Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 586 Hung Hom Stadium Planning

Wendong Hope Primary School has now built 12 buildings, and the principal and teachers are already in place, just waiting for the start of school in September;

After visiting three of them, Yang Wendong returned to the Changxing Building in Central and called Zheng Zhijie and Qin Zhiye, who was in charge of media.

"There is one thing. I want to develop football in Hong Kong. What do you think?" Yang Wendong suddenly said.

"Football?" Qin Zhiye thought for a moment and said, "It can indeed become an industry, but the Hong Kong market is too small and there are too few people. It is difficult to achieve results in the FIFA market and the returns will not be very high."

Yang Wendong smiled and shook his head and said, "Of course I know that the Hong Kong football market is not very big. This is just my personal interest. I want to cultivate Hong Kong football and make all Hong Kong citizens like this sport. It is true that I can't make much money, but I can't lose money either."

The global football market is huge, and many football team owners in Europe and the United States are wealthy enough to rival a country. A football player may earn millions of dollars a year from a salary of tens of millions of dollars, and the income he can create is even higher;

But Hong Kong can’t do that. Even if Hong Kong has teams and players of the same strength, it can’t achieve such high economic returns. The core reason is that the market is too small. It’s like a song in a non-mainstream language. No matter how popular it is, it won’t work.
Not to mention, the millions of people in Hong Kong cannot possibly be on par with the players selected from the hundreds of millions of people in other places. It is normal that they are far behind. It is possible for the mainland next door.
Qin Zhiye then smiled and said, "If Mr. Yang is interested, then of course you can."

Super-rich people often don’t need to consider economic laws for their own personal interests, as long as they like it;
After all, they have made so much money in their lifetime, why not spend it? Watching the money grow in their bank account every day? Or watching their property increase?

Many wealthy people in Hong Kong like to date celebrities and even interfere with the investment in movies or TV series after they become rich. As the head of the largest media group in Hong Kong, Qin Zhiye is naturally aware of this. Even his own company has encountered such things. As long as it does not affect the normal operation of the company, they generally turn a blind eye.

If the big boss's interest is football, then it doesn't matter if he invests a few hundred million for fun.

Yang Wendong looked at Zheng Zhijie and asked, "Old Zheng, what do you think?"

Zheng Zhijie replied: “I don’t understand the business of football, but judging from the business models of some overseas football teams, it is nothing more than income from tickets, advertising, player endorsements, peripherals, etc.
But from my perspective, if we want to promote Hong Kong football, we have to build a lot of football fields in various places in Hong Kong. Does this have anything to do with me? "

"Do you want to take this opportunity to hoard land?" Yang Wendong said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

As expected, everyone has their own expertise. He was only thinking about how to start cultivating football fans, while Zheng Zhijie, a real estate professional, thought of hoarding land.

Zheng Zhijie said: "Hoarding land is indeed a consideration, but from the perspective of your wishes, Mr. Yang, if you want to promote football, you must at least have enough sports venues;

Football is different from other sports. It requires a lot of space, otherwise it cannot be cultivated at all.”

You can run on the road, swim in a clean river, play badminton in a 10-meter area, but table tennis is a bit more complicated and requires a table.
But some sports are not like this. Basketball requires a professional venue and has high requirements for the ground surface. The requirements for football are even higher and require a large area of ​​land.

The same is true for other ball games like baseball and football, but these ball games are only popular in North America;
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "You are right. Without enough venues, no sport can be promoted."

Zheng Zhijie continued: “I haven’t thought about this issue specifically, but from the current point of view, it is difficult to build a football field in Hong Kong Island, unless we reclaim land or open up mountains;
But it is much easier in Kowloon. There are always places to build football fields in the marginal areas of various towns. We just need to negotiate with the Hong Kong government, acquire the land at normal market price, and then build football fields. "

"Okay, I'll leave this to you." Yang Wendong nodded, and then said, "But there are a large number of people in Hong Kong Island. It would be a pity if these people can't participate."

Although Hong Kong Island is much smaller than Kowloon, in this era, the population is still concentrated here, not to mention the wealth, at least 80% of which is in Hong Kong Island;
Regardless of whether it is for the purpose of hoarding land or out of a genuine desire to promote football, the effect will be greatly reduced if it cannot be played in Hong Kong Island.

Qin Zhiye asked: "Now that the Hung Hom Tunnel is open, it is very convenient for people from Hong Kong Island to go to Kowloon. Perhaps we can build one or more football fields in Hung Hom as a substitute for Hong Kong Island?"

"If it really doesn't work, then this is the only way." Yang Wendong said, "Old Zheng, speaking of Hung Hom, in addition to building a normal football stadium there, we also need to build a real international football stadium there. What do you think?" "International football stadium?" Zheng Zhijie was shocked and asked, "Mr. Yang, the investment in a football stadium is simple, but the international level is different. The investment is huge and requires a large number of seats;
There is another problem. If Hong Kong football fails to develop, this stadium will suffer a great loss.”

For an ordinary football field, just level the ground and plant some grass. It’s for everyone to play anyway.

But the grass of a tournament-level football stadium is completely different. In addition, the large number of seats and supporting safety levels around it are all very high. Otherwise, if something happens in such a crowded place, it will be international news.
Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "That's fine. Although I want to develop Hong Kong football, I won't do business based on my own will. It's more like a large gymnasium than a football field.

A stadium that can host football matches can naturally also host most other sports matches. In this way, many sports events in Hong Kong can be held here;

Also, all kinds of large-scale events, even celebrity concerts, can be held here, unlike before, when they had to be held outdoors every time, right?"

Qin Zhiye said quickly: "Yes, Hong Kong does lack a large concert venue now. It has always been built outdoors, but there are too many uncontrollable factors. The weather is also difficult to control. Construction takes many days and tickets need to be pre-sold in advance. If it rains heavily one day, it will be very troublesome.

Another thing is that the open-air venue has limited space and cannot sell enough tickets, which is a big loss for us and the singers;

In addition, there is no way to collect advertising fees, and it is also very troublesome for TV stations to record. If there is a professional stadium, these problems will be solved. "

He also didn't expect that the boss's personal interest could actually solve this big problem of the company.

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Look, isn't this another economic benefit? A gymnasium is not just for sports activities, it can do many things, and it can even be rented out to other companies in the future, which is also a way to generate income."

The Bird's Nest Stadium built by Yanjing for the Olympics in the past was also very useful after the Olympics. It is said that it costs 300 million to rent it for one day.
Although the Hong Kong market is small and leasing is certainly not comparable to that in the mainland, there are still some, and even in the entertainment industry, Changxing Group does not control all of them;
And whether they do it themselves or not, the Hong Kong government will build a sports stadium in Hung Hom in the late 70s because there is a social demand for it, so it is better to build it themselves first.

Zheng Zhijie nodded and said, "Look at it this way, this is indeed a good idea. However, as for building an ordinary football field on Hong Kong Island, I think we should build it in the mountains. We just need to choose a place with low cost."

There are only two ways to expand land in Hong Kong Island, either by opening up mountains or by reclaiming land. Over the years, the Hong Kong government has also reclaimed land many times, and the previous land kings were obtained through reclamation.
But this kind of football field can only be built by cutting through the mountains, because the space by the sea is limited, and the space that can be filled is also limited. This kind of space is extremely valuable when filled up, and is used to build skyscrapers or high-end residences;

The location of the mountain is generally not very good. Even if a house is built on the mountain, it is just an ordinary property.
Of course, this mountain opening does not mean to flatten very high mountains, but to choose some mountain sides or very uneven places. The cost of leveling is high, and real estate developers are unwilling to do this when there is a lot of other land.

If they want to build a large stadium, they are unlikely to compete with real estate developers for normal land. These lands also represent the financial revenue of the Hong Kong government and they will not give them up to football fields of lower value.

"Okay, you choose a location and we'll talk about it later." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "We are just discussing it now. If we want to spread football fields all over Hong Kong, it will take a long time, at least a few years."

Zheng Zhijie said: "But if the Hong Kong government also promotes it, then the time will be very fast, and with policy support, our costs may be reduced a lot."

"Let the Hong Kong government support football?" Yang Wendong thought for a moment and asked, "Will it work?"

Zheng Zhijie said: "I think it's possible. First, the football culture in the UK is also very strong. If Hong Kong follows the UK in playing football, there shouldn't be any foreigners who would object.

Second, Trench will step down next year, and he wants to make some achievements in his last year. The Changxing Charity Foundation's school is one of them, but I think sports is also part of education, and maybe this will convince him. "

"What you said makes sense." Yang Wendong also agreed and said, "If many of the football fields in Hong Kong are related to him, then his fame may be greater than that of Robert Black;
The museums built by Robert Black have a lot of visitors, but they are not as frequent as sports venues.

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)