00:00Shelly Kayat-Weston is the president of business operations for the one and only Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association.
00:07And I am so excited to say Shelly joins us here for a huge day at the New York Stock Exchange.
00:12Thanks a lot for taking the time this morning. It is great to have you here.
00:15Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me.
00:16Let's start first and foremost with what brings you and the Charlotte Hornets organization down here onto the trading floor alongside the great team with Judy Health.
00:25Well, we are so excited to be here today. There's a lot of energy going on.
00:29We have, first of all, I would say a lot of a tremendous amount of growth and momentum going on with the Charlotte Hornets right now.
00:36We have ambitious new owners, ownership group with Rick Small and Gabe Plotkin that have set out a clear vision to be a premier NBA franchise.
00:45And with all of that, it takes momentum. Right.
00:48And so we are excited today to announce a multi-year partnership with Judy Health, which you see here on the jersey in front of us.
00:54And so they are a line partner, and we're looking forward to a long future together.
01:00Absolutely. I mean, the era of jersey sponsorships is clearly here, not just for the association, but for every major sports league.
01:07And it's something that fans are getting more accustomed with.
01:10And I've got to shout you out because you do what I think fans really like, which is even the color scheme for Judy Health.
01:17It really closely matches what your organization has.
01:20And I think that's a point of frustration for some fans when their sports team throws a sponsor on and it clashes.
01:26But even the design. Talk to me about what this kind of looked like creatively to actually bring this to vision and this exciting product now.
01:32Yeah, so you're absolutely right. You know, a jersey patch partner is one of those partnerships that really, you know, organizations and franchises hold close to the vest.
01:41This is a conversation that started with ownership that we had with Jeff Peterson, our president of basketball operations and our basketball operations team, because it's going to live on the heart of who we are.
01:49Right. Our every single game all year long, it's with us.
01:53And so we wanted to make sure there was alignment.
01:55And based on the colors that you see and just how things felt with this partnership, everything was just perfectly aligned.
02:01Not only the colorway and how it looks on the jersey, but more importantly, the people behind the organization.
02:08AJ and his entire team, the values that they stand for and just the fact that they're an innovative, driven organization and company.
02:16So there was so much alignment. And most importantly, we both are focused on the customer, on the fan.
02:22We really are striving to elevate our customer journey and experience.
02:25They're looking to change the game with their customers and how people access benefits and in the medical industry.
02:31And so we're excited about this partnership and alignment.
02:34Charlotte is such an incredible city, a beautiful community of basketball fans and so many others in and around.
02:39What do you most hope and what are your expectations with regards to Judy Health and other partners that the organization has in its orbit?
02:47In terms of what they mean, their placement, their relationship with the fans, game in and game out?
02:52Well, you said it best. You just talked about the history of Charlotte.
02:56And the truth is that the Carolinas has a deep-rooted history of basketball and passionate basketball.
03:02Once early in the 80s when the team first came in late 90s, the Charlotte Hornets were actually the leading attendance leader in the NBA for consecutive years.
03:12You know, with Del Curry, Muxy Bogues, again, Larry Johnson, I mean, it's got a deep history.
03:17Also a history of pinstripe jerseys, which no other team did, the colorway of teal and purple.
03:22So it's got a deep history of innovation and being unique, but just of passionate fans in the Carolinas that love basketball.
03:30And so we're excited, I think, together of how we're going to touch our customers, how we're going to reach.
03:35Again, everybody wants to put the jersey on, so that's an important part of every fan, as you mentioned earlier.
03:39So it looks great. That's a first step.
03:41And more importantly, we want our fans in the Carolinas and throughout the country to feel proud of our organization and of the Charlotte Hornets.
03:48I had that Larry Johnson poster in this jersey when I was a kid.
03:51It was just, it was so iconic.
03:52And you also talk about just the Carolinas and you got another brand, great brand there on the front of the jersey as well.
03:57Jordan, what does that mean, you know, to you?
03:59And I look down and the Judy Health partnership is incredibly exciting, but there's really another iconic logo also on the front of your jersey.
04:06I mean, it really just reaffirms what basketball means in the Carolinas, right?
04:10It's really rooted there. It's connected there.
04:12There's so much connected tissue.
04:13But even more importantly, a part of the reason that Judy Health is so focused on Charlotte is because it's one of the fastest growing cities in the country.
04:18So over 150 people move there every single day.
04:21It was just rated by CNBC the number one place to do business for the second year in a row because of its infrastructure industry in the region.
04:29And it has great talent.
04:30And so those are all things that align with Judy and why they committed today that they're interested in moving one of their offices to Charlotte also.
04:37Yeah, Shelley, tell me a bit more about your own role with the organization, already how it's evolved since your time there.
04:43And some of your top priorities, especially given, as you said, I think you got a preseason kickoff coming up.
04:48Is it October 5th, you said?
04:49Yeah, October 5th.
04:50Our opening nine is October 22nd against the Brooklyn Nets.
04:53We have a few priorities.
04:54So we are actually going to open a brand new $245 million renovation of Spectrum Center on October 19th with Billie Eilish.
05:02And so, you know, opening a building is a big priority in itself.
05:05We get to celebrate this year 20 years of Spectrum Center.
05:09So we opened the building October 21st, 20 years ago with Rolling Stones.
05:13And so we're not just basketball, but we're entertainment, right, and connect to wider audiences also.
05:18So a lot of excitement there.
05:20The other practice facility project that I mentioned to you with Novant Health Performance Center, that's in the ground.
05:25We're going to open that in March 2027.
05:27So we've got to make sure that's underway.
05:28So that's a priority.
05:30And then, again, first and foremost is really just elevating our fan experience.
05:33As we open the building, it's not just about paint and the walls and the amazing things that you're going to see,
05:38but it's about how the customer feels and their experience when they come in
05:41and how are we creating unforgettable experiences for our fans every single day.
05:45And so that's really our priority.
05:46Yeah, I know the basketball team generates more than $350 million in revenue for the city of Lone.
05:51Talk to me about some of the economic impact that is so unique to this franchise, this organization,
05:56its incredible history, and what that means to the community.
05:59We take great pride in the fact that we are a basketball team and we want to be the best, again,
06:03a Premier NBA team.
06:04But we know that we have a responsibility to really fuel our economy.
06:07And so that is, you know, downtown or uptown region in Charlotte, we fuel restaurants, hotels, bars.
06:15You know, we hear all the time, we know that when we open and we have concerts, events, and games,
06:19that we fuel that economy.
06:20And so we take great pride in that and we'll continue to do that and continue to see that economy continue to grow in Charlotte.
06:26I know there's some exciting tech upgrades as well that fans can expect.
06:30You know, Amazon's a partner.
06:31I'm sure there's lots of others.
06:32And talk to me about what you think fans will most notice this season when they come in.
06:36Yeah, I think, first of all, they're going to notice it looks amazing.
06:39So we actually opened these two districts, the North District and the South District,
06:42where we're going to have notes to North Charlotte and South Charlotte in those spaces.
06:45The look and feel will be very unique to each of them.
06:48And we want all of our fans to come in and experience that.
06:51We've renovated our suite levels in just every area of the venue.
06:56But most importantly, I would say one of the things that we're focused on was the food experience.
06:59So we really partner with our great partners in Levy and restaurants,
07:03and we are working on a complete, elevated, and different and unique food experiences for all fans.
07:08Whether you're on event level all the way to our uptown concourse,
07:11everybody's going to get a feel of different food when they come into the building.
07:14This might be an impossible question.
07:16Do you have a favorite upgrade or a favorite food experience in the venue?
07:20And I ask as such a diehard sports fan, I got my favorite teams here in New York,
07:24and it's those game day experiences you know and love,
07:27and also the willingness to explore new things, that this could be your childhood team,
07:31but year after year they always find a way of reinventing.
07:33I know you and the Charlotte Hornets are very similar as well.
07:36So we have a lot of new things that we're going to launch,
07:38from technology to get in the building, working with our technology partners.
07:42You talked about the Amazon Grab & Goes.
07:44One of the things that actually that I'm most proud about, I'll give you a sneak peek.
07:47When we went to Chicago actually to talk with Levy about what we wanted something unique to Charlotte,
07:51and they created a Carolina Quesadilla.
07:54So I'm going to leave that up to just for you to imagine.
07:56You have to come to Charlotte to experience it,
07:58but it's just one example of how we're trying to be unique
08:01and what's important and connected to Charlotte that everybody,
08:05if they're visiting or in Charlotte, gets to experience.
08:07All right, so I am booking my flights for a game and to try the now famous Charlotte Quesadilla.
08:12I am very grateful for your time and for being here.
08:15The jerseys look absolutely awesome.
08:16Congratulations on the new partnership with Judy Health.
08:19It's great to have you here today. Thank you.
08:20Thank you for having me.
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