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The Cavaliers were presented with the NBA Team of the Year Award for their record-breaking success across business operations.<\/p>\n
NEW YORK \u2013 The National Basketball Association (NBA) yesterday announced the winners of the 2026 NBA Team Sales & Marketing Awards at the league\u2019s annual NBA Sales & Marketing Meeting in Miami.<\/p>\n
The Cleveland Cavaliers were presented with the NBA Team of the Year Award for their record-breaking success across business operations.\u00a0 The Cavaliers also took home the Inclusion Leadership Award, while the Toronto Raptors received the Team Innovation Award.\u00a0 Additionally, Olivia Hay of the Memphis Grizzlies was recognized with the Pete Winemiller Guest Experience Innovation Award, while Billy Phillips of the Dallas Mavericks was recognized with the Values of the Game Award.<\/p>\n
\u201cNBA teams continue to set industry standards for fan engagement, elevated experiences, and social impact,\u201d said Jonathan Tillman, NBA Executive Vice President, Head of Team Marketing and Business Operations (TMBO).\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re proud to recognize this year\u2019s distinguished group of NBA Sales & Marketing Award winners for their remarkable efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
NBA Team of the Year: Cleveland Cavaliers<\/p>\n
The Cavaliers delivered a record-breaking 2024-25 season in several areas, including revenue, partnerships and attendance.\u00a0 A nearly 70% year-over-year increase in new season ticket memberships helped the franchise reach a home sellout streak that stands at 170 games and counting.\u00a0 The team also had its most successful City Edition retail campaign ever and generated significant partnership opportunities, including a historic 25-year extension with Cleveland Clinic and a variety of innovative fan experience campaigns such as \u201cCavalanche powered by Wendy\u2019s.\u201d\u00a0 Additionally, the launch of the team\u2019s new members-only luxury club \u201cHIPP\u201d located inside Rocket Arena has generated additional fan engagement opportunities and incremental revenue.<\/p>\n
NBA Inclusion Leadership Award: Cleveland Cavaliers<\/p>\n
The Cavaliers have made inclusion and community impact an integral component of their organizational strategy and distinguished themselves as leaders in the space, defined by the team philosophy, \u201cFor More Than Profit.\u201d\u00a0 In commemoration of the 1967 Cleveland Summit, the Cavaliers launched two marquee programs driven by their commitment to inclusion: \u201cA Seat at the Table: Voices of Tomorrow\u201d \u2013 a leadership conference for nearly 100 young adults \u2013 and the \u201cSocial Impact Academy\u201d \u2013 a fully funded nine-month program for 20 students focused on equity, civic engagement and activism.<\/p>\n
NBA Team Innovation Award: Toronto Raptors<\/p>\n
The Raptors have helped redefine fan engagement and sport science with their innovative Shooting Lab \u2013 an industry-first activation that reaches fans through elite biomechanics, computer vision and AI technology.\u00a0 This experience allows fans to compare their shooting mechanics to Raptors players, receive personalized insights, and create custom digital player cards.\u00a0 Shooting Lab, which reaches fans and players globally, bridges the gap between high-performance science and fan interactivity.<\/p>\n
Pete Winemiller Guest Experience Innovation Award: Olivia Hay, Memphis Grizzlies<\/p>\n
Olivia Hay has set the standard among her peers and inspired those around her by exemplifying the Grizzlies\u2019 CLICK values (Communicating courteously, Listening to learn, Initiating immediately, Creating connections and Knowing Your stuff).\u00a0 She launched a monthly newsletter to recognize part-time employees and consistently creates opportunities for camaraderie between her team.\u00a0 Her uncanny ability to drive connection with others defines the spirit of the Pete Winemiller Guest Experience Award.<\/p>\n
NBA Values of the Game Award: Billy Phillips, Dallas Mavericks<\/p>\n
Mavericks Vice President of Corporate Sponsorships Billy Phillips is retiring this month after 33 years with the organization.\u00a0 His legacy will be defined by integrity and a long list of impactful contributions, including securing the naming rights for the American Airlines Center, leading programs like \u201cSeats for Heroes\u201d and overseeing 35 court refurbishment projects around the world, including in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Germany and Mexico.\u00a0 Billy has continued to lead by example, cementing his influence on the franchise and community for generations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cavaliers were presented with the NBA Team of the Year Award for their record-breaking success across business…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,195260,99],"class_list":["post-405012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-nba-sales-marketing-awards","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}