The 2022 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors were named Team of the Year at the 2023 NBA Sales and Marketing meetings this week in Miami, Florida, where all 30 teams were recognized for their sales and marketing efforts during the 2021-22 season. Additionally, the team won the Inclusive Innovation Award, recognizing a specific team-led program that advances inclusive practices, and three additional awards, for a total of five, more than any other team. This marks the fifth time in the past eight years (2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022) that the Warriors received the most awards at the annual NBA league meetings.
The Team of the Year honor recognizes the organization that has demonstrated excellence in business performance across both key revenue drivers and operational focus areas.
Highlights from the Warriors’ business results during the 2021-22 season include:
- The Warriors had a 98% retention rate among season ticket members, while selling out every game during the season and postseason run. The team’s current sellout streak of 451 consecutive home games is a franchise record.
- In partnership with Rakuten, the Warriors unveiled Empowered, a celebration of women at the intersection of sport, community and culture in the Bay Area. The multi-faceted, season-long campaign includes the team’s Nike City Edition jersey, designed by Bay Area artist Hueman.
- The Warriors served over 100,000 Bay Area community members at over 100 events. To mark the team’s 75th Anniversary last season, the organization partnered with Rakuten to unveil upgrades to City of Dreams in San Francisco, and during the 2022 NBA Finals, the Warriors and the NBA, in partnership with Kaiser Permanente and State Farm, unveiled a new NBA Cares Live, Learn and Play Center at the Columbia Park Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco.
- The Warriors Community Foundation, in its 10th Anniversary season, announced a record annual grants slate of $2.475 million, to 66 Bay Area non-profits, bringing the Foundation’s total impact to over $30 million since its inception in 2012.
- The organization led the league in local broadcast viewership this season, holding the top spot for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.
- The team has over 63 million followers across social media platforms and led the league in cumulative engagements for the opening month of the season. The Warriors Instagram account became the first professional sports team in North America to eclipse 25 million followers.
The Inclusive Innovation Award recognizes a specific innovative program that advances inclusive practices and is evaluated against criteria related to the program’s innovation, inspiration, and impact. The Warriors and United Airlines partnered to create Franchise Fund, a program designed with the help of the Western Regional Minority Supplier Development Council (WRMSDC) to help minority-owned small businesses in the Bay Area become corporate-ready and provide them the resources to become certified as minority-owned business enterprises (MBEs) by the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC). Franchise Fund eliminates barriers small businesses face in the accreditation process by providing all training, funds, and resources necessary to receive official MBE certification.