{"id":656083,"date":"2026-03-13T12:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T12:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/656083\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T12:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T12:36:22","slug":"why-fedexs-richard-smith-said-he-believes-grizzlies-will-stay-in-memphis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/656083\/","title":{"rendered":"Why FedEx’s Richard Smith said he believes Grizzlies will stay in Memphis"},"content":{"rendered":"

FedEx executive Richard Smith<\/a> doesn’t believe the Memphis Grizzlies <\/a>are going anywhere.<\/p>\n

Smith, the son of late FedEx founder Fred Smith<\/a>, said he hired a \u201csports advisory firm\u201d to determine whether Grizzlies owner Robert Pera was looking to sell the team or move from Memphis. He was told told no on both counts.<\/p>\n

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“I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any truth to rumors that he wants to move the team,” Smith told The Commercial Appeal.<\/p>\n

If Pera wanted to sell, Smith said he would have been interested in buying the team with his family to keep it in Memphis.<\/p>\n

Smith said he also looked into becoming a Grizzlies minority owner.<\/p>\n

“There were not many minority pieces for sale,” he said. “So there really wasn\u2019t an opportunity for my family to buy in, either as a majority owner or a meaningful minority owner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith serves as chief operating officer, International, and chief executive officer, Airline, at FedEx. He started at the Memphis-based logistics giant in May 2005. His jobs at the company have included serving as president and CEO of FedEx Express.<\/p>\n

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Pera, 48, has served as majority Grizzlies owner since buying the team for $377 million in 2012 from Michael Heisley, who had bought the franchise when it was in Vancouver and moved it to Memphis. At the time, Pera was the NBA’s youngest owner at 34.<\/p>\n

NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke during the NBA’s All-Star weekend about expansion and potentially adding two more teams to the league. When asked about relocation, he stated that it’s “not on the table right now.”<\/a><\/p>\n

The Grizzlies are in FedExForum leasing negotiations with the city of Memphis. The team’s lease runs through the end of the 2028-29 season. A major component of the talks is renovating the arena. Negotiations continue to take place, and expectations have been that a\u00a0deal will be reached.<\/p>\n

Memphis Mayor Paul Young has also expressed confidence over the last year that a deal will eventually be reached. In September, he said the Grizzlies and city are “negotiating in good faith.”<\/a><\/p>\n

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He spoke again in February on the matter.<\/p>\n

“We’ll see,” Young said when asked if a new lease could be signed by this time next year. “I mean, we’re working real hard on the Grizzlies lease. I feel real good about where it’s going. I don’t want to put a timeline on it, but I feel confident that we’re gonna get it done.”<\/p>\n

In March 2025, the Memphis City Council passed a resolution\u00a0transferring $80 million for initial renovations<\/a>\u00a0to the FedExForum. In total, the renovations are expected to cost $550 million. At the time of the $80 million being transferred, Young said the renovations would occur in phases over the next few years.<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies are going through a tough stretch on the floor. Memphis is one of the worst teams in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

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General manager Zach Kleiman said on Feb. 6 that the team is pivoting to a younger build, essentially confirming a rebuild.<\/p>\n

Attendance has dwindled during the Grizzlies’ struggles. The team did not raise ticket prices for 2026-27 after doing so in recent seasons. <\/a><\/p>\n

The Grizzlies are armed with one of the NBA’s deepest array of draft picks over the next four years, setting themselves up to jump back into contention with the right moves.<\/p>\n

Damichael Cole is the Memphis Grizzlies<\/a> beat writer for The Commercial Appeal. Contact Damichael at damichael.cole@commercialappeal.com. Follow Damichael on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DamichaelC.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis Grizzlies aren’t leaving, FedEx’s Richard Smith says<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FedEx executive Richard Smith doesn’t believe the Memphis Grizzlies are going anywhere. Smith, the son of late FedEx…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3795],"tags":[7,28214,41107,294,293,177,4070,11255,6,84575,51210,181],"class_list":["post-656083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-memphis-grizzlies","tag-basketball","tag-fedex","tag-fred-smith","tag-grizzlies","tag-memphis","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-memphisgrizzlies","tag-minority-owner","tag-nba","tag-richard-smith","tag-robert-pera","tag-the-grizzlies"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116221901803031329","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656083","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=656083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}