Philadelphia 76ers Innovating Opportunity

We’ve talked about the innovations which the Philadelphia 76ers have brought to the NBA, but what about the innovations to the City of Philadelphia?

It’s the city of Brother Love. It’s the home of the Philadelphia 76ers, Phillies, Eagles, and Flyers. It’s the location of the Liberty Bell, and the city known for the blessing to the tongue Philly cheesesteak.

But it could be the home of something new altogether. In fact the innovation could be the possibility of innovation itself centering in the City of Philadelphia – or close by in the new training facility of the Philadelphia 76ers.

In a grand gesture of “giving back to the community”, the Philadelphia 76ers and Kimball Office have designed a program to promote innovative technologies in a unique combination of sports and business, as detailed in a joint press release from April 12, 2016.

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Since basketball news is a little slow, it’s the perfect time to catch up on the Philadelphia 76ers other dealings. You see, in April 2016, they announced plans to launch the Sixers Innovation Lab: Crafted by Kimball. The program will be located in the Sixers’ business operations offices at the new 125,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art training complex in Camden, NJ. Start-up companies that impact the crossroads of sports and consumer products can apply to participate in the innovation lab beginning April 15, 2016 through September 30, 20165.

From the applications, the companies will be vetted and selected by a board of governors, including executives from the Philadelphia 76ers: CEO Scott O’Neil, CRO Chris Heck, VP of Business Development Katie Grossman O’Reilly, Director of Strategy Akshay Khanna; Kimball Office President Mike Wagner and Director of Marketing Wendy Murray; Wharton Social Impact Initiative Managing Director Sherryl Kuhlman, NextStage Capital Co-Founder and Managing Partner Terry Williams and Sixers’ Patriot Partners: StubHub, DraftKings, and The Rothman Institute at Jefferson.

Those selected companies will receive office space in the innovation lab furnished by Kimball Office; access to industry experts, executives, and financiers, as well as third-party consulting, legal, accounting, and business solutions services; and the opportunity to pitch industry-leading investors and venture capital firms.

Companies will even have the opportunity to participate in core curriculum programs, including a speaker series and leadership training featuring executives from industry-leading companies. In addition, each of the selected companies will receive sponsorships from the Philadelphia 76ers to assist with growing their business’ marketing and customer base.

"“As the Philadelphia 76ers organization eagerly awaits our move into a state-of-the-art basketball training complex, we thought it provided the perfect opportunity to include the Sixers Innovation Lab Crafted by Kimball, to drive the entrepreneurial spirit that is at the very foundation of this region,” said Philadelphia 76ers CEO Scott O’Neil. “We are fortunate to have assembled an unmatched roster of partners that have deep and seemingly unending material relationships in sports, media, technology and consumer-facing businesses that will serve the early stage companies housed under our roof and provide every advantage to help these aspiring leaders fulfill their dreams.”"

This investment in commercial enterprises in the Camden and Philadelphia regions is a significant effort on the part of the 76ers. Perhaps it was only right that the 76ers participate in this type of joint effort, as the team has been a major source of innovative ideas for the NBA.

It’s curious that this debuts with the opening of the Philadelphia 76ers new training facility. While the team will focus on building a winner on the basketball court, the ownership will be focusing on building businesses of some lucky entrepreneurs.

The success of the Philadelphia 76ers will depend on the successful integration of analytics, science, and medicines into a sports teams approach to managing players and improvements. With this step, the 76ers have literally placed innovation at their fingertips.

Next: Can These Philadelphia 76ers Win Games?

While there are no guarantees to the success of this program, it’s certainly long overdue. While a championship on the basketball court would mean a great deal to the city, this technology incubator may mean just as much to the future of the city. That’s what the Philadelphia 76ers are all about.