Seven to Watch: Jim McPhilliamy brings new pro teams to Charlotte
When the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats fired Jim McPhilliamy in 2010, he figured he’d do what most out-of-work sports executives do: Leave town to find another job.
Instead, McPhilliamy elected to stay in Charlotte. It was a decision that has continued to alter the landscape of pro sports and – McPhilliamy hopes – entertainment in the city.
“Frankly, my wife and I liked Charlotte,” said McPhilliamy, who had been the Bobcats’ senior vice president for brand marketing. “So the question was, how do you gain control of your own destiny in a business where you’re not the next guy in line to go out the door?”
McPhilliamy would soon find that his niche is owning and running a pro sports franchise. Then, for good measure, he multiplied that by two.
McPhilliamy landed a Major League Lacrosse franchise for Charlotte in 2011. And earlier this year he did it again, acquiring the rights for a United Soccer Leagues Pro team that starts up next spring.
The lacrosse Charlotte Hounds will play during the same spring and summer season as soccer’s Charlotte Independence.
They won’t be in the same stadium in 2015, however. The Hounds will continue to play in Memorial Stadium, while the Independence waits for soccer-specific renovations to be completed for the 2016 season. The soccer team will play at multiple sites in 2015, possibly including UNC Charlotte’s Richardson Stadium and maybe one game in Bank of America Stadium.
“There’s nothing really that overly challenging about it,” McPhilliamy, 49, said of operating two teams at the same time. “It’s going to make us better over time and will refine our skills. It’s going to be easier to market. We’ll have more buying power with two teams instead of one.”
McPhilliamy, who has partial ownership in both teams and is president and managing partner of both, wants to be able to market the Hounds and Independence as one. He has a front-office staff of 10 (soon to be expanded to 12) that will serve both teams.
He is looking to 2016 and beyond, when both teams will play in Memorial Stadium. The Hounds already play at pro lacrosse’s highest level. McPhilliamy hopes the Independence will one day end up in Major League Soccer.
“The whole idea is for the two to complement each other,” said McPhilliamy. “We’ll be programming 25 or more events – soccer and lacrosse. Our hope is that people will know there’s something going on (at the stadium), but they won’t necessarily know whether it’s soccer or lacrosse. They’ll just know it’s fun and it’s the place to be.”
McPhilliamy has a long history in marketing pro sports. He has worked for NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt Inc.; Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates; the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings and the NBA’s Houston Rockets and Bobcats.
“What you see with Jim is a really smart entrepreneur, who has a completely positive belief in what he’s doing,” said Mike Behrman, another former Bobcats executive who is chief financial officer for the Hounds and the Independence. “And he learned throughout experiences with the Bobcats: You can’t cut (costs) on the way to prosperity. You have to invest in things for them to come to fruition.”
McPhilliamy, Behrman and the rest of the teams’ management team – which is headquartered in an office in uptown Charlotte’s EpiCentre – think creatively. Much of the two teams’ news is released through their Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. As for promotions, last season, the Hounds had a “Zero K” road race for charity before a game.
“It started at 5 (o’clock) and ended at 5,” said McPhilliamy. “We fired the starting gun, then everybody went to get a beer, listened to a band and hopefully stayed for the game. It was a blast.”
Operating two pro teams is not uncommon in U.S. sports, although doing so with two teams playing in the same season is. Both of McPhilliamy’s teams are run on tight budgets. Most of the lacrosse players have second jobs that prevent them from even living in Charlotte (they commute weekly for games). Soccer’s USL Pro is the equivalent of AA baseball, and McPhilliamy said a deep-pocketed investor will need to step forward if the Independence is to ever be considered by MLS.
Doing more with less makes running two franchises more of an enticing challenge for McPhilliamy.
“Our stated goal is winning championships, to have the best teams in North America in their sports,” said McPhilliamy. “But we want to have fun on the way to that.”
This story was originally published December 25, 2014 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Seven to Watch: Jim McPhilliamy brings new pro teams to Charlotte."