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Jasmine Williams
Professor Blair
UWRT 1102-009
December 10, 2014
Behind the Scenes
Have you ever taken a chance and done something completely out of the ordinary?
Have you ever stepped out of your boundaries despite any reservations you may have had?
When I applied for an internship in the executive office for the Charlotte Hornets I did not
put much thought into it. I would have never guessed that I would have gotten the position
out of over one hundred applicants. I had no idea what to think when I attended orientation
for new interns for the Hornets because I was far from a basketball fan and had no idea
what to expect. Working for the Charlotte Hornets has became a secondary discourse for
me because stepping into the arena is like stepping into another world; I was forced to
learn an entirely new work environment. During my internship I had to adjust to a new
style of working, which included learning new jargon, the entire arena, and a daily schedule
that is constantly changing.
When most people attend basketball games they don’t consider what goes on behind
the scenes and what it took to make everything happen, they only focus on the basketball
team. Upon beginning my internship, I quickly learned that a basketball game consists of a
large number of people in multiple departments working together to create an experience
that people will never forget. I was taught during orientation that there are many different
departments that worked with the team and that mine, the executive department, was at
the top. The executive staff consisted of Michael Jordan, the chairman and owner of the
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team, and then the vice chairman, president, general manager, assistant general manager,
executive vice president, and senior director of administration. Then it trickled down into
different departments that included basketball operations, communications, marketing,
corporate social responsibility, corporate partnerships, ticket sales, legal affairs, human
resources, finance, and arena operations.
All of the departments play important roles and without one the arena would not be
able to function. For example the basketball operations department, which we call BBopps
for short, is responsible for all the activities that happen during gameplay like the halftime
shows, t-shirt giveaways, and interactive media. Without BBopps the games would be dull
and the fans would not enjoy it as much as they do. The corporate partnerships
department is responsible for bringing in all of our sponsors and partners that pay a lot of
