The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 434 - 52 Agreed

The 1987 All-Star Weekend was scheduled to take place at the immense Kingdom Stadium in Seattle.

Prior to 1985, Kingdom Stadium had always been the home court of the Supersonics, but during the 85-86 season, the Supersonics moved their home court to the smaller and more modern KeyArena.

In recent years, NBA teams had gradually moved away from these large, multi-purpose sports complexes like the Kingdom to smaller, more modern, and better equipped basketball arenas.

For instance, the Detroit Pistons were preparing to move from the Silverdome to the under-construction Palace of Auburn Hills, a new arena that started construction in 1986 and was expected to be ready for use by 1988.

While playing in such a massive multipurpose sports complex offered a grand sense of being in a cathedral, the downside was that it lacked full facilities.

The spectator stands were temporary, VIP seats were out of the question, and selling drinks and food was a big hassle without the possibility of permanent shops, only mobile stalls.

This undoubtedly wasn’t conducive to the NBA’s aim to improve the fans’ viewing experience, so these types of large multipurpose sports complexes and some of the older stadiums built in the ’50s and ’60s were gradually phased out in favor of newly built modern basketball arenas.

However, when hosting a large event like the All-Star Weekend, the advantages of a large sports complex became apparent.

Simply put, it was size—the ability to accommodate a large number of spectators, ensuring ticket sales revenue.

Before David Stern took office in 1984, the NBA All-Star Game had gradually lost its luster, unable to draw fans to the venue or secure a full broadcast from television networks.

Back then, former NBA Commissioner Larry O’Brien had proposed the concept of "All-Star Weekend," aiming to expand what had been just a single, monotonous game into a two-day event with a variety of shows and activities.

At the time, the idea was deemed somewhat fanciful. It was already quite a loss to hold an All-Star Game—why organize a two-day event with additional activities? Would fans be interested?

After Stern took office, he realized Larry O’Brien’s vision, expanded the All-Star Game into All-Star Weekend, and continuously designed events like the Slam Dunk Contest, Legends Game, and Three-Point Contest to fill the two-day schedule, thoroughly entertaining fans and spectators.

In just a couple of seasons of trial reforms, the effects were significant.

The first batch of All-Star Game tickets, priced at 10 US dollars each, sold out all 10,000+ in 31 minutes.

Afterwards, once all 32,742 tickets were sold, the ticketing team decided to offer an additional 5,000 "distance-viewing tickets."

Because Kingdom Stadium was massive, once the stands were sold out, they could just build another tier of stands, adding 5,000 seats.

It must be said that the NBA wasn’t ruthless enough—if they opened up sales, Kingdom could accommodate over 80,000 spectators, and they could probably sell all the seats.

Add in some standing-room-only tickets, sell 100,000 tickets, and breaking the North American sports event attendance record would not be a problem.

Due to the outstanding ticket sales, the NBA All-Star Game was proving to be quite profitable, so preparations for the 1988 Chicago All-Star Game started in November 1986.

The success of the All-Star Weekend couldn’t be separated from the NBA’s official operations, nor from the shine of the stars from the ’80s.

As the top All-Star vote receiver, Gan Guoyang caused quite a stir upon his arrival at the Seattle airport.

Portland and Seattle were close to each other, with many ties between the two cities, and Gan Guoyang had a very, very large fanbase in Seattle.

From the moment he disembarked from the plane, numerous reporters followed him, constantly snapping photos and asking questions.

This was a stark contrast to the situation in 1985; the NBA All-Star Game’s level of attention had risen more than an order of magnitude.

Attracting even more attention was Gan Guoyang’s pre-All-Star Game announcement that he would participate in the Three-Point Contest along with his teammate Vandeweghe.

A center entering the Three-Point Contest, well... that didn’t seem too out of the ordinary, as Guoyang wasn’t the only center in the league who could shoot threes.

This season, Guoyang was averaging 1.4 three-point attempts per game, which had already surpassed most of the league’s perimeter players.

With a 42% three-point shooting percentage, he averaged 0.58 makes per game, and he claimed that if he increased his number of attempts, his shooting percentage would go up as well.

Shooting too few prevented him from finding his shooting rhythm.

The Trail Blazers’ other three-point specialist, Vandeweghe, had the highest three-point shooting percentage in the entire league at 48%.

This year, his three-point shots, both in volume and accuracy, were outstanding, and his summer efforts weren’t in vain.

However, the Three-Point Contest greatly tested a player’s stamina, ability to maintain a shooting touch, and mental fortitude.

In this regard, Larry Bird dominated, having easily secured first place the previous year and mocking all the other contestants.

Bird had registered to compete again this year.

Actually, Bird didn’t really want to participate; he had already won the championship and was satisfied.

It wasn’t an NBA Championship, so why bother winning it over and over again? Wouldn’t it be nice to let others fight for the first place?

But the league needed TV ratings, and it needed star players to participate in such competitions, otherwise, the audience wouldn’t be interested.

Who wants to watch some players, whose names they can’t even recall, shoot threes on the court?

At David Stern’s request, Larry Bird agreed to participate once more.

At the same time, Gan Guoyang and Bird made a pact to join the three-point contest, which made Bird even more enthusiastic.

But the person Gan Guoyang truly wanted to challenge was not Bird, but someone else.

Surrounded by bodyguards, Gan Guoyang arrived at Seattle’s Ritz Hotel in a car.

For this NBA All-Star event, the hotel exterior had been retrofitted with lighting equipment worth $35,000.

The purpose of these lighting fixtures was to illuminate the entire hotel building, turning the NBA All-Star banners hanging on the building into the most dazzling signs in the night city.

At that night’s banquet, the buffet was incredibly lavish, offering rare venison and a variety of seafood.

Known for its difficulty to prepare, serving delicious venison was no simple feat, a testament to the NBA’s commitment.

The organizing committee even brought in members of local Indiana tribes from Washington State to perform for the stars and their families.

Holding a wine glass, Gan Guoyang, accompanied by Wang Fuxi, mingled at the banquet; for a moment, he felt not like an NBA player, but rather a senator or a corporate executive.

David Stern was gradually cultivating a high-end image for the NBA, rescuing it from the mire of drugs and violence to attract more attention from the middle and upper classes.

Many people greeted Gan Guoyang, and he responded with a smile to each, but his mind wasn’t on these people, including Charles Barkley.

When Gan Guoyang saw Barkley, he immediately went up to him and asked, "Charles, where’s Michael? Have you seen Michael?"

Barkley, making his first All-Star appearance this season, was wandering around in a suit that didn’t quite fit, looking uncomfortable.

Seeing Gan Guoyang was like seeing a lifeline for him. Hearing that Gan Guoyang was looking for Jordan, Barkley said, "I haven’t seen Michael... He doesn’t seem to have arrived yet."

"Damn, that son of a bitch is avoiding me."

"What, Michael owes you money?"

"Owes money? That’s not a big deal. He didn’t keep the promise he made to me."

Soon after, Jordan arrived fashionably late, finally appearing at the banquet.

He was dressed to the nines, accompanied by his girlfriend Juanita and his parents.

When Gan Guoyang spotted Jordan, he rushed over, and upon seeing Gan Guoyang, Jordan, as if seeing a creditor, let go of his girlfriend’s hand and dove into the crowd.

But the banquet hall was only so big; there was no escaping, and Gan Guoyang finally caught up with Jordan, saying, "Michael, you’re not taking my calls again."

"My home phone’s been disconnected."

"Cut the crap. You forgot about the thing you promised me at the previous All-Star Game?"

"What did I promise you? I don’t remember."

"No, no, no, Michael, you remember, that’s why you’re avoiding me. The three-point contest!"

Jordan looked at Gan Guoyang helplessly; indeed, he had previously made a promise to Gan Guoyang, "If you join the three-point contest, I’ll join too."

But he never expected Gan Guoyang, this madcap, to actually sign up for the three-point contest!

Jordan had already registered for the slam dunk contest, but he had absolutely no confidence in the three-point contest.

He didn’t want to embarrass himself in the three-point contest.

"You broke your word, Michael."

"I can’t join now even if I wanted to; it’s past the registration deadline."

"Don’t give me that, Michael. If you wanted to compete, the event organizers would absolutely, one hundred percent, agree immediately."

"Then why don’t you join the slam dunk contest?"

"Join everything! You think I’m afraid? Do you believe that if I enter the slam dunk contest, I could win the championship?"

These words ignited Jordan’s competitive spirit, and he immediately said, "If you join the slam dunk contest now, I’ll join the three-point contest right away!"

"Good, it’s a deal. I’ll go find Stern right now."