Ownership and our fan base

[LDNMagic90]

With us going through another rebuild, it has/very likely to affect our attendance numbers and popularity. For me being from London that was born in the 90s I’ve seen then great Orlando teams and that’s what made me fall in love with the Magic.

Now I know a few of us were discussing what JJ Redick said about the atmosphere at magic games previously and a few of us have mentioned other teams treating our arena as home 2.0 and players of other teams getting MVP calls etc.

What I want to discuss is a few things…

Other than the product on the court, how can this ownership bring more life to us? (People here and on Twitter have mentioned being priced out of games)

If this continues can you see a scenario of us possibly relocating (not what I want obviously)?

For us to improve as a whole, do we need to sell the team to someone else/another group/family?

[Tarheel]

I don't think we'll be relocated in the near future. I don't know the specifics but from memory there is good amount of time left on the lease at the Amway and there is some investment going on with an entertainment complex around the arena.

I also think there is some value for the league in having a team in a tourist destination. I'm from the UK too and the reason I'm a Magic fan is from trips to Disney as a kid. I think the next move the league does is expand to 32 teams in Seattle and Vegas before they relocate a team.

The atmosphere in the Amway has seemed pretty damn good when the team has been winning and in the playoffs, so I think the most important thing to getting a crowd back is putting a good winning product on the floor. Would you pay a premium to watch your team every week if you've been bad for 10 years? Especially in a league where there is no relegation and the teams are the same, I certainly wouldn't go to watch 41 games of my team getting smashed by the same players every year.

I imagine that's also why the atmosphere is bad at the moment. Locals won't pay to watch their team get destroyed every night but tourists at Disney will pay a premium to see a Lebron or a Giannis.

I don't think ownership is a huge problem either (save for my personal disagreement with their political stance as a family, but this is nothing to do with their competence as owners) - they seem to have been willing to put their hands in their pockets for a winning team. The only criticism I'd have of them is their seemingly unending commitment to Alex Martins (though the Weltman/Hammond hire does seem to have pushed him to the background on the basketball side at least).

[ORLMagicGirl15]

What did JJ say about the atmosphere in the arena?

[LDNMagic90]

What did JJ say about the atmosphere in the arena?

Read on Twitter

[89Magicfan]

Orlando has changed. The ol Arena vibes filled with locals is no more. Orlando attracts many from all parts for the globe. To get that arena full of Magic fans is to be a winner. Simple.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

What did JJ say about the atmosphere in the arena?

Read on Twitter

Okay. For some reason I thought you meant it was bad when he was playing. But I understand the fans now. There is nothing to cheer for.

[BCS]

We can't change the fact that Orlando is a tourist destination and you will always see numerous fans from the opposing teams. Heck I have friends in other states and countries who plan their visit to Orlando and the theme parks around the date the Magic play their favorite NBA team to go watch them.

But it is also for this reason they'd be very dumb to relocate. We have crowds in the arena even when we are bad because of this. Most might not be rooting for the Magic but people will come. You can't say the same for other small market teams that are struggling as well.

If we have a good product/team out there, the opposing fans will be less noticeable but they will still be there and come playoff times they will be even less noticeable. From a business standpoint I just don't see the reason to relocate.

Another thing is in recent years a lot of people have moved here from other states and are already fans of other teams for example New York, a lot of people have moved here from there. We have not been good in many years so there has not been a reason for them to start supporting us either. Winning brings in fans.

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[tiderulz]

I don't think ownership is a huge problem either (save for my personal disagreement with their political stance as a family, but this is nothing to do with their competence as owners) - they seem to have been willing to put their hands in their pockets for a winning team. The only criticism I'd have of them is their seemingly unending commitment to Alex Martins (though the Weltman/Hammond hire does seem to have pushed him to the background on the basketball side at least).

this is how i see it. Ownership has always been willing to spend money where we see plenty of other fan bases complaining that their owners would not spend money. But we seem to see the same problems constantly pop up and Martins has been the only continuing figure that i can point to.

[LDNMagic90]

One of these days maybe this year or the next year I'm definitely coming to Orlando to watch a game or two. I went to the Orlando vs Toronto game here in London when it was at the o2 I think in 2016. That was a fun game from what i recall, there was a decent amount of Orlando fans in the arena and it was sold out, so I know in terms of support there's quite a few fans in the UK. Now there is the chance that a lot of the people at the time were there because they loved the NBA in general, but I met a few fans that flew over from Orlando which was cool.

I just can't wait till we are competing again and the arena is rocking, the teams I support have amazing fanbases and are generally loud as hell. It's quite interesting also that Orlando Magic fans on Twitter are quite active and show a lot of love, hopefully that will eventually translate into an amazing atmosphere at the Amway

[MartinsIzAfraud]

I don't think ownership is a huge problem either (save for my personal disagreement with their political stance as a family, but this is nothing to do with their competence as owners) - they seem to have been willing to put their hands in their pockets for a winning team. The only criticism I'd have of them is their seemingly unending commitment to Alex Martins (though the Weltman/Hammond hire does seem to have pushed him to the background on the basketball side at least).

this is how i see it. Ownership has always been willing to spend money where we see plenty of other fan bases complaining that their owners would not spend money. But we seem to see the same problems constantly pop up and Martins has been the only continuing figure that i can point to.

as long as martins continues to stay away from every and all basketball decisions and focuses on the massive 200 million downtown entertainment complex we're good.

[drsd]

What would the fan base be for the Seattle Magic or the Las Vegas Magic? Orlando cannot be expected to have the NY level of media attention.

..

[LDNMagic90]

I don't think ownership is a huge problem either (save for my personal disagreement with their political stance as a family, but this is nothing to do with their competence as owners) - they seem to have been willing to put their hands in their pockets for a winning team. The only criticism I'd have of them is their seemingly unending commitment to Alex Martins (though the Weltman/Hammond hire does seem to have pushed him to the background on the basketball side at least).

this is how i see it. Ownership has always been willing to spend money where we see plenty of other fan bases complaining that their owners would not spend money. But we seem to see the same problems constantly pop up and Martins has been the only continuing figure that i can point to.

as long as martins continues to stay away from every and all basketball decisions and focuses on the massive 200 million downtown entertainment complex we're good.

When is the entertainment complex due for completion roughly? I've tried to look online but some of the sites I can't access either as a paywall or due to my location.

[OrlChamps2030]

For the European/English/international fans - US sporting culture is different than what you’d see in the EPL, especially in a transplant city like ours.. not many people here have “roots” here in Central Florida. For the younger generation of fans that were actually born here.. why watch Buddy-ball for half a decade when the rest of your family are already Boston/Lakers fans or there’s a team 2.5 hours down the road making playoff runs with way cooler branding/jerseys (how lame our branding is doesn’t get mentioned enough either)

Just win baby

Throw in a decade of complete irrelevance on the Bobcats/Kings level and yeah apathy will be pretty high. During the Dwight era the team was much more relevant and the fanbase was way more lively at games (especially in the playoffs)

[Catledge]

I grew up a hardcore sports fan in Orlando (I was in middle school when the team was founded), and I have always been super aware of how bad of a sports town Orlando is. It always drove me crazy how hard it was to get a Magic game on in a sports bar. But that also makes me think that if Orlando people being bad sports fans were going to make the team unprofitable, it would have moved a long time ago.

[cedric76]

Ownership is great

Fanbase sucks (sad but true)

[Optimus_Steel]

Ownership is great

Fanbase sucks (sad but true)

Ownership is not great. There is a reason this team has been a dumpster fire for the past decade. Yes they spend money on the player salaries but does that matter if they hire inept people to actually make the basketball decisions and keep those inept people in place? The owners pretty much have apathy for the team.

[Skybox]

I don't think ownership is a huge problem either (save for my personal disagreement with their political stance as a family, but this is nothing to do with their competence as owners) - they seem to have been willing to put their hands in their pockets for a winning team. The only criticism I'd have of them is their seemingly unending commitment to Alex Martins (though the Weltman/Hammond hire does seem to have pushed him to the background on the basketball side at least).

this is how i see it. Ownership has always been willing to spend money where we see plenty of other fan bases complaining that their owners would not spend money. But we seem to see the same problems constantly pop up and Martins has been the only continuing figure that i can point to.

Agreed but, if we all remember this is a business and even the richest owner doesn't want to hemorrhage money, Martins is the PR guy who rose in the ranks and often is listed in ORL magazine as one of the city's real power brokers. Perhaps it is his (thankless) job to balance the business and competitive sides of the Magic. If we are honest, there's probably been ten tickets sold among the 20 most rabid fans on this board in the last few years...We can be patient and aim for a rebuild but somebody has to pay the bills! The tourism angle is great even if there are more opponent jerseys than ours (our fans are the empty seats). Even KISS at halftime wouldn't help...there's plenty of alternative entertainment options in ORL...they have to win and soon or they simply lose money by the millions. I don't think WeHam answers to Martins the way others did but somebody has to set the realistic parameters of the business...a bunch of guys in their mom's basement in Portugal recommending tanking for 5 years on an online forum is NOT a big sway for them.

[thelead]

Ownership is great

Fanbase sucks (sad but true)

Ownership is not great. There is a reason this team has been a dumpster fire for the past decade. Yes they spend money on the player salaries but does that matter if they hire inept people to actually make the basketball decisions and keep those inept people in place? The owners pretty much have apathy for the team.

Bingo. It's the equivalent of saying someone was a great dad because he bought his kid an expensive first car, paid for all of his college tuition, and left him a trust fund.... all while never being there for the kid.

Funny enough, that's probably the life that the ownership group led.

[Magic_Kingdom]

Winning solves everything. In the 10 years since Dwight left, the Magic have had one season (barely) over .500. So is it headed in the right direction at least? No. This year they are actively trying to lose and have the worst record in the NBA. So what is there to support, honestly? I'm surprised anyone goes to the games. I'm a lifelong Orlando resident and used to be a season-ticket holder, but I would not pay to watch this product, especially with them holding out players and waiving competitive vets like MCW to play G-Leaguers. It's a farce.

Incidentally, since they finally hired Weltman as President of Basketball Ops in 2017 and reportedly separated Martins and the business side from the basketball side, they are 134-235 for a .363 winning percentage. And, again, currently the worst team in the NBA. So nothing has changed.

[MasterGMer]

What is the timeline of Magic Entertainment Complex? Is it going to be built next to Amway?