Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Zhao Xuming did not dare to delay any longer after leaving the conference room. He immediately arranged for his subordinates to do something. The three tasks were done at the same time.

The various clubs had to contact them to work together. The money might be from Finger Games but the specific improvements to the food and accommodation environment, the treatment of the players, the standard contract, and so on had to be done by every club.

This sum of money was not small and could not be wasted. They had to immediately arrange for people to publicize it. The treatment in ICL was definitely top-notch in the industry. It did not lose to the GPL at all. Some parts had even surpassed it. They had to quickly resolve the current public opinion storm and leave a good impression on the passers-by.

In addition, they had to take this opportunity to continue promoting the ICL and increase the popularity of the league.

Eric might have given instructions to Zhao Xuming often after taking over Chrétien's job but Zhao Xuming did not dislike Eric too much.

It was mainly because while Eric was in charge of many things, he was a man of his word.

Dayak Corporation and Finger Games gave Eric very high authority to use a large sum of money. Take this matter for example. Eric could settle problems that Zhao Xuming could not solve.

More importantly, Eric would be the one to take the blame. Zhao Xuming would be safe.

The reason why Zhao Xuming was able to continue being the person-in-charge of IOI's business cooperation department was because he was very good at shifting the blame.

Eric was now in charge of all matters and Zhao Xuming was his assistant. This was not bad news for him.

Zhao Xuming could immediately draw a clear line if something really happened. Whether IOI's local server succeeded or not would not affect his position in Long Yu Corporation.

All three aspects of work were rather important. However, after careful consideration, Zhao Xuming felt that the first issue was the most important. Thus, he decided to communicate with these clubs personally.

Finger Games might be the one paying but some details would affect the club's interests.

For example, the standard contracts of the players.

Back then, SUG Club had been on bad terms with Tengda because of this matter. It was directly removed from GPL by Boss Pei and became the scapegoat.

If not for this little episode, the standard contract would probably have caused a stir.

On the other hand, the standard contract that Boss Pei requested was only limited to within the GPL. The contracts for other E-Sports projects were definitely not manageable. At the moment, the contracts that IOI's players were using were still old contracts.

Now, Finger Games wanted all the clubs in IOI to change into standard contracts. Would that cause them to resist?

These clubs were all partners in the ICL league after all. Their attitudes had to be on point and could not be neglected.

Thus, after some consideration, Zhao Xuming decided that he had to do it himself.

What's more, how to spend the money after it arrived in the account was a problem. If these clubs took the money but secretly embezzled it and used it to do other things, wouldn't Finger Games lose money and lose face?

He had to use it specifically and supervise it.

Many details could only be decided after careful discussion.

However, there was good news. After the previous storm, the standard contract had already been accepted by many clubs. The resistance would be much less if ICL were to implement the standard contract.

After some consideration, Zhao Xuming called FV Club's manager, Wu Yue, and briefly explained the matter, hoping that Wu Yue would cooperate.

On the other end of the line, Wu Yue smiled. "Boss Zhao, there's no need. Our club has already done what you said!"

"That's because our club's standards are based on GPL standards. Be it food, accommodation, training, or fitness, they are all very good. In addition, our players' contracts have long been changed to standard contracts. You don't have to worry about that."

Zhao Xuming was stunned.

It was already set in stone?

He knew that Boss Pei treated FV Club quite well, but he did not expect it to be this good.

That was because the members of FV Club had already won the championship. They had a prize reward of more than two million US dollars. Even if the five of them split it equally, it would still be a huge sum of money.

With so much money, who would care about food, accommodation, fitness, and standard contracts?

The team members would not complain even if Boss Pei did not do anything.

However, he did not expect Boss Pei to be so stingy with the details without leaving any loopholes.

Zhao Xuming had originally heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that he could save some money. However, on further thought, something was amiss!

His tone immediately became firm. "Boss Wu, we have to fork out this sum of money!"

Wu Yue was stunned. "Huh? That's not necessary, right?"

He could not help but wonder why people were fighting to pay for this.

Everyone had so much money to burn?

Zhao Xuming was obviously not burning money because he had too much money. He had thought of a very important problem.

Wouldn't that leave Boss Pei with something to use against them if Finger Games paid for all the clubs in ICL except for FV club?

FV Club was a club in the ICL league after all. Since Finger Games had decided to fork out money for subsidies, they had to treat them equally. How could they treat them differently?

If news of this were to spread, everyone would think that Finger Games was petty. Saving these two to three million yuan would cause another crisis for public relations.

Wu Yue could not help but secretly rejoice at that thought.

It was another trap left behind by Boss Pei. I almost stepped into it. Fortunately, I'm smart!

Wu Yue did not understand why Zhao Xuming was so determined, but he had no reason to reject it since Zhao Xuming was willing to subsidize it.

FV Club had been receiving benefits from Boss Pei which made them a little embarrassed. Now that they had a chance to save some money for Boss Pei, why not?

Thus, Wu Yue agreed readily.

Zhao Xuming asked again, "By the way, Boss Wu, can you briefly organize the food and accommodation standards, training standards, fitness standards, and the like and send me a copy? If it's not convenient to show me the standard contract, you can briefly explain the key points. That way, we can arrange it according to this standard."

The ICL league did not intend to copy the GPL completely but he had to at least understand it.

That was because these two leagues were directly related in terms of standards. He had to ensure that these conditions were close. If the gap was too big, it would be equivalent to working for nothing.

Wu Yue readily agreed. "No problem. I'll organize the general terms and send it to you."

Apart from the standard contract, the rest of the content was not considered confidential. It was nothing more than Fish-Catching Take-Out, Deposit Fitness, accommodation standards, training computer hardware, and so on.

Zhao Xuming had many other channels to understand it even if Wu Yue did not say it. It did not take much effort. Therefore, Wu Yue did not hide it and straightforwardly sorted out the content and sent it to Zhao Xuming.

Zhao Xuming waited patiently for more than ten minutes before he received a form from Wu Yue.

The content of the form was very simple. It only contained club-related standards. For example, they were to order special training meals at Fish-Catching Take-Out. There were fitness tasks at the Deposit Fitness every day. The computer used for training was ROF Computer-Installation.

Zhao Xuming looked at the form and could not help but gasp.

This standard was really high!

Of course, high standards and spending more money were secondary. The most important problem was that these were all Tengda's own businesses!

Not to mention take-out and gyms, even the computers used for training were Tengda's own computer-installation business.

If ICL implemented similar standards, wouldn't they have to book Fish-Catching Take-Out and Deposit Fitness?

Wasn't that nonsense!?

Boss Pei's promotional video had caused Finger Games to spend twenty to thirty million yuan more. Yet, they still had to spend that money on Boss Pei's businesses? And allow Boss Pei to earn more?

Ridiculous!

It was not a matter of money. It was not much money, but it was difficult to accept it emotionally.

Forget about Eric. Zhao Xuming himself was furious just thinking about it.

All in all, he could not allow himself to suffer a double loss! He could give this money to anyone but Boss Pei!

Fortunately, there were alternatives. The clubs could spend money to hire a cook in terms of food. In terms of sports, they could also apply for fitness cards and private training at other gyms. Computers were even simpler. They could just buy a more expensive and high-class brand.

Zhao Xuming found other alternatives based on the market prices on the list.

It was expensive and painful, it was still necessary.

What's more, it was fine as long as he did not pay out of his own pocket.

After sorting everything out, Zhao Xuming called SUG and other ICL clubs to communicate.

Some clubs showed some resistance to the standard contracts but Finger Games was full of sincerity after all. They paid money to improve their training environment. Considering that the ICL league slots were given with just a word from Finger Games, these clubs did not dare to say much and agreed one by one.

Zhao Xuming sent his plan to the managers of the various clubs and told them to follow this standard.

There were clear criteria for hiring a cook, building a fitness card, purchasing a training computer, providing basic salary for all players, contributing to their insurances and pensions.

Finger Games might be the one paying but the entire process had to be very standard and clear. It had to eliminate the possibility of these clubs filling their pockets.

As for FV Club, they were happy using Fish-Catching Take-Out and Deposit Fitness. It would seem unreasonable to forcibly replace it.

Thus, FV Club was the only exception in the entire ICL league. It continued to maintain its current conditions. However, the money that was originally from Tengda would be paid by Finger Games.

Zhao Xuming heaved a sigh of relief after making all the arrangements.

All the loopholes would be plugged that way!

ICL's publicity work could finally return to normal.