FACT: Yao being on the team makes the games broadcast in China. This makes the signs courtside and otherwise worth much more. FACT: Most of the signs courtside are in chinese. Even the ones that are not in Chinese or for Chinese companies are seeking the huge chinese audience. HP for example. FACT: When you have more people want to buy the sign, the price rises bigtime. Now that most of the signs are chinese we can assume the price is very high.
without Mike Jordan, NBA is nothing to Chinese people; without Yao, NBA is not much more than the baseball or football leagues to Chinese people. although NBA is the 4th sports league in US, it is way better known than all others adding up together. bussinessmen can turn this into $ for sure.
According to my data, Anta's share price in 2007 ranged from $7 (US$) to about $10, then crashed through most of last year, all the way down to $2, its currently had a meteoric 2-month rise back up to $8.5 as of a few minutes ago - but if he bought anywhere near the 2007 prices he hasn't come close to doubling his investment and it was a real dog for most of last year.
That article is flat wrong. Read the article I posted. Sure, Toyota opened a plant in Tianjin in 2003 - they also decided to build a plant in San Antonio in 2003. To make Trucks. to sell to Texans. That's why they're always pimping Tundras at the T-Center and having Tundra based promotions. It's a designed strategy to go toe-to-toe with Ford and Chevy in their last, best, highest margin market, with the possibilty of capturing a segment of the growing Hispanic heavy truck market which doesn't have the NASCAR-ish Chevy/Ford brand loyalty that the old whiter Texas truck market had. According to some of you YOF's, without Yao the Toyota Center would be named "C&D Scrap Metals Arena" - I know it sounds crazy, but there are actually people in the US who buy things, which is why the other 29 NBA arenas are not named after Chinese companies.
Oh ok well then since you're such a genius what was the offering price of Alexander's shares - we can calculate an exact rate of return. It's an HK traded company so you should be able to obtain the data...thanks in advance. Edit: I should add, Anta is listed in HK$ not US$. I just looked it up, the IPO price was around 5 HK$....it doubled...then crashed, but has now doubled again. Les' firm is not listed as owning anymore of it though so I don't know when they cashed out.
well,, you don't even know what IPO is. what can you talk to me? it's a joke. go to google "IPO", "Stock option" , then come back.
Right brah. Come back when you have some data - like I said it's a public company and I already did quite a bit of research for you. You shouldn't have trouble figuring out his ROI.
$40mm in revenue. ~$75 for upper bowl playoff tickets/per game... = 1 T Shirt at the start of the Playoffs + useless Academy Crapboard + Glow in the Dark bangers that are destroyed 5 minutes into the game + silly rally towel. The promo stuff sucks hard.
Sure, Toyota opened a plant in San Antonio in 2006 - they also opened a plant in Tianjin in 2003. When did Toyota Center open again? Oh that's right - 2003. So the Times article is "flat wrong," but you'll have us believe that Toyota Center somehow represents a 3 year marketing campaign that started in 2003 for a truck plant/truck model that was slated to roll out in 2006? I also didn't see "Toyota Center" or "Houston" mentioned anywhere in the NYTimes article you linked. http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/77713 Pray tell if the truck-buying demographic is what they're after, why do they keep. mentioning. the. name. of. that. Chinaman. at. every. turn? Hmm? Maybe Toyota is a (not so) secret YOF? Also, don't forget that Minute Maid Park's naming right was up for grabs at around the same time. Seems to me that Toyota would get more mileage out of that if the truck-buying demographic was what they're interested in. But I don't suppose facts and logic ever convinces the willfully ignorant. Name calling. Nice. Too bad you're wrong again there, but it's comical seeing you bat 0 for a million on this topic. Keep it up. No, on second thought, if you can't take the heat (or, apparently, argue the facts), please stay away. kthxbai
And when did they announce the construction of the Tundra plant in San Antonio? February 2003 just a few months before they signed the deal to name the Toyota center. http://www.isa.org/InTechTemplate.c.../TaggedPage/DetailDisplay.cfm&ContentID=23323 No, the Times article, which is an actual article about Toyota's North American truck strategy, is right. Toyota's North America Truck strategy predates the naming of the T-Center. Is Yao's added reach an added bonus for them? Sure...but make no mistake, selling Tundras in Texas was Toyota's primary North American sales strategy in the early 00's...it backfired because the plant sits there empty, but hat's beside the point...the YOF's on this forum refuse to admit it, but it's true. The "Time" article, which makes the same simplistic "EVERYTHING MUST BECAUSE OF YAO" assumption that you are making, is the one that is wrong. Uh, those naming rights were awarded over a year earlier in June 2002. Go back to YM mania my young friend.
I wonder if Yao was responsible for naming these arenas: Toyota Center, Kennewick Washington, Capacity 8,000, home of the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League. Tim's Toyota Center, Prescott Arizona, Capacity 5,000, home of the Arizona Sundogs of the Central Hockey League. Town Toyota Center, Wenatchee Washington, Capacity 4000, home of the Wenatchee Wild.
Sam, no need for that. The topic is certainly shifted from Yao being a cash cow to TC was named because of Yao. I guess whether Yao brings money to Les, Rockets, NBA, and teammates is quite clear, albeit exact numbers are not available. As for the TC naming, I think it has more to do with SF3 than Yao.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_07/b3971060.htm FEBRUARY 13, 2006 Toyota Builds A Truck Even Bubba May Love When Toyota Motor (TM ) Corp. engineers visited South Texas to ask locals what they wanted in a full-size pickup, the out-of-towners got a quick education in priorities. Sure, the truck had to be big and powerful, but it also needed Texas-size brakes to stop three-plus tons of horses, hay, gear, and trailer from taking out a corral fence or barn post. Toyota listened and learned. And at the Chicago Auto Show on Feb. 9, it will fire its boldest shot yet into the already wobbly defenses of Detroit's auto makers -- taking the wraps off the first full-size Toyota pickup that's large and tough enough to win over the NASCAR and big-belt-buckle crowd. The new Tundra, which will be built near San Antonio and arrives at dealerships early next year, spells big trouble for Detroit in the red-state Bubba-truck market, the last reliable profit redoubt for General Motors Corp. (GM ) and Ford Motor Co. (F ). Yes, this marks Toyota's third attempt to get a work truck right. And Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY ) beat it to market with a legit full-size truck, the Titan, by nearly three years. But according to John Matthews, a San Antonio dealer who advised on the Tundra's development, Toyota has corrected mistakes made in the current model and its '90s predecessor, the T100, both of which were too small and light to go bumper to bumper with the Big Three. Hint: It's big. How big? "When other truck owners park next to this Tundra," says Matthews, "they'll feel like they're in a solar eclipse." To learn the truck market anew, Toyota engineers immersed themselves in Sunbelt America. They hung out at NASCAR events and camped out at ranches in South Texas and Oklahoma, says Matthews. They even went to RV camps and persuaded families to let them travel along. Toyota's gearheads had plenty of questions. What's the perfect towing solution for different-size trailers? Which dashboard materials clean up the best? How many configurations of the Tundra should Toyota offer? The answer to the last question: a lot. After all, according to the car site Edmunds.com, Ford has more than 60 versions of the F-Series for customization-happy truck buyers. And Chevy lists 46 styles of the Silverado. The current Tundra offers just 18. Image was a matter of considerable import, too. Toyota has a great reputation for quality and reliability. But the macho image that has long endeared Ford to Texas ranchers? Um, no. "You've got three generations of truck-buying families here with Ford blue ovals tattooed on their foreheads," says Matthews. Spy shots of camouflaged Tundras on test tracks, as well as the Toyota concept shown two years ago at the Detroit auto show, reveal an aggressively sculpted hood akin to the Dodge Ram and a more muscular look than the category-leading Ford F-150. And while Matthews wouldn't divulge the Tundra's specifications, he says that "Toyota realized it needs to be the best in class." Likely translation: The Tundra will top the 305-horsepower engine and 9,500-pound tow limit that come standard with the Nissan Titan. Plus, Toyota's new truck will feature a living-room-quality interior and plenty of storage options for road warriors. Of course, it's no coincidence that Toyota chose San Antonio truck country to manufacture the new Tundra; 12,000 new jobs builds a lot of goodwill -- not to mention a steady stream of newspaper ads reminding consumers that Toyota has spent billions of dollars constructing plants in pickup-centric states like Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia. And to make doubly sure that people got the message, Toyota in 2003 persuaded NASCAR to count the current Tundra as a qualified American truck. That finally won Toyota a slot in the Craftsman Truck Series, which features drivers racing modified pickups. You could almost hear the gnashing of teeth in Detroit. Ford President Mark Fields has said that Toyota is "desperately trying to cast itself as an American brand." But patriotic fealty to Motown pickups is fading fast. In Janesville, Wis., home to a GM SUV plant, sales at Hesser Toyota, including Tundras, have been up 30% two years running, says General Sales Manager Phil Bouland. And some of those customers have been GM employees and their families. Buying Toyotas, says Bouland, has become "more acceptable than it was three or four years ago." All Toyota needs to do now, it seems, is build the Tundra sufficiently big and rugged -- and they will come.[/quote]
I bet Les and Yao are having a good laugh looking this 10 page+ argument on whether Yao bring Les any extra cash. No doubt over a couple rounds of Tsingtao. There is nothing more scintillating than a bunch of fans arguing how one rich person and one very rich person are helping each other make more money.
No, you're didn't read my post clearly enough. I even separated it into neat little paragraphs so it can be read better. There's one paragraph for each level of cash cowness: one for the league, one for the Rox and one for Les personally. THis is insane. How can people even doubt Yao Ming being a cash cow? Are you honestly saying Yao freakin' Ming brings the same amount of revenue to the Rockets and Les Alexander as Chuck Hayes and Carl Landry? What the heck is wrong with you people?
what's the point of this comment, seriously? its a legit topic on FAN MESSAGE BOARD. if the argument is that Yao brings outside revenue and therefore they will make every attempt to keep him, then why not discuss this?
This thread is about how Yao brings more money to Les/Rockets, not whether Les will make every attempt to keep Yao.
