Q&A with Joey Graziano, Pacers Sports & Entertainment

Just months after leading the NBA’s effort with the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, lifelong New Yorker Joey Graziano made the move to Indianapolis to take on a new role, this time with the parent company of the Indiana Pacers.

Graziano will lead Pacers Sports & Entertainment’s foray into new business lines, largely focused on entertainment strategy and giving Pacers and Indiana Fever fans more exposure to different forms of amusement. The details of Graziano’s new gig haven’t been entirely disclosed, although he teased that more could come on that front in a matter of weeks.

IBJ sat down with Graziano to discuss his move to Indianapolis, what he sees in the city’s future and how his new role could help shape downtown.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

During your time with the NBA, you managed a lot of major-league events in the U.S. and international markets. Most notably, for our readers, anyway, was the 2024 NBA All Star Weekend here in Indianapolis. What was it like for you to immerse yourself in the city for that?

What I loved about what we did in Indianapolis is, we decided very early on across the team in Indy—both among Pacers and civic leaders who were responsible for the event, but also at the NBA—that we were going to make this the most fan-first All-Star of all time.

So, every decision then flowed from a very core and simple thesis. The decision to move All-Star Saturday Night to Lucas Oil Stadium, how we thought about bringing new concerts into the market, the tipoff event—it was all from the idea of giving more fans an opportunity to be able to engage with the event than ever before. Of course, that leads to things like increasing total economic impact and more hotel rooms used, but it started with [understanding] what was going to be our guiding star as we thought about that event. So we really built that approach and then lived by it every single day.

So how did you go from leading this event in Indianapolis to just six months later taking a job at Pacers Sports & Entertainment and relocating here?

My entire career has been around building [business that extends the customer base] and helping transform legacy businesses. I had a lot of experience at the NBA—everything from the NBA [pandemic] bubble and being the first person there and the last to leave, I launched three new businesses … building things like NBA Experiences, NBA Con and growing commercial properties—and because of that, I started to have conversations with other groups and was thinking about other big opportunities.

I was fortunate … there was an [option] to go to other sports properties, and a number of teams had reached out to the commissioner’s office asking for permission to talk to me. So, ultimately, I was really fortunate to have a number of different opportunities that were available to me, and I chose Indianapolis. And I chose this city and this team because I am so bullish on where the next stage of growth can be and what this city does really well, which I saw firsthand from the All-Star experiences.

This city can get things done, it can be organized across political lines, it can be motivated by civic and business leaders together. And I believe the future of Indianapolis is so outsized that I couldn’t think of any other place I’d want to be a part of. I uprooted my life to go take on this opportunity.

You’re taking on a role that was essentially created specifically for you. In talking with PSE leadership like CEO Mel Raines and President Todd Taylor, what position do they see you playing in furthering the city—and the business’s—growth?

I think for all professional sports teams … the next stage of growth for these businesses has to look different than the current stages, which have been around media, tickets and sponsorship. So when we think about those next stages of growth, what has been built over the decades of leadership here has been an incredible amount of trust, and that trust gives you permission to then extend your business into new verticals.

So, I think what you’re going to see my team spending our time on is building out those new verticals that are extensions of our brand beyond the core business that exists in Gainbridge Fieldhouse today, and I think that’s going to be really exciting for the city.

In the next couple of weeks, we’re really excited … to start to illuminate the strategy that we’re going to have to ensure that we are driving incredible experiences for our fans across their holistic interests.

Across the street from the Fieldhouse, the Simon family is at work on the redevelopment of the CSX property into a hotel and 4,000-seat entertainment venue. While PSE is considered separate from that entity, at least for now, are you expecting you’ll play a role in what’s going on over there?

We are going to have multiple touchpoints with our fans, and that’s certainly going to be one of them. You could think about that the same way we think about Bicentennial Unity Plaza and Commission Row and some of the other sort of growth verticals that we have [in mind]. It’s right across from Gainbridge for a reason, and the desire is to be able to capitalize on driving people into downtown Indy and give them multiple ways to engage with our brands.

You’re not the only one making the jump from the NBA events team to Pacers Sports & Entertainment, right?

My right hand is coming with me. I think at the end of the day, when people evaluate the “player trade,” Kenzi Inman, who has come over with me, is going to be deemed the star of the trade. She is the one that people are going to look at and say, “Thank God we got Kenzi.” I’m incredibly grateful that she had enough trust in me and how I was thinking about these opportunities. But between the two of us, she is far and away the more talented one. She’s going to focus, as we’re building this strategy group, on leading much of the negotiating on many of the day-to-day parts of the new business ventures that we’re launching.

You earlier mentioned the WNBA All-Star game that will be in town next July. That was cemented before you made the move to Indianapolis. What role, if any, did you have in helping the city lock that down?

I was fortunate to be a part of the team that decided where every NBA All-Star was going to go and certainly worked with the W in a similar capacity. I believe this city has the opportunity to be the global epicenter of women’s sports, so having one of these moments is an important step in showcasing to the world how we are approaching women’s sports differently. I know that the Indiana Sports Corp. has come out with a big vision for how important that is going to be to the future of their mission and values. I think we’re completely aligned.

I was able to know where the league was [in its process] … so I spent some time with Mel Raines making sure that this was something that we could have in Indianapolis ASAP and was fortunate that we had some availability to be able to do that this upcoming summer.

As you’ve alluded, you join Pacers Sports & Entertainment at a very interesting time, where young stars like Tyrese Haliburton, Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston are the faces of their franchises. What does having players like that do for someone in your position, as you look to create new opportunities using what’s already in front of you?

I don’t think it can be overstated just how important our players are to driving interest in our game and in our brand. What is so important with them is the commitment they, among certainly many others, have made to the city. You think about Miles Turner as an example, and his decade-plus commitment to the city shows that we expect to have these young stars for a very long period of time, and all of them have already demonstrated their investment in making this a better place to live.

What are the goals that you’re setting for yourself, and when will the fruits of your labor come to bear?

I need to earn credibility and trust across the city, so my first focus is on doing that—certainly within the walls of my own organization but also within the city. I’ve got to do everything possible, take on every job big and small to earn that trust. Once we have that trust, we’re going to very quickly be able to make differences that are felt by our fans every single day, with more offerings and more value being driven to them. Ultimately, this is a fan-driven business, and our focus is on delivering more to that fan. So I hope our fans feel the work that we’re doing very quickly.•