The Charlotte Hornets has kept Novant Health on the team as a corporate sponsor, and the Winston-Salem-based healthcare group now has an expanded role with Hornets Sports and Entertainment.
The Hornets and Novant Health extended their partnership as the team’s official hospital and orthopedic provider, which includes its NBA G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm. The partnership now includes HSE’s NBA 2K League affiliate, Hornets Venom GT, making it the first organization to be an official sponsor of all three teams.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The partnership deal means Novant Health will continue to be the naming rights partner of the Novant Health Training Center at Spectrum Center and the Swarm’s home venue, the Novant Health Fieldhouse, unveiled last year at the Greensboro Coliseum. Novant Health logos will remain on the court and on courtside rotational signs in both Charlotte and Greensboro.
Novant Health will also be the partner of two Care Center Stations and the nursing station at the Spectrum Center, and both teams’ injury reports on social media.
“Novant Health is one of our longest tenured partners, and we’re excited that they enhanced their relationship with the Swarm last year and are now expanding to include Hornets Venom GT,” HSE Chairman and Vice President Fred Whitfield said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to collaborate with Novant Health, both on the court and in the community, for many years to come.”
Hornets Sports and Entertainment is a good match for Novant Health, says Saad Ehtisham, senior vice president and president of Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center.
“We work daily to inspire and empower communities to stay healthy,” said Ehtisham in a statement released by the Hornets. “We know that Hornets Sports and Entertainment is equally dedicated to wellness within our community, so it was natural to collectively expand our reach and strengthen our impact.”
The Novant Health and Hornets Sports and Entertainment partnership extension comes just more than three months after former NBA great Michael Jordan announced in June he was selling his majority stake in the team to a group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall.
The sale, which has since closed, was valued at $3 billion. Jordan paid $275 million when he bought a majority stake in the team in 2010.
Plotkin, founder and chief investment officer of Tallwoods Capital, had acquired a minority stake in the team in 2019. Schnall is co-president of Clayton, Dubilier and Rice and had been a minority owner in the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.
The Hornets start their regular season Oct. 25 at home against the Atlanta Hawks. The Swarm’s first home game is Nov. 15 against the Westchester (New York) Knicks.
Other Hornets Sports and Entertainment primary partners are Bank of America, Lowe’s, Coca-Cola Consolidated/Dr Pepper and Spectrum. Novant Health has been a partner dating back to the original Hornets, who are celebrating the 35th anniversary of the team’s first season in 1988-1989.
Charlotte-based Atrium Health is the official healthcare provider of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC, which plays in the U.S.-based Major League Soccer.