"Uh, sir, are you sure we're asuring for football cleats? Not ballet slippers or high heels or sothing?" Lu Ke was full of questions as he watched the staff mber asuring his feet. He couldn't understand and joked about it.
In the hotel room today, besides Lu Ke and Leigh, Under Armour had sent a total of three representatives. One was Sean, the general manager of the West Coast market, and the other two were his assistants.
The curvy woman was Sean's personal secretary, responsible for recording eting details and contract clauses. The other person, dressed in business casual attire, was a staff mber from the design departnt who was there to asure Lu Ke's body in detail.
The so-called detailed asurents opened up a whole new world, just like getting a custom-made suit. For the arm alone, they asured four different parts. There were also detailed asurents of his hands, shoulders, thighs, and other parts.
The most interesting part was the foot asurent. They not only asured the sole, instep, and arch of his foot but also his ankle and calf. The assistant also asked Lu Ke to walk on a testing device to asure his walking and running habits and see which parts of his feet were under stress.
Although Lu Ke didn't understand how these details would be applied to the equipnt, he truly felt the specialness of "custom-made."
The discussion part of the eting lasted for about thirty-five minutes. Lu Ke and Sean talked about all aspects of the past three weeks' gas. Sean also carefully asked about Lu Ke's life before immigrating, such as his hotown, his mories of China, his Chinese proficiency, and his current connection with his hotown. And so on.
Leigh listened attentively the whole ti, occasionally joining in the conversation, but mostly acting as a dedicated listener.
As an agent, his knowledge of Lu Ke was very limited, but Leigh was a very special person. It was likely that Lu Ke and Ben Roethlisberger would be his only two clients for the next five to ten years, so he could take his ti to learn about Lu Ke in a focused and in-depth way, which was important for his work.
After the conversation, Lu Ke went into the next room and started the asurents. The entire asurent process took about forty-five minutes, but it still wasn't over. They were now back in the living room to finish asuring his feet.
The reason Lu Ke joked was because the person was asuring his ankle. Football cleats were position-specific. Linen who needed to be strong and confrontational wore high-top cleats, while quarterbacks and receivers who needed to be agile wore mid-top and low-top cleats.
"If you want high heels, I have so personal connections with top designers and I can help you get in touch with them," Sean joked along.
Lu Ke said seriously, "I don't think I'll have an occasion to wear them, so I'll pass." The answer, combined with his serious and deadpan expression, was even funnier. "Are you going to design a pair of shoes just for ? The asurents are so detailed that I'm starting to feel a little uneasy."
"Design? No, no, it's just custom-made," Sean said with a light smile. "Maybe one day in the future, we'll design a series called 'Bambi,' but not now."
Lu Ke laughed along. "It seems I have to work harder."
After all the data had been asured, the staff mber nodded to Sean to confirm. Sean then stood up. "Perfect! Today's tasks are all completed, so let's call it a day. Next, we'll arrange the follow-up matters as soon as possible. Once the contract is signed, your equipnt will be delivered to your door."
"It's a pleasure working with you!" Sean politely shook Lu Ke's right hand again. "Oh, and if you sign the contract before Friday, I hope you can wear Under Armour equipnt in this weekend's ga. I look forward to you getting a win." Then, Sean shook Leigh's right hand and led his two assistants away.
Leigh escorted Sean out of the hotel room, while Lu Ke sat on the sofa, slowly recovering.
When Leigh returned to the hotel room's living room, he saw Lu Ke looking up, his face full of a brilliant smile. His eyes were wide as he said excitedly, "Really? Is all of this real? Under Armour is really sponsoring ? I'm a player with a sponsor now?"
For professional players, there were countless sponsors, but among them, cars, sportswear, clothing, and beverages were known as the "four kings." They had the highest endorsent profits, the widest audience, and the most suitable image. They were undoubtedly the dream endorsents and sponsorships of every player.
Now, Lu Ke's first endorsent of his career was for sportswear. The first step was incredibly solid and powerful.
This Lu Ke showed the youthful vigor of a twenty-two-year-old and the excitent of a rookie. Leigh gave a bright smile and nodded to confirm. "Have you read the numbers on the contract?"
"Oh, I forgot about that," Lu Ke ca back to his senses and opened the contract on the table. But the sample was too thick, with countless clauses written on it. It looked like there were at least a hundred pages. For a mont, Lu Ke couldn't find the numbers, so he chose the most convenient way. "Remind , what are the specific numbers?"
"Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year for two years," Leigh answered directly without being mysterious.
Lu Ke let out a long sigh, letting his pounding heart calm down little by little. "You an, Under Armour will now sponsor all my training equipnt, and they'll also pay two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year, which is more than half of my team salary?"
Lu Ke's undrafted rookie contract was four hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars per year. The Under Armour sponsorship contract was two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year, which required Lu Ke's training equipnt to all be from Under Armour.
The NFL's official sponsor was Nike. The jerseys and equipnt of all the teams were from Nike, but Nike didn't have a complete buyout. Players' gloves, cleats, and quick-dry shirts under their jerseys, as well as their personal training clothes outside of gas, were all things they could freely choose sponsors for.
As another official sponsor of the league, Under Armour had almost monopolized the personal training clothes, including quick-dry shirts. Players who didn't have a sponsor almost all chose Under Armour for a simple reason: it was professional and high-quality enough.
Now, Under Armour had bought out the sponsorship of Lu Ke's other equipnt besides his jersey and ga equipnt. From a regular person's perspective, this ant he wouldn't be lacking in sportswear for the next two years.
Compared to Lu Ke's satisfaction, Leigh seed very calm. "Two hundred and fifty thousand a year is not a big contract. If you compare it to the NBA, it's almost nothing. Don't you feel a little disappointed?"
"Haha, a person shouldn't be too greedy," Lu Ke said, waving his hand nonchalantly. "I'm an undrafted rookie who's only played three gas. Getting a sponsor is already a huge step forward. For , the most important thing now is to keep my feet on the ground and focus on the next ga, to move forward one ga at a ti. When the wins pile up, a big contract will naturally follow."
Lu Ke was full of a strong desire to win and would never give up easily, but for things he gained outside of the field, he remained humble, content, and knew his limits. He believed that today's contract was not the end, but the beginning. Confidence did not equal arrogance.
The sponsorship from Under Armour was the first pot of gold in his career. Unlike the undrafted rookie contract he signed before, which was a salary and would only be paid after the season was over, this was an off-field reward, like a bonus, that truly opened up the wide world of professional players.
Deep down, Lu Ke was joyful, surprised, excited, and happy. It was as if he was standing under a spotlight, basking in a warm glow. The small changes in the community over the past two days, including today, had all made Lu Ke feel like he was in a beautiful picture.
The only thing he didn't feel was dissatisfaction.
"As for the NBA..." Lu Ke shrugged. "I think I chose the wrong sport from the beginning."
This joke successfully made Leigh chuckle. He nodded. "It's great that you can maintain this attitude." The more ti they spent together, the more satisfied Leigh was. Lu Ke was indeed a rare quarterback. He hadn't misjudged him.
After entering the professional league, everything began to accelerate and be magnified under the spotlight and the microscope.
A win could bring countless praise and glory, but a loss could also lead to a complete downfall. The pressure from fans and the dia magnified and accelerated everything several tis over. The rollercoaster developnt curve was undoubtedly a severe test for rookie players, and the attention and focus outside of the field could easily cause them to lose their way.
Fortunately, Lu Ke didn't.
The euphoria of the three-ga winning streak didn't cloud his judgnt, and the huge amount of attention he was getting as a Chinese-Arican player hadn't affected his judgnt and focus yet. This was very important.
Frankly, a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar-a-year contract was truly insignificant and had very few highlights.
In the NBA, LeBron Jas's lifeti contract with Nike was as high as a billion dollars, and there were many players with nine-figure shoe endorsent contracts. Even a rookie player's endorsent contract was worth far more than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
In fact, the NFL was the number one sport in North Arica. Its audience size, market value, and level of attention were far ahead. According to incomplete statistics, the NFL's audience was more than three tis that of the NBA. But the endorsent contracts of top NFL players were only equivalent to those of average NBA players.
Why was there such an abnormal phenonon?
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