SBJ awards

Andy Fahey

The 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors were named “Sports Team of the Year” while Warriors Co-Executive Chairman and CEO Joe Lacob was named “Sports Executive of the Year” earlier tonight at the Ninth Annual Sports Business Awards at the Marriott Marquis in New York City’s Times Square. The Warriors were previously named Sports Team of the Year in 2014.

“Being named Sports Team of the Year and Sports Executive of the Year is a true testament to our Strength in Numbers and the incredible group of people we have in our organization,” said Lacob. “We are committed to being one of the top franchises in professional sports and it’s a true honor to be recognized for our efforts by the Sports Business Journal.”  

Additional finalists for the Sports Executive of the Year included Brian France from NASCAR, Stan Kroenke from Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, Rob Manfred from Major League Baseball and Mark Parker from Nike. Additional finalists for the Sports Team of the Year award included the Carolina Panthers, Kansas City Royals, Portland Timbers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

This past year, in addition to qualifying to the Western Conference Finals for the second straight season and winning an NBA record 73 games this season, the Warriors accomplished the following:

• Renewed over 99% of their season ticket holders for the 2016-17 season (fourth straight season with a renewal rate over 90%).  

• Capped season tickets at a franchise-record 14,500 and currently have a Season Ticket Holder Priority Wait List of over 28,000 members.

• Sold out all 49 home games during the 2015-16 season (including playoffs) and currently have a 183-game sellout streak at Oracle Arena.

• Generated a 20% increase in financial growth of new corporate partners year-over-year and on average grew existing accounts by over 30% in revenue. 

• Generated a collective growth of more than 137% in the last 12 months on various Warriors social media platforms and now have over 16.3 million combined followers.

• Saw more traffic on Warriors.com in 2015 than any year in history with a 120% increase in page views, 168% increase in visits, 168% increase in unique visitors, and 151% increase in mobile app downloads. 

• Recipient of the “Best Analytics Organization” award at the 2016 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. 

• GSW Arena LLC and JPMorgan Chase announced a 20 year partnership where the new state-of-the-art sports and entertainment center to be built in Mission Bay will be named “Chase Center.” 

• During the 2015-16 regular season, the Warriors’ local TV ratings on CSN Bay Area ranked first overall among any RSN (Regional Sports Network) in the United States in regards to NBA coverage (23.22 HH Rating on April 13, 2016).

The Sports Business Awards consist of 17 categories with 87 nominees. The 2016 nominees and winners were recognized for excellence and outstanding achievement in the business of sports for the period from March 1, 2015, to Feb. 29, 2016.

An external panel of sports business executives studied the nominations and served as category judges. Those executives and staff of SportsBusiness Journal/Daily evaluated the nominees and determined the winners in 15 of the 17 categories by private vote. The other two categories, Sports Executive of the Year and Athletic Director of the Year, were judged solely by the editorial staff of SportsBusiness Journal/Daily.

SBJ awards

Warriors Named Sports Team of the Year and Joe Lacob Receives Sports Executive of the Year Honors