After a 12-year hiatus, the Hornets name returns to Charlotte's NBA team thanks to a rebrand from the Bobcats, bringing with it a number of possibilities both on and off the court. The team made a surprising appearance in the postseason last year, and heading into ’14-15 ranks second in the league in new season-ticket sales. Hornets President & COO Fred Whitfield said, "It’s a perfect storm. I think without a doubt it’s a combination of both our play and the rebrand we have going on." THE DAILY caught up with Whitfield this week to talk about the rebrand, the city’s approach to bidding on the All-Star Game and team Owner Michael Jordan’s involvement in the changes.
Q: How long was the front office thinking about a rebrand before you formally submitted a proposal to the NBA?
Whitfield: The first thought came when the Pelicans decided that they were going to disband the name and move forward. At that point, rather than just making a decision, we went out and hired a third party, Harris Interactive, to research our market, and to survey season-ticket holders and people in the community to see if there was a sincere desire to bring the name back. It goes back almost two years to that happening -- when Harris brought the results back and 85% of the people they surveyed said there was a desire. At that point Michael asked us to go back and give some other options for name changes, just to make sure it wasn’t people only wanting to shift away from the Bobcats name. But they wanted the Hornets back.
Q: Were there any thoughts about going to a different color scheme or going back to the scheme/jerseys the old Hornets wore?
Whitfield: We didn’t know what our fans wanted. All of this was about our fans, not as much about us. It was, “How can we reconnect with our fans in the community, grow our season-ticket holder base, grow our sponsorship base?” What did our market want? We didn’t have any preconceived notions about what colors we wanted to go to. The fans said they wanted us to go back to purple and teal.
Q: Your court design is very unique. What was the thought process behind designing it that way?
Whitfield: Our goal was to be able to design something that would still be very classy, but if you took all the logos and branding off, people would be able to identify and know that it was the Hornets’ home court. As you look at our court, it’s a very unique pattern that we thought our fans would like and appreciate.
Q: The Hornets are second in the NBA in new season tickets sold. Is that a result of the rebrand, improved on-court play or both?
Whitfield: Having a young team that performed better than most expected last year in making the playoffs, having salary cap flexibility and being able to go out and sign a Lance Stephenson and Marvin Williams. Having two first-round draft picks and just the culture that our coaching staff has built with our team, I think the things we’ve done out in the community, not only investing our money but our human assets and time to do great things. … And then our community knowing that we’ve got a committed owner who’s homegrown and wants this to be a part of his and his family’s legacy.
Q: Would the Hornets’ bid for the All-Star Game have been a possibility without the rebrand?
Whitfield: Possibly. Clearly after we rebranded and with all the momentum our organization is having in the community, it became an easier decision. But it really was a decision that our Charlotte Sports Foundation -- which I sit on that board -- we think Charlotte is big enough and is such a great market for global events. We thought it would be great with our new arena right in the middle of Uptown. Having done the DNC and having that be a success, we felt our market was ready for another global event. All-Star Weekend is another one of those.
Q: Have you seen a change in the last few years in how Michael runs the team? Is he more hands-on, hands-off?
Whitfield: No, he’s always been very, very committed. What he has always done since he bought the team was to challenge us to run a wise business and run and manage it ourselves, to also use him as an asset and an owner when we needed. But his commitment has always been that he was going to invest whatever it took to make us as competitive as we possibly could be on the court and to make an investment in the community and earn our way.
