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Profile Shows Trail Blazers' McGowan Not Afraid To Shake Things Up With Club

Trail Blazers President & CEO Chris McGowan is profiled by the PORTLAND TRIBUNE's Kerry Eggers, who notes it "didn't take long ... for McGowan to shake things up." Two months in, the team has "laid off 11 of their 167 full-time employees, including several long-time high-ranking executives." McGowan believes the Blazers are "pretty much past" layoffs, but said, "Every year you have to be willing to do what’s right for the business.'" McGowan: “We’ll add some more, for sure. Part of this is paving the way to add resources in areas we need." He added, "That’s the exciting thing with what’s going on with us right now. There’s a new influx of thinking that is taking people who have been here a long time and have only known the Trail Blazers, and they’re getting excited by it." Eggers notes McGowan has "learned quickly what the Blazers mean to many Portlanders." He said, “It’s an interesting platform to be in charge of. We need to operate like we are (the show), but in a humble way. This is a big institution in Portland, and we need to manage the business to that end.” McGowan: “I want to become a season ticket-holder-first organization, ensure they get the best access, the best service, the best pricing, the best benefits, and we tie a lot of it to tenure. I’m not so sure season ticket-holders feel that way right now."

GOALS GOING FORWARD: McGowan intends to "hire more sales people, to bring in more marketing experience, to perform a makeover of the Blazers’ websites and digital properties." He said, “I’m not happy with any of our websites." The Blazers are "at about 13,000 season tickets," but only "about 30 of the Garden's 57 all-events luxury suites are leased on an annual basis." McGowan said, "We need to be at 40 or 45 there, so we don't have to sell so many on a nightly basis." McGowan also noted, "If we can get a naming rights deal done and maintain relationship with our current partners, we’re going to be sitting exactly where we need to be on the sponsorship side.” McGowan and Premier Partnerships, the firm hired to assist with landing a naming-rights deal, have a "list of about 100 businesses -- some local, some national -- that have a likelihood of interest." Three or four presentations have "already been scheduled." McGowan: "I'm going to be very cautious about it. I'm not going to do a deal with the wrong brand" (PORTLAND TRIBUNE, 3/8).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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