Alex Martins
From Hoopedia
Alex Martins, who has spent 19 years in professional sports management and re-joined the Magic in June of 2005, was named chief operating officer on May 3, 2006.
Martins, who served in various senior-level management capacities with the Magic between 1989-1998 and the organization’s executive vice president of marketing and franchise relations in 2005-06, oversees the day-to-day business operations of the club, including marketing, ticket sales, fan relations, community relations, broadcasting, corporate partnerships, communications, and business strategy and development.
Over the past year, Martins led the Magic in its “Commitment” community and marketing efforts, while overseeing a ticket sales effort which saw the sixth-largest increase in sales in the NBA from the previous year, the largest group sales effort in team history and the largest increase in season ticket sales and the highest season ticket renewal rate over the last seven years. Martins also has overseen the ticket price re-structuring for 2006-07, which includes a franchise-record 9,752 seats priced at $30 or less and a new $20 ticket in the lower bowl.
Martins originally joined the Magic as director of publicity/media relations in April 1989. In September of 1996, he was promoted to senior director of communications, overseeing all internal and external communications for the organization. He also previously served as the Chairman of the Board of the Magic Action Team Community Fund. The Magic Action Team Fund developed into the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation, which has distributed more than $12 million to local non-profit organizations during the last 16 years. Additionally, Martins served on the developmental board which formulated the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at the University of Central Florida. The program has been funded through a $9 million endowment by Rich and Helen DeVos and awards dual Masters degrees in Sport Management and Business Administration.
Since leaving the Magic in 1998, he also has served as the senior vice president of marketing and branding for the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets, and vice president of communications and public affairs with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns. In 2003, he returned to Orlando to serve as vice president of sports ventures with the Tavistock Group. In his role with Tavistock, Martins served as tournament director of The Tavistock Cup, a PGA Tour-sanctioned event.
Martins started his career as a student assistant in the Villanova sports information department. He assisted in the Philadelphia 76ers public relations department from 1986-1988, and was also the assistant sports information director at Georgetown University (1988-89). While at Georgetown, Martins also assisted with the 1988 USA Basketball Team Trials held at the Washington D.C.-based campus. Martins added to his USA Basketball experience in 1994 by assisting with the publicity/media relations efforts of Dream Team II at the World Championships of Basketball in Toronto.
A native of Kearny, New Jersey, Martins holds a MBA from the University of Central Florida, while earning a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Villanova, where he graduated from in 1986. He resides in Orlando, Fla., with his wife, Juliet, and daughter Sophia (2).
