America 1919

Looking back at the match between Jack Dempsey and George Caponti, although Jack Dempsey's fee was higher and he ultimately won, consolidating his identity as the American boxing champion, George Caponti, with his good looks, garnered more favor from the audience... especially those crazy American women. Hence, George Caponti ended up with more advertising endorsements, far surpassing Jack Dempsey's income in that area. What upset Doc Kearns even more was that George Caponti's appearance fees had also increased. Although not yet on par with Jack Dempsey, it was already very close! To get more resources within the company, you need the support of Donnie! Tex Ricard, who was one step behind Doc Kearns, showed some dissatisfaction, but then sighed, "What a pity that this event was held in Boise City. If it could have been held in Atlantic City, it would have been even more popular!" Donnie laughed and said, "Don't worry, the company has already decided that all the revenue from this competition will be used to build the competition venue in Atlantic City!" Then Donnie added, "All the costs!" Now Jack Dempsey and Tex Ricard both knew what Donnie meant, not just the UFC's apparent earnings, but also the peripheral income! If that's the case, this income was not small at all! For Starry Entertainment, UFC was a very interesting project. Ever since the match was promoted, its popularity had been consistently high, at one point even exceeding baseball, football, and other sports in terms of pre-match heat. However, its advertising revenue couldn't compare with those other sports. At last year's ABC advertising conference, one could glimpse this truth: UFC's advertising revenues during ABC's live broadcasts weren't even half of Major League Baseball's. Fortunately, the broadcasting rights for UFC belonged entirely to Starry Entertainment. They were able to secure some ad deals themselves and also add ticket revenue to the pot. It looked as if UFC would make a killing, but in reality, the profits weren't that substantial. A large part of the reason was that UFC, even with its popularity, was a new sporting event. Many advertisers were cautious about sponsoring it. Even with its popularity, if the enthusiasm didn't translate into an increase in product sales, it was pointless. In fact, there were not many products that could be associated with boxing matches! And UFC still had to pay the appearance fees for each boxer... though UFC itself would recover a portion. In the end, according to Starry Entertainment's calculations, if the first UFC event went smoothly, it would bring the company revenue between 2 and 5 million US dollars. After deducting various expenses and taxes, the net profit should be around 1 to 2 million! Donnie's vision for the UFC was to build a sports arena in Atlantic City that could rival, or even surpass, the Boyle Stadium. Building such an arena would not be possible without spending four or five hundred million dollars! At present, the tourist attractions in Atlantic City were scarce, with only the Surf Hotel, which could become monotonous. Hence, to keep tourists continually interested in Atlantic City, it was necessary to have more entertainment offerings. Donnie had previously wanted to bring a horse racing event to Atlantic City, but the idea had been put on hold, mainly because there was no suitable stadium. If such an arena existed, it could serve as a venue for UFC events, attracting more visitors to Atlantic City. And when there were no UFC events, the venue could be used for horse racing! Maybe in another decade or so, it could even host concerts and other such events. "Mr. Block, I must say, you are the most visionary boss I've ever seen; few people have such ambitious foresight like you!" This time, Tex Ricard beat Doc Kearns to the punch with his flattery towards Donnie! Donnie, feeling quite pleased, laughed out loud, but his laughter stopped abruptly when he saw John Block sitting in front of himself! "Damn it, do you have any idea that you've spent over three hundred thousand dollars during this time? Instead of doing a good job as the Deputy Chief of Public Safety in Atlantic City, what are you doing coming here?" John, who was caught off guard, was stunned and then asked, "If you're going to spend four or five hundred million on a stadium, my spending of just over three hundred thousand dollars makes you angry?" Donnie snapped back, "Of course, I'm building a stadium to earn more US dollars, but you, spending over three hundred thousand dollars, what do you intend to do with that?" Even though the money was John's own and Donnie shouldn't have commented, Donnie was worried that having money would make John loose and uncontrollable, leading to an addiction to gambling. If that were the case, it would be a massive loss for Donnie! "Of course, I want to make money too!" John muttered in a mix of grievance and pride, then proudly stated, "Haven't you always said that the entertainment offerings in Atlantic City were very monotonous? So I had a genius idea..." At this point, John paused and turned to Donnie, asking, "Didn't I tell you about my genius idea before?" Donnie's expression stalled, vaguely remembering that John indeed had mentioned some genius idea to him before. But in Donnie's perspective, the possibility of John having a genius idea was as likely as getting Zhao Si to speak clearly—totally impossible!