Walt Disney World and Orlando Magic Extend Their Relationship and Revamp Immersive Atrium Experience

An ongoing partnership between Orlando's NBA team and the Walt Disney World Resort has been extended.

What's Happening:

• Further proving that some things just naturally go together like peanut butter and jelly, the Orlando Magic and Walt Disney World ensured that they remain one of these duos for the foreseeable future.
• Earlier, the Orlando Magic announced that Walt Disney World is extending its Champion of the Community (COTC) sponsorship, which began back in 2010.
• As part of the agreement, the Disney brand will remain on the Orlando Magic team uniforms and continue to tie the two together on the global stage, while also strengthening the collective commitment to the Central Florida community.
• In celebration of the announcement, Disney and the Magic also unveiled the new Walt Disney World Atrium at the team’s home, Kia Center, in Downtown Orlando.
• The new atrium builds on Walt Disney World’s longstanding presence at the Kia Center, with the new designs of the Walt Disney World Atrium featuring updated artwork and advanced projection technology that will transform the space throughout Magic games and all the other events at the venue, creating a dynamic and immersive guest experience.

• Disney World and the Magic’s continuing commitment and collaboration reinforce Central Florida as a premier sports and entertainment destination, with their ties going back together long before Disney was placed on the Magic’s jersey and even prior to them becoming a COTC.

Pat and Walt:

• The late Magic co-founder Pat Williams wrote in his book, Lead Like Walt, “the more stories I heard about Walt Disney’s impact on (Central Florida), the more I realized that, in building an NBA team from the ground up, I was attempting to do what Walt had already done many times in his life. When he built his animation studio, when he created Mickey Mouse, when he launched the first full-length animated feature, when he built Disneyland and dreamed of a vastly more ambitious project in Florida, Walt always started with a dream and turned it into reality.”
• Though he never met Walt Disney personally, Williams believed that studying his life, vision, and business philosophy is what helped him turn an ambitious idea like an NBA franchise in an unlikely basketball market into a success.
• Williams arrived in Orlando in 1986 to help lead the effort to bring an NBA team to Central Florida. At the time, Orlando was much smaller than established NBA markets, and securing a franchise meant convincing league officials that the city could support professional basketball.
• At the time, Williams saw a parallel with Disney's own career, which had seen Disney repeatedly pursue projects that initially seemed improbable - an animation studio, to creating Disneyland, and eventually planning a city of the future that later became Walt Disney World.
• Williams joined local businessman Jimmy Hewitt's effort to secure an NBA franchise in 1986. The NBA awarded Orlando an expansion franchise in 1987, and the Magic began playing in 1989.
• The name Orlando Magic was announced in July 1986, after a small number of people wrote it in during a name-the-team contest in the Orlando Sentinel. A panel of judges, including Orlando team officials who reviewed all of the suggestions, chose the name as an obvious nod to the main attraction in town at the time, Walt Disney World and the Magic Kingdom.

What They're Saying:

• Orlando Magic President of Business Operations Charlie Freeman: “The Magic are thrilled to extend our longstanding relationship with Walt Disney World. As two Orlando-born organizations, this continues our 16-year COTC relationship putting the community at the heart of what we do. We’re honored to represent our great city and look forward to creating more magic for Central Florida.”
• Walt Disney World President Joe Schott: “For years, Walt Disney World and the Orlando Magic have brought people together through shared experiences and a deep commitment to Central Florida. The reimagined Walt Disney World Atrium builds on that partnership, creating a vibrant new welcome for fans and an experience that feels distinctly Orlando.”