America 1919

"I'm preparing to host a grand boxing match, where the most important protagonist will be Jack Dempsey. Atlantic City Broadcast will cover the entire event, and I truly believe this will bring comprehensive attention to Dempsey!"

Doc Kearns showed a delighted expression. Although the appearance fee for a single boxing match for a fighter is very high, they do not necessarily have boxing matches every year, and some even need one or two years to have such a match.

And the amount of the appearance fee also depends on the fame of the opponent.

Most importantly, Jack Dempsey has become famous now, but that's because he defeated the previous heavyweight champion of the United States two years ago.

At that time, Jack Dempsey wasn't very well-known, so naturally his appearance fee wasn't that high, and in these past two years, Jack Dempsey actually hasn't participated in any matches, so his current... actual assets are not that high.

Actually, even if Donnie didn't approach them this time, Doc Kearns was already planning to organize a boxing match for Jack Dempsey.

It's just that Doc Kearns hadn't found a suitable opponent yet, as well as a suitable organizer!

Now that Donnie was bringing up this matter, it was like a spark meeting a powder keg... Er, this metaphor might not be quite appropriate, but that's the idea.

As a major figure in Atlantic City, if Donnie could manage to organize a boxing match, especially with the backing of Atlantic City Broadcast, it was impossible for the match not to receive attention!

Although Doc Kearns was a successful boxing agent, he did not have a higher education. And while Jack Dempsey did have some money, his current finances were not sufficient for them to mix with the real high society.

So Doc Kearns hadn't learned too many techniques to hide his true thoughts.

The biggest commonality among the upper class is that they smile as they lay out plans to sell someone out, and the person being sold still has to help count the money, smiling cheerfully!

"Mr. Block, if we could get your help, that would be truly wonderful, but..."

Even though Doc Kearns was very willing to let Donnie organize Jack Dempsey's boxing match, he still needed to mention Jack Dempsey's appearance fee upfront.

"Jack is now the national heavyweight champion, and actually, some companies have approached us before, wanting to organize Jack's matches. However, it was because of the appearance fee that we ended up not coming to an agreement!"

Donnie asked casually, "What's your appearance fee?"

"1.2 million US dollars!" Doc Kearns replied immediately.

Donnie tapped the table, smiling, "I remember in '19, Jack's appearance fee was only 1,200 dollars, and now in just two years, it's gone up a thousandfold!"

Doc Kearns explained seriously, "Mr. Block, you may not be aware of the going rate for boxers. At that time, Jack's appearance fee indeed wasn't high, but now things are different. Jack defeated Jess Willard, and he is now the nation's focal heavyweight champion, so naturally, he is benchmarking against Jess Willard's appearance fee!"

Donnie laughed, "But as I recall, Jess Willard's appearance fee was only 600,000 dollars!"

Doc Kearns naturally had his reasons.

"Mr. Block, back in '19, a quart of milk was only 15 cents, and now a quart is 20 cents. Sirloin steak has gone from 42 cents per pound to 50 cents. Prices across the United States are soaring, so naturally, Jack's appearance fee has to go up as well!"

From the last decade into this one, not only has the American economy entered a rapid growth phase, but so have inflation rates.

In 1914, a quart of milk was 9 cents, in 1919, it rose to 15 cents per quart, and as of now, it has become 20 cents.

Everything is getting more expensive, the only exception being workers' wages, which haven't gone up. This is why, after 1919, American workers started striking en masse.

Donnie nodded in agreement with Doc Kearns's explanation. Indeed, that is how the professional boxing world works: once you become famous, the whole world knows, and as long as you can win against a star fighter, no matter what your previous appearance fee was, you can immediately benchmark it against that star fighter's fee.

"Mr. Keens, I agree with what you say, but an appearance fee of 1.2 million dollars is impossible!"

Doc Kearns's expression changed for the first time since meeting Donnie, "Mr. Block, we are very keen to collaborate with you, but if the appearance fee can't meet our expectations, then we can only apologize for this event!"

Donnie waved his hand, "Mr. Keens, don't be so quick to refuse. An appearance fee of 1.2 million dollars is not possible, but we are willing to offer 1 million dollars. And I believe that this price is definitely the highest, there's no way anyone else can offer more!"

Boyle Sports Arena has a total of 75,000 seats, with an average seat price of 20 dollars. This means that even if all the seats were sold out, the ticket revenue for this event would only be 1.5 million dollars. Continue reading at empire

In addition to the venue rental fee and finding someone to contest Jack Dempsey, this will also cost a certain amount, so all in all, Donnie's earnings wouldn't even be higher than Jack Dempsey's!

However, this only looks at the surface income. The real income actually comes from the fringe earnings of the event.