How Warriors president Rick Welts influenced the NBA's All-Star Game move
In a ballroom at the Wynn hotel and casino in Las Vegas two weeks ago, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, team owners and high-ranking league executives attended a Board of Governors meeting to discuss league issues.
They voted on changes to Hack-A-Shaq, introduced new minority owners and went over mundane but necessary topics. League officials also addressed the controversial anti-LGBT law in North Carolina that jeopardized the 2017 NBA All-Star Game in Charlotte.
In a poignant address, Golden State Warriors president and chief operating officer Rick Welts, 63, who is openly gay, explained his meaningful and lifelong affiliation with the NBA and told league owners he didn’t feel comfortable attending the All-Star Game in Charlotte if the law remained as is.
NBA moving 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte due to anti-LGBT bill
His message resonated with the nearly 70 people in the ballroom, and this is the story of how Welts impacted but didn’t dictate the NBA’s decision to move the game to another state.
Three people who were in the room gave USA TODAY Sports identical accounts of Welts’ heartfelt and unscripted address and provided other details of the meeting. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about what was said in the room.
Rick Buchanan, the league’s general counsel, started the discussion with a straightforward update on Charlotte, including details about conversations league officials had with North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, Charlotte city officials and local business leaders. Silver told owners there wouldn’t be a vote on moving the game, but it was important to hear opinions of those in the room.
After Buchanan’s update, some owners reiterated the league’s core values of diversity and inclusion while acknowledging the North Carolina law is a sensitive issue. No owner spoke up and opposed relocation.
Silver, owners and league executives also looked at the issue from a business standpoint. Was it a good idea to hold the league’s midseason celebratory showcase event in a city where the weekend would be overshadowed by protests and media coverage of the House Bill 2, which doesn’t afford protections to those in the LGBT community?
Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan and Hornets president and COO Fred Whitfield also spoke. They explained it was a difficult time and a divisive climate in Charlotte, and the issue wasn’t going away anytime soon.
Michael Jordan, NBA world react to All-Star game relocation
Jordan acknowledged it would be disappointing to lose the game but he didn’t like that the league was in this position. His public statement released on Thursday reinforced that sentiment.
Then, Welts spoke.
“For those of you who don’t know,” he began.
Welts, 63, told league officials his story, starting out as a ballboy for the Seattle SuperSonics when he was 16 years old. He was the SuperSonics’ director of public relations and worked in the NBA’s New York office, holding a variety of significant roles, including executive vice president, chief marketing officer and president of NBA Properties.
In the mid-1980s, he helped revitalize a struggling All-Star product by giving the weekend more entertainment value for players and fans. He also had a big influence on the 1992 Dream Team promotion for the Barcelona Olympics and helped bring NBA exhibition games to international cities and opened NBA offices in Australia, Asia, Europe, Mexico and Canada.
He worked for the Phoenix Suns for nine years and served as the team’s president and chief executive officer for the final two before taking a job with Golden State. In 2011, he publicly said he was gay in a New York Times article.
North Carolina governor Pat McCrory fires back at NBA decision over All-Star Game
He wanted those in the room to know his full perspective.
He then said if the All-Star Game remained in Charlotte, he wouldn’t feel comfortable attending, and he said he has spoken to employees in the LBGT community from half of the league’s teams who didn’t feel comfortable attending either.
His words weren’t emotional, and they weren’t delivered as a threat. But Welts, who was instrumental in shaping All-Star weekend into the big-time event it is today, didn’t plan on attending if the North Carolina law wasn’t repealed or changed.
Welts, who doesn’t want to be viewed as the hero or key figure in this, was adamant he wasn’t telling the league what it should do. It was just his story, his point of view.
Following the meeting, a few owners talked, and a prevailing message emerged: If Rick Welts doesn’t feel comfortable coming to the All-Star Game, the decision to relocate just got easier.
Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt.