Early August.
While the Boston Celtics, New Jersey Nets, Phoenix Suns, and Seattle SuperSonics took off in a high-profile joint charter flight from the East Coast of the United States to Europe for an exhibition game, Lin Qi quietly appeared in another terminal at Boston Logan International Airport.
To strictly adhere to the boundaries of David Stern's ban and avoid suspicion from league insiders, Lin Qi did not travel on the same plane as any NBA players or management. Under the guise of a private vacation, he boarded a business first-class flight to London alone, then secretly transferred to another flight to Athens, the capital of Greece.
A penthouse suite at a luxury hotel in downtown Athens, next to Syntagma Square.
Maurizio Gherardini, the actual operator of EBA in Europe and Lin Qi's chief agent, was already waiting here with a thick stack of documents.
"Boss, this is the equity transfer agreement." Gherardini respectfully handed a document to Lin Qi.
Lin Qi took the pen and signed his name on the document. With the agreement taking effect, the 10% stake in Panathinaikos, which he had symbolically purchased two years earlier to open up the Europe market, was officially transferred to the Europe shell company under Gherardini's name.
"My current position is too sensitive; the NBA league office is watching me closely. Plus, the EBA is growing bigger and bigger; I absolutely cannot leave any direct shareholding records on the books of any Europe clubs." Lin Qi put down his pen and pushed the document back.
"Understood." Gherardini put away the documents and then reported, "Boss, the EBA expansion is going very smoothly. The league has now officially expanded to 30 teams, covering all the top Europe clubs. Regarding infrastructure, the first batch of stadiums we invested in in key cities like Madrid and Athens will be completed and put into use in 2003. Construction on the remaining stadiums has also begun."
Lin Qi nodded in satisfaction.
"However, we've encountered some trouble in Greece, or rather, a crisis that Europe basketball as a whole is facing." Gherardini's expression turned somewhat serious.
"Explain."
" The Greece government just submitted a ' Sports Transparency Act ' a few days ago, and a core provision is a stringent requirement known as 'declaration of the source of funds,'" Gherardini explained. "The law requires all shareholders holding more than 1% of a sports club's shares to submit an extremely detailed annual declaration to the government regarding the source of their personal and family funds."
Lin Qi frowned slightly. He was well aware of the destructive power of such a bill.
"This bill was originally aimed at Greece football clubs rife with money laundering, match-fixing, and football hooligans," Gherardini said with a wry smile. "But the legislators went all in and dragged basketball clubs into it too. Owners, you know, football has extremely high commercial value, and the owners can tolerate this kind of scrutiny. But in Europe, the commercial environment for basketball is completely different from football. The vast majority of basketball clubs struggle to make ends meet, many teams are consistently losing money, and recently, basketball players across Europe have been planning strikes due to unpaid wages."
"To expect these wealthy owners, who spend millions of euros a year on basketball teams, to reveal the entire details of their family businesses to politicians for a hobby that doesn't make money, is simply insane."
"What's the reaction of Mr. Panathinaikos Giannakopoulos, the owner of Pavlos?" Lin Qi asked precisely, getting to the heart of the matter. Pavlos was the head of the Greece pharmaceutical giant Vianex, and the details of his wealth and fortune would never be exposed to the government's auditors.
"Mr. Pavlos is furious," Gherardini said in a low voice. "He even smashed a glass at an internal meeting a couple of days ago, threatening to resign from all his posts and put Panathinaikos up for sale."
"Let's go see this old friend." Lin Qi stood up. "The EBA will spend money to significantly increase lobbying funds through both the European Union headquarters and the Greece Parliament. But that won't solve the immediate problem; we need to give Pavlos a perfect 'escape plan'."
At the foot of the Acropolis of Athens Giannakopoulos family.
Two years later, Lin Qi sat down opposite the Greece pharmaceutical tycoon once again. However, this time, Pavlos's face lacked its former composure, and his brows were full of irritation.
" Lin Qi, if you're here to calm me down, you don't need to say anything." Pavlos lit a cigar and took a deep drag. "I love this team, but I will never allow those greedy politicians to scrutinize me with a magnifying glass because of a basketball team that loses money every year! That's the bottom line!"
"I completely understand your anger, Mr. Pavlos." Lin Qi calmly picked up the teacup on the table. "In fact, I'm here today to help you resolve this problem completely. I intend to buy the Panathinaikos basketball club."
Pavlos's hand, holding a cigar, suddenly paused. He looked at Lin Qi in surprise. "Buy the team?"
"That's right, not just buy it, but I'm going to buy it in a way that allows you to 'escape unscathed'." Lin Qi leaned forward slightly, revealing his plan to circumvent regulations.
"Mr. Pavlos, we will completely separate the club's 'sports entity' and 'commercial entity'," Lin Qi explained his plan clearly and logically.
"The worst-case scenario, which is the core solution we have now, is that the overseas capital behind me will acquire 100% of Panathinaikos's 'sports club' license. Legally speaking, the team will become wholly foreign-owned, and I will bear all the losses, the pressure from the players' strike, and the annoying asset declaration review by the Greece government."
Lin Qi looked at Pavlos, his tone full of enticement. "You and your family will completely divest your shares in the sports entity, perfectly circumventing this transparency bill from a legal standpoint."
"So what do I get left besides the money from selling the team?" Pavlos narrowed his eyes. As an owner with deep affection for the team, he was unwilling to slink away completely like this.
"What you have left is reputation," Lin Qi smiled.
"You and your family members will continue to serve as the 'Honorary President' of the Panathinaikos Basketball Club. In the eyes of the fans, you remain the leader of this team, and when the team wins the championship, it will still be you who lifts the trophy."
A long silence fell over the manor's terrace.
Pavlos, cigar in hand, was rapidly calculating the pros and cons of the deal. He would no longer have to worry about player strikes and paying salaries, nor would he have to expose his finances to the government. He could continue to enjoy the cheers of the fans as honorary chairman.
This was practically a perfect haven tailor-made for him.
" Lin Qi..." Pavlos took a deep breath, stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray, and his eyes regained their shrewdness.
"You devil who walks the line between the rules. Give me the contract."