Martins on the State of the Magic
Orlando Magic Chief Operating Officer Alex Martins addressed the media on Monday to discuss the team’s journey to the NBA Finals, ticket availability, the organization’s impact on the city and much more. Listen to the entire interview below:
Listen to the Complete Audio Interview Here
Partial Text Transcript
On reaching The NBA Finals 13 years later…
“Well, I guess the first thing is, it’s great to be back. It has been a long time and it feels just as great as it did the last time around and probably better because of what we have been through. The last time around we were a young team that exceeded any expectations getting to the NBA Finals so quickly and we have been through a lot the last 13 years in this organization. Otis (Smith) and his team have done a phenomenal job of rebuilding the product on the floor. On the business side, we have spent a lot of time rebuilding our fan base up to this point. I think this time it is a lot more gratifying.”
On moving into the new building…
“It is always good to move into a new building when everyone is excited about the product. It is like any other business, your product has to be strong if you’re going to be successful and with us it starts with the product on the floor. Like I said, Otis (Smith) and his team have made some phenomenal moves that I personally think have been really underrated. When you talk about the move to acquire Rafer Alston during the season when Jameer went down, and the move last summer to sign Mickael Pietrus. Who ever thought the impact that would have particularly in the playoff run? It all starts with the product on the floor and when the product on the floor is great everything else gets a lot easier. Going into the new building obviously helps as we do all of our sales and marketing.”
The impact Otis Smith has had on the mindset of winning a championship…
“It has always been the mindset from the onset and if there is anybody in this building who comes to work everyday with that one goal in mind it’s Otis Smith. He makes sure everybody else continues to focus on that goal on a daily basis as well. I think as an organization we always hoped to get there but I also think the attitude was, ‘let’s try to get to the playoffs.’ The playoffs are a great thing and that’s a sign of success and that was where the bar is always set. When Otis was hired as the general manager he set the bar a lot higher and if you don’t set the bar there, you’re not going to get there. I think that this is the perfect example, we set our bar in the past to get to the playoffs and now we have set the bar to win a championship. We are not going to be happy until we reach that goal and oh by the way, we aren’t going to be happy with one either.”
On Otis sending out postcards at the beginning of the season…
“Again, it is just another sign of Otis (Smith) and where his focus was from the beginning and it doesn’t stop with the postcards. Whether it was the team retreat that Otis (Smith) held prior to the season with the basketball management team that we participated in and the shirts and hats he did for that small group that was responsible for steering the ship. Or the posters of the Larry O’Brien trophy that have been up since the very beginning of the season. All of that was precipitated by Otis (Smith) and Otis’ insistence that every single day we come to work with one goal in mind and that’s to win an NBA Championship.”
Enjoying the trip to The Finals…
“Absolutely, if you can’t enjoy getting to the NBA Finals then I think there is something wrong with you. This is what we all worked for, all 200 people work every single day to get to this place. Yes, we have been very consumed with building that building but we have been running an operation on a day-to-day basis during that time as well. We have been servicing fans, selling tickets, and delivering a return for our corporate partners but you have to enjoy it when you get to this point because you never know when you are going to get back. Yes, our full intent is to get back here on a more frequent basis from this point forward, there’s no doubt about it but you look back on it and its been 13 years since we have been here so you have to enjoy it while you are here.”
The positive impact the team’s success has had on businesses…
“We are already hearing stories about how so many businesses around the community are benefiting from this. I was watching some of the reports from last night and down on Wall Street and bars and restaurants talking about this past weekend was the best weekend they have ever had. I heard one bar owner say his Saturday night business was 75 percent higher than what he does on a normal Saturday evening. Then you look at the retail portion of it, I saw all the retail reports where people were sold out of their Eastern Conference shirts in less than half of a day yesterday. This kind of success benefits everyone in the community and it is about to explode. The games at Amway Arena are going to be broadcast to more than 200 countries around the world, what is that going to do for our tourism industry? Here at a time where our tourism industry like every other tourism industry is struggling, now get to be showcased to the world because their NBA basketball team is in The Finals. When this happens it just doesn’t benefit our organization, it benefits everybody in this community.”
On how the trip to The NBA Finals will benefit the new arena…
“I think we have spoken to some of you over the past couple months about our early success in marketing the new building with our suites and our premium product. What we have pointed to is the fact that our new building isn’t going to do it on its own. We have seen that in many other cases around the NBA and other sports, if you don’t have a winning product on the floor along with the new building, you are going to struggle to market the building. You will have a little bit of an up-tick just because of the newness of the building and the novelties and all the new amenities but clearly when it becomes a success of moving into a new building is when you have the new building coming with a winning product and clearly this is helping.”
On how hard it will be to get a ticket…
“It’s going to be hard. I’m going to be completely honest with you. It’s going to be very hard to get a ticket for a number of different factors: one thing that has happened during this run during the course of the last month and a half, is that our season-ticket base has exploded. As of yesterday, we have 2,700 new full-season ticket holders. They have the first opportunity to buy their tickets to the NBA Finals. There is a much a smaller universe today, than there even was 90 days ago in terms of those tickets that would be available. Couple that with the media contingent that will be here from all over the world, there will be live broadcasts of the game in dozens of different languages; those broadcast teams are coming in to broadcast the NBA Finals. So, the media contingent that will be here will be in excess of 1,500 media. Well, we have to take out normal fan seats to seat those media that cover the event. So you will see, there will be whole sections of our upper bowl that will be redesigned with tables and working spaces, that we wont be able to sell those seats to fans. It’s a good problem to have, but I think that the universe of tickets that will be available for sale will obviously be smaller than in a normal circumstance. I would hope that by the time we get to public sale, we will have a thousand or more. I think that’s possible. But again, it’s going to be contingent upon how many media reservations are made this week to cover The Finals and how many of our season ticket holders buy their tickets.”
On what will be done for fans that cannot purchase tickets…
“We’re going to do a number of different things. I’ve got 200 people upstairs putting the plans together this morning. From everything from major watch parties to different events around the community to help allow people to celebrate. Our block-party concept outside of the Amway Arena prior to games will be expanded. It was a great site, I don’t know if you all had the opportunity to get out there during the game, but we had almost 1,000 people during the game Saturday night, outside of Amway Arena, watching the game on big screens that we had out there. So, we will provide all of those kinds of opportunities. I know there are a number of other partners of ours that are looking to do other events along Orange Ave., Wall St. etcetera, that we are working with to put all those plans in place for today and we’ll have announcements about those as the week goes on. We are very focused on making sure that for those that don’t get the opportunity to be in the building, we can still touch through a number of different events during the Finals.”
On full-season tickets…
“Yesterday was an unbelievable day, being a Sunday, which we are normally not in operation on a Sunday, but we had our full sales team here answering the phone yesterday and we sold almost 400 full season tickets alone. It takes us right around the 11,000 mark. We are in the great position that we were in during the mid 90s with our similar success, and at some point here, and hopefully it’s in the next week or two, we are going to have to have the discussion about where we cap it off. Because we will not sell out the building on season tickets, it’s always been our policy; we want to make some tickets available on a single-game basis for the general fan that cannot afford a full season ticket. We also want to make tickets available to our groups. Groups has always been, particularly over the last 13 years, where it hasn’t been as big a season-ticket base, groups have been the lifeblood of filling that building up. We would sell three of four thousand tickets a game to different groups. So we want to hold tickets back for that as well. So hopefully we will be in that difficult position of where we cap it off over the course of the next few weeks.”
On ticket prices for next year…
“Well, earlier in this year, due to the economic climate and the challenges everyone is having at home, whether it’s through a lost job or our entire recessionary environment, we made the decision to freeze ticket prices for next year. We are not going back on that. We are going to freeze our ticket prices for next season at the level at which they were at this season. It still is a very affordable option, despite what the public’s perception may be. We have over 7,500 tickets prices at $27 or less. It’s still a good, affordable option and we are going to continue that going into the new Events Center. As a matter of fact, we are going to expand upon that. We’ve made a commitment that we are going to have a $5 ticket in the new building because of all of the other opportunities that present themselves with the new building itself. So, we are very conscious of trying to keep this a product that everyone has access to. So, whether you are someone that can afford a $5 ticket or a $500 ticket, we want to continue to make this accessible to everyone.”
Orlando Magic Chief Operating Officer Alex Martins addressed the media on Monday to discuss the team’s journey to the NBA Finals, ticket availability, the organization’s impact on the city and much more. Listen to the entire interview below:
Listen to the Complete Audio Interview Here
Partial Text Transcript
On reaching The NBA Finals 13 years later…
“Well, I guess the first thing is, it’s great to be back. It has been a long time and it feels just as great as it did the last time around and probably better because of what we have been through. The last time around we were a young team that exceeded any expectations getting to the NBA Finals so quickly and we have been through a lot the last 13 years in this organization. Otis (Smith) and his team have done a phenomenal job of rebuilding the product on the floor. On the business side, we have spent a lot of time rebuilding our fan base up to this point. I think this time it is a lot more gratifying.”
On moving into the new building…
“It is always good to move into a new building when everyone is excited about the product. It is like any other business, your product has to be strong if you’re going to be successful and with us it starts with the product on the floor. Like I said, Otis (Smith) and his team have made some phenomenal moves that I personally think have been really underrated. When you talk about the move to acquire Rafer Alston during the season when Jameer went down, and the move last summer to sign Mickael Pietrus. Who ever thought the impact that would have particularly in the playoff run? It all starts with the product on the floor and when the product on the floor is great everything else gets a lot easier. Going into the new building obviously helps as we do all of our sales and marketing.”
The impact Otis Smith has had on the mindset of winning a championship…
“It has always been the mindset from the onset and if there is anybody in this building who comes to work everyday with that one goal in mind it’s Otis Smith. He makes sure everybody else continues to focus on that goal on a daily basis as well. I think as an organization we always hoped to get there but I also think the attitude was, ‘let’s try to get to the playoffs.’ The playoffs are a great thing and that’s a sign of success and that was where the bar is always set. When Otis was hired as the general manager he set the bar a lot higher and if you don’t set the bar there, you’re not going to get there. I think that this is the perfect example, we set our bar in the past to get to the playoffs and now we have set the bar to win a championship. We are not going to be happy until we reach that goal and oh by the way, we aren’t going to be happy with one either.”
On Otis sending out postcards at the beginning of the season…
“Again, it is just another sign of Otis (Smith) and where his focus was from the beginning and it doesn’t stop with the postcards. Whether it was the team retreat that Otis (Smith) held prior to the season with the basketball management team that we participated in and the shirts and hats he did for that small group that was responsible for steering the ship. Or the posters of the Larry O’Brien trophy that have been up since the very beginning of the season. All of that was precipitated by Otis (Smith) and Otis’ insistence that every single day we come to work with one goal in mind and that’s to win an NBA Championship.”
Enjoying the trip to The Finals…
“Absolutely, if you can’t enjoy getting to the NBA Finals then I think there is something wrong with you. This is what we all worked for, all 200 people work every single day to get to this place. Yes, we have been very consumed with building that building but we have been running an operation on a day-to-day basis during that time as well. We have been servicing fans, selling tickets, and delivering a return for our corporate partners but you have to enjoy it when you get to this point because you never know when you are going to get back. Yes, our full intent is to get back here on a more frequent basis from this point forward, there’s no doubt about it but you look back on it and its been 13 years since we have been here so you have to enjoy it while you are here.”
The positive impact the team’s success has had on businesses…
“We are already hearing stories about how so many businesses around the community are benefiting from this. I was watching some of the reports from last night and down on Wall Street and bars and restaurants talking about this past weekend was the best weekend they have ever had. I heard one bar owner say his Saturday night business was 75 percent higher than what he does on a normal Saturday evening. Then you look at the retail portion of it, I saw all the retail reports where people were sold out of their Eastern Conference shirts in less than half of a day yesterday. This kind of success benefits everyone in the community and it is about to explode. The games at Amway Arena are going to be broadcast to more than 200 countries around the world, what is that going to do for our tourism industry? Here at a time where our tourism industry like every other tourism industry is struggling, now get to be showcased to the world because their NBA basketball team is in The Finals. When this happens it just doesn’t benefit our organization, it benefits everybody in this community.”
On how the trip to The NBA Finals will benefit the new arena…
“I think we have spoken to some of you over the past couple months about our early success in marketing the new building with our suites and our premium product. What we have pointed to is the fact that our new building isn’t going to do it on its own. We have seen that in many other cases around the NBA and other sports, if you don’t have a winning product on the floor along with the new building, you are going to struggle to market the building. You will have a little bit of an up-tick just because of the newness of the building and the novelties and all the new amenities but clearly when it becomes a success of moving into a new building is when you have the new building coming with a winning product and clearly this is helping.”
On how hard it will be to get a ticket…
“It’s going to be hard. I’m going to be completely honest with you. It’s going to be very hard to get a ticket for a number of different factors: one thing that has happened during this run during the course of the last month and a half, is that our season-ticket base has exploded. As of yesterday, we have 2,700 new full-season ticket holders. They have the first opportunity to buy their tickets to the NBA Finals. There is a much a smaller universe today, than there even was 90 days ago in terms of those tickets that would be available. Couple that with the media contingent that will be here from all over the world, there will be live broadcasts of the game in dozens of different languages; those broadcast teams are coming in to broadcast the NBA Finals. So, the media contingent that will be here will be in excess of 1,500 media. Well, we have to take out normal fan seats to seat those media that cover the event. So you will see, there will be whole sections of our upper bowl that will be redesigned with tables and working spaces, that we wont be able to sell those seats to fans. It’s a good problem to have, but I think that the universe of tickets that will be available for sale will obviously be smaller than in a normal circumstance. I would hope that by the time we get to public sale, we will have a thousand or more. I think that’s possible. But again, it’s going to be contingent upon how many media reservations are made this week to cover The Finals and how many of our season ticket holders buy their tickets.”
On what will be done for fans that cannot purchase tickets…
“We’re going to do a number of different things. I’ve got 200 people upstairs putting the plans together this morning. From everything from major watch parties to different events around the community to help allow people to celebrate. Our block-party concept outside of the Amway Arena prior to games will be expanded. It was a great site, I don’t know if you all had the opportunity to get out there during the game, but we had almost 1,000 people during the game Saturday night, outside of Amway Arena, watching the game on big screens that we had out there. So, we will provide all of those kinds of opportunities. I know there are a number of other partners of ours that are looking to do other events along Orange Ave., Wall St. etcetera, that we are working with to put all those plans in place for today and we’ll have announcements about those as the week goes on. We are very focused on making sure that for those that don’t get the opportunity to be in the building, we can still touch through a number of different events during the Finals.”
On full-season tickets…
“Yesterday was an unbelievable day, being a Sunday, which we are normally not in operation on a Sunday, but we had our full sales team here answering the phone yesterday and we sold almost 400 full season tickets alone. It takes us right around the 11,000 mark. We are in the great position that we were in during the mid 90s with our similar success, and at some point here, and hopefully it’s in the next week or two, we are going to have to have the discussion about where we cap it off. Because we will not sell out the building on season tickets, it’s always been our policy; we want to make some tickets available on a single-game basis for the general fan that cannot afford a full season ticket. We also want to make tickets available to our groups. Groups has always been, particularly over the last 13 years, where it hasn’t been as big a season-ticket base, groups have been the lifeblood of filling that building up. We would sell three of four thousand tickets a game to different groups. So we want to hold tickets back for that as well. So hopefully we will be in that difficult position of where we cap it off over the course of the next few weeks.”
On ticket prices for next year…
“Well, earlier in this year, due to the economic climate and the challenges everyone is having at home, whether it’s through a lost job or our entire recessionary environment, we made the decision to freeze ticket prices for next year. We are not going back on that. We are going to freeze our ticket prices for next season at the level at which they were at this season. It still is a very affordable option, despite what the public’s perception may be. We have over 7,500 tickets prices at $27 or less. It’s still a good, affordable option and we are going to continue that going into the new Events Center. As a matter of fact, we are going to expand upon that. We’ve made a commitment that we are going to have a $5 ticket in the new building because of all of the other opportunities that present themselves with the new building itself. So, we are very conscious of trying to keep this a product that everyone has access to. So, whether you are someone that can afford a $5 ticket or a $500 ticket, we want to continue to make this accessible to everyone.”
