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Alex Martins is leaving his role as CEO of the Orlando Magic on July 1 to move into the newly created position of vice chair as part of a restructuring of the front office, the team announced Wednesday. Martins will be a senior adviser to the team’s board of directors going forward.
There won’t be a CEO in Martins’ place. Magic business operations president Charlie Freeman will oversee a number of departments, including ticket sales, global partnerships, arena operations, philanthropy, finance, human resources, communications and broadcasting. Ryan DeVos, who has been a Magic executive for the past eight years, will become managing director. Cole DeVos will relocate to Orlando at the beginning of the coming season and “engage in a full-time management development program,” the team said.
Jason Beede: #Magic CEO Alex Martins said Orlando’s rebrand was a 4-year process and he was “shocked” they kept it a secret: “Hopefully our fans are happy with it … Based on the feedback we got from them during the process, I certainly think we’ve delivered something they asked us for.
Cody Taylor: Magic CEO Alex Martins: There is no one more deserving of having their number retired first in Orlando than Shaq pic.twitter.com/Homiw2QhXH
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Kia buys naming rights of Orlando Magic arena
The home of the Orlando Magic is undergoing a name change. Kia has bought the naming rights to the arena and it will be known as the Kia Center starting Wednesday. That ends a longstanding and familial relationship for the former Amway Center. Amway had been the naming sponsor since the arena opened in 2010 and also had its name on its predecessor. The company is owned and run by the DeVos family, which owns the Magic too. The arena is owned and operated by the city of Orlando. “The Orlando Magic and Kia America have been proud partners for several years and we share in the excitement of Kia’s success and growth,” Magic CEO Alex Martins said in a statement. “We look forward to our expanded partnership which allows Kia to drive its brand forward and deliver a direct, impactful message to our fan base and beyond using the power of the NBA.”
Cody Taylor: Magic CEO Alex Martins, president Jeff Weltman and head coach Jamahl Mosley are among the team personnel at the naming rights announcement this morning. pic.twitter.com/umOOMLKhUv
Magic CEO Alex Martins, president Jeff Weltman and head coach Jamahl Mosley are among the team personnel at the naming rights announcement this morning. pic.twitter.com/umOOMLKhUv
— Cody Taylor (@CodyTaylorNBA) December 20, 2023
"If we have to get to that point, I think we can pivot quickly,'' said Magic CEO Alex Martins, whose team's payment from Bally's is due Nov. 1. "But, financially, there is no way in the first three to five years that we'd get to the same financial spot where we are today. We'd just have to slowly build a broadcasting business.”
The Orlando Magic will relocate its NBA G League affiliate to Kissimmee, FL, and it will be rebranded as the Osceola Magic. Their new home will be in Osceola Heritage Park, beginning play at Silver Spurs Arena in November 2023, CEO and Managing Partner Alex Martins announced today.
JD Shaw: The Magic have officially extended the contracts of president Jeff Weltman and GM John Hammond. Quotes from CEO Alex Martins and chairman Dan DeVos: pic.twitter.com/fKDwafe2hC
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Magic likely to keep Jeff Weltman and John Hammond
Weltman and general manager John Hammond each have one year remaining on their contracts, but most league insiders believe it is a foregone conclusion that Magic CEO Alex Martins and the franchise owners, the DeVos family, will extend those contracts or sign Weltman and Hammond to new deals. If Martins and the DeVos family didn’t have full faith in Weltman and Hammond, then they never would have gone along with the risky plan to rebuild the team from the ground up. Some league insiders believe the length of Weltman’s and Hammond’s new deals will align exactly with the contract Mosley is expected to sign. In other words, if Weltman and Hammond have two years added to their existing deals (giving them three more years in total), then Mosley would receive a three-year contract. And so on.
UCF alumnus Alex Martins ’01MBA, CEO of the Orlando Magic, was selected as the new chair of the University of Central Florida Board of Trustees in a unanimous vote by his fellow board members Thursday. He will serve a two-year term as chair beginning July 1.
"We continue to go through the early development phase of [the planned district]. Clearly the pandemic has slowed things down. We look forward to welcoming that sports and entertainment facility across the street," said Alex Martins, CEO of the Orlando Magic, during a press conference for the team's new $70 million training center. "We believe by the end of this year we will start to see dirt turning on that site and bring to life the [nearly] $1 billion sports and entertainment development we expect on that 8.5 acres."
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