How new owners are turning Charlotte Hornets into model of modern NBA franchise
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Less than three months after Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall bought majority interest in the Charlotte Hornets, their fingerprints can already be glimpsed throughout the organization.
Look no further than the team’s jerseys, now featuring the logo of social-media entrepreneur MrBeast, who has 350 million followers on YouTube, Instagram and other outlets. His Feastables snack brand bought the prime jersey ad space as part of a sponsorship agreement unveiled this month.
THE ORIGINAL STORY: Meet the newest Charlotte Hornet: MrBeast.
It marks the first time a so-called content creator has sponsored an NBA franchise.
Jacob Gallagher, the Hornets’ chief revenue officer, said that is very much by design. “It just made perfect sense,” he told CBJ, pointing out that the Hornets and the NBA skew toward a younger audience, one that’s embodied by the team’s 22-year-old point guard, LaMelo Ball.
Gallagher said there was one other important factor driving the alliance: “Ownership saying, ‘Don’t come back and do the norm; this is something where we can make a big splash.’”
READ MORE: Wrongful death lawsuit filed against Hornets forward Brandon Miller, ESPN reports
The deal made national headlines and spurred speculation about how and when MrBeast, the persona created by Greenville, North Carolina-based Jimmy Donaldson, will incorporate the Hornets into his relentlessly viral vignettes and stunts.
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