. That’s the time when football clubs’ value reaches its peak.

Buying a team now and selling it ten years later is a good deal. Ten years is enough to let a good team’s market value increase by ten folds.

“Feng, I will not buy those integrated sports clubs. I just want to buy a football team, and I prefer a German or an English team. Do you have any recommendations?”

Feng Yu shrugged his shoulders. “You think too highly of me. I don’t know much about football, especially those with long history and influence. It’s not easy to buy them, and it’s not worth paying a premium price for them. My suggestion is to invest. But after you invested in the club, you can request to be the Chairman of the team. I believe no one can win you with your influence.”

The Chairman of the team needs to be capable and influential. Kirilenko is Europe’s Richest Man, and other shareholders will support him because they want to make more money.

Of course, they might not agree if they know about Kirilenko’s true management skills.

Some clubs are membership-based. That means the shareholders are their members, and the club will issue shares despite not being listed. The shareholders will enjoy dividends, and the head coach manages some English clubs.

Feng Yu is telling Kirilenko to invest in such clubs and become the biggest shareholders. He doesn’t need to have the controlling stake and let the members vote him to be the club’s Chairman.

This will lower the cost, and Kirilenko might not even need to spend 100 million USD to control the team.

Feng Yu had also thought of buying a football team in Europe to let some Chinese players play there for the experience. But he gave up this idea because he realized it’s hard to revive China’s football. The players’ attitudes are a serious problem.

Feng Yu explained, and Li Zeju also added his views. He is also a football club member and minor shareholder. If Kirilenko is interested, he can recommend the shareholders to him. The team he had invested in is a German team, and it fits Kirilenko’s requirements.

This team is FC Bayern Munich!

If Kirilenko can invest successfully, he will become one of the biggest Sports Moguls in the world!