{"id":632933,"date":"2026-03-01T19:53:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T19:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/632933\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T19:53:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T19:53:15","slug":"martins-shares-latest-on-orlando-bid-to-host-nba-all-star-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/632933\/","title":{"rendered":"Martins shares latest on Orlando bid to host NBA All-Star Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been eight months since Alex Martins<\/a> stepped down as Orlando Magic<\/a> CEO and moved into a new role as vice chair of the organization, signaling the start of a new leadership structure for the franchise.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t get it twisted.<\/p>\n

Martins, who served as CEO for 14 years, still does plenty of work for Orlando<\/a> while serving as a senior advisor to the Magic board of directors and as a resource to team executives, including president of business operations Charlie Freeman<\/a> and president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m probably working more than I thought I would be,\u201d Martins said Saturday during the Orlando Wine Festival<\/a> at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando. \u201cTo think that we were going to step back a little bit was probably a little blind faith there, but I\u2019m loving it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still involved with the DeVos family, still involved with the board (and) work very closely with Charlie and Jeff,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Martins also still attends games at Kia Center<\/a> and has watched closely as Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad has battled through a second consecutive injury-plagued season.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Orlando\u2019s home matchup with the top-seeded Detroit Pistons<\/a>, the Magic sat 1 1\/2 games back of No. 6 Philadelphia but only half-a-game ahead of No. 8 Miami.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of them,\u201d Martins said about the Magic. \u201cObviously we all struggle with the fact that we can\u2019t get healthy, and we need to get healthy. Hopefully, that\u2019ll come sometime soon. It\u2019s really been two years since we had our entire roster together, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m proud of them and the way that they\u2019ve grown together,\u201d he added. \u201cThey\u2019re such a close unit. They love playing with each other. They love being in each other\u2019s company, not just when they\u2019re playing basketball or practicing, but in the evening together or off the court. They\u2019re a great group of young men \u2026 and we\u2019re getting better and better. Hopefully we get healthy at the right time so that we compete at the right time come playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the Magic have gone through the evolution of shifting from a team pushing for a better draft pick to battling for a stronger spot in the NBA playoffs<\/a> over the years, the reputation of both of the franchise and the city of Orlando has reformed back into a location that could host major events for the league once again.<\/p>\n

That includes NBA All-Star Weekend<\/a>, which the Greater Orlando Sports Commission announced<\/a> in early January it would be bidding for to host in 2030.<\/p>\n

Martins, who shared he\u2019s played a leading role in the local organizing committee that\u2019s working to attract the event back to Orlando, said the group will submit it\u2019s bid in April and mentioned a three-year window to host.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s been a large percentage of my time, working with that group and working with the NBA to prepare our bid, and our goal is to bring NBA All-Star back to Orlando,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully we can do that sometime between the \u201928 and \u201930.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city has hosted the league\u2019s All-Star Game twice before: Last in 2012 and first in 1992.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event took place in Los Angeles at the Intuit Dome, the new home of the LA Clippers. Next year\u2019s will take place in Phoenix from Feb. 19-21, 2027. From there, no future locations have been set by the league yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been fortunate enough that we\u2019ve held it in Orlando twice,\u201d Martin said. \u201cBut the event has grown tremendously since 2012. We just got back from LA and it\u2019s not just All-Star weekend anymore. It\u2019s not just the All-Star game anymore. Over the last couple of years, it\u2019s been like All-Star week.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now, LA showed us they really made it a year-long event, preparing for it and doing things for their community to uplift the community because of All-Star coming there,\u201d he added. \u201cThat lasted an entire year. So, it\u2019s a much bigger event than the last time it was in Orlando.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although it\u2019s been almost 15 years since Orlando last hosted All-Star festivities, that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019ll just be handed the chance to host a third time.<\/p>\n

There is a variety of criteria that the league looks at when evaluating host cities for All-Star Weekend.<\/p>\n

That criteria includes the following:<\/p>\n

* Infrastructure, including ample hotel rooms, facilities, etc.;<\/p>\n

* World-class event venues with the necessary amenities;<\/p>\n

* Proven ability to organize large-scale events on a global stage;<\/p>\n

* Interest by the city and fans in hosting the game;<\/p>\n

* And city support in services like transportation and security.<\/p>\n

The league works with all interested teams to help them meet the necessary criteria.<\/p>\n

Martins shared some of the feedback Orlando has received from the league in its efforts putting together a bid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a much bigger undertaking, but I\u2019m proud of our community,\u201d he said. \u201cThe NBA has already said this to us: As a community, we\u2019ve collaborated so well thus far in putting our bid together that they say that amongst most of the other cities that they work with that this community comes together in a way that they haven\u2019t seen in most other cities. So, we\u2019re confident, but we\u2019re not over-confident.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of work to do,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to make sure that we submit the best bid and put our best foot forward, but hopefully sometime in that window between \u201928 and \u201930, we\u2019ll have All-Star back in Orlando.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic vs. Wizards<\/p>\n

When: 7 p.m., Tuesday, Kia Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0FanDuel Sports Network Florida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been eight months since Alex Martins stepped down as Orlando Magic CEO and moved into a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,165,6,76,1412,80939,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-632933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-orlando-magic","12":"tag-social","13":"tag-social-sports","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116155672813572096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}