"You can have great elements and capital in abundance
- EVEN THE WIND AT YOUR BACK -
but it's always execution that separates success from failure."
In 2015, the Warriors captured the organization’s first NBA championship in 40 years to culminate the most successful three-year run in franchise history. In 2017 and 2018, the Golden State Warriors won back-to-back NBA championships. Since 2015, the Warriors have made four consecutive trips to the NBA Finals, bringing home three NBA championship titles.
In my role as co-Owner and co-Executive Chairman, I provide executive leadership in all aspects including team and personnel, game operations, venue management, in-game operation, and entertainment value. Additionally, I’m involved with the strategic initiatives and operational imperatives of the Chase Center, our $1.3 billion dollar sports entertainment center in San Francisco, where the Warriors played their first home game in the fall of 2019.
photo: Getty Images/NBAE
Peter celebrates the NBA Championship with his team, the 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. photo: Getty Images/NBAE
In 2015-2016, the Golden State Warriors made NBA history when the team set a new record for most wins in a single-season: 73
Peter celebrates the NBA Championship with his team, the 2017 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors
The competitive nature of the purchase drove up the price to a point that meant success would only be assured if there was a sea change in the entire organization and its strategy and tactics. The Warriors were in shambles, stuck at the bottom of the league by all metrics. We set out to pay a premium for the best leadership and determined that the culture mantra would be impatience, but not imprudence.
Peter celebrates the NBA Championship with his team, the 2018 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors
Each new executive was carefully vetted for their tolerance not to be risk averse and for their ability to have ownership of the process with their reward built around carefully crafted goals. Determined to rebuild the brand, we focused on strengthening the bond between the executives and the operating staff and reconstructing the relationship with the loyal fans.
"The biggest risk in the business world today
IS TAKING NO RISKS.
You have to take risks."
We shaped our culture around a strategy of being audience-centric. Every touch point was crafted to shape participation in the team. Vendors, sponsors, and fans were all given a vested interest – changed from passengers to participants who now had a role in the outcome. The operative team was charged with engaging our fans and taking the oldest venue in the NBA and turning it into a state of the art venue. This meant experimentation and some bumps.
In 2018, the Golden State Warriors were named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year for the influence that the Warriors, as a collective group, have had on their sport and the broader culture over the last half-decade. Since 1954, Sports Illustrated has selected a Sportsperson of the Year. The Warriors are the fourth team ever and the first since the 2004 Boston Red Sox to win SI’s Sportsperson of the Year award.
Culture became the mantra of the Golden State Warrior’s business plan. We instilled a culture that supported risk, embraced uncertainty, and accepted failure as an inevitable part of the process.
In December of 2019, The Golden State Warriors were named ‘Franchise of the Decade’ across all professional sports teams by the Sports Business Journal/Daily. As part of the astonishing transformation for the franchise over the last 10 years, SBJ highlighted numerous accomplishments including three NBA Championships, Chase Center Completion, and leading the league and all professional sports in a variety of business categories.
In 2014, our new ownership group proposed to build a new state-of-the-art privately financed sports and entertainment venue in San Francisco and entered into an agreement with salesforce.com to purchase private land in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood. In 2016, we announced a 20-year naming rights partnership with JPMorgan Chase & Co. In January of 2017, the Warriors broke ground on the arena, which would be known as the Chase Center.
In September of 2019, the highly awaited and anticipated Chase Center opened. The 11-acre project includes an 18,000-seat arena and 600,000 square feet of office space, as well as a new 5.5-acre park.
The brand new Chase Center in San Francisco is scheduled to house the Golden State Warriors starting in 2019.
In 2019, the Golden State Warriors and Kaiser Permanente announced the creation of Thrive City, a dynamic new community gathering space located in the heart of Mission Bay, designed to promote health and wellness in the greater Bay Area. The beautiful open-air district offers a year-round resource for families, fans, visitors and neighbors to build community at a variety of festivals, farmers markets, dining experiences, community events and more.
photo: Getty Images/NBAE
“There are no guarantees in any business. A random event can derail anyone’s success at any time. Yet, despite factors outside of your control, what I do know is that your organization’s culture is the foundation upon which your future success rests.”
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