In Charlotte, Brendan Marks notes Panthers coach Ron Rivera unveiled a new T-shirt to "support storm relief efforts" following Hurricane Florence. The shirts are "part of the Panthers' partnership with Visit North Carolina and Discover South Carolina," and 100% of the proceeds will "go toward Florence relief efforts in both Carolinas." The shirts, designed by Charlotte-based apparel company Recover Brands and produced in Spartanburg, S.C., "feature a picture of the Carolinas and reads: 'We share more than a state line'" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 9/18).
SPEED THINGS UP: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Steven Norton profiled Fanatics Chief Technology & Product Officer Matt Madrigal as part of the "CIO Journal" feature. For the last several years, Fanatics has been "developing a home-grown cloud platform designed to handle the sometimes predictable, sometimes surprising online traffic spikes associated with fans seeking out their favorite team's merchandise." Madrigal and his team now are "focused on improving page-loading speed and checkout, while adding features that allow the company to scale up tech infrastructure faster." Madrigal said that since "launching the platform, full-page rendering has become twice as fast." He added that Shop.NFL.com, the first site "fully migrated to the new platform, saw an immediate 30% uptick in conversions" (WSJ.com, 9/17).
HERE TO TAKE OVER: MMA WEEKLY's Damon Martin noted UFC fighter Conor McGregor officially launched his "own signature brand of whiskey," dubbed Proper No. 12. McGregor serves as Chair & Majority Owner for the brand and the Proper No. 12 name is "based on the neighborhood where he grew up in Ireland." McGregor is "hoping to do some good with the sale of his new whiskey by donating $5 from every case sold to local first responders in the cities or states where his brand is being sold." McGregor has committed up to $1M "annually donated from the sale of his whiskey" (MMAWEEKLY.com, 9/17).
