“It’s a match made in heaven”: Dallas Mavericks CEO admires promoting NBA-WNBA coalition with GEM patch
The Dallas Mavericks of the NBA and the Dallas Wings of the WNBA have formed an alliance that could solidify the professional basketball scene in the city.
The logo of the Mavericks' program for the young women of Dallas, the Girls Empowered by Mavericks (GEM), will be seen on the Stars' jerseys as a patch just below the jersey numbers.
The Dallas Mavericks, owned by Mark Cuban, and the Dallas Wings, owned by Bill Cameron, have made history as this is the first time NBA and WNBA teams owned separately form an alliance.
“It’s a match made in heaven,” Cynt Marshall, the Dallas Mavericks' chief executive officer, said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. “It’s going to send the message that we’re all-in with our sister team and they’re all-in with us.”
No further details of the deal have been disclosed other than the fact that it's a multi-team deal.
The Dallas Wings became the 10th active WNBA team with a sponsor patch on their jerseys.
More about the Dallas Mavericks' GEM program
The Dallas Mavericks' GEM program caters to a targeted 300,000 females across the Dallas metropolitan area annually.
According to the Sports Business Journal, the GEM "is designed to encourage young women to play sports or engage in physical activity."
Among the activities the Mavericks are doing in the GEM program are basketball camps and health and wellness clinics in partnership with the University of Texas-Southwestern.
Also being offered are financial education courses and leadership, academic and inclusion workshops.
With the alliance with the Wings, the Mavericks can now invite the Wings, led by Arike Ogunbowale, into their GEM basketball clinics as "active contributors."
During the Wings' home game against the Chicago Sky at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas on Sunday, Marshall will be awarded the Nancy Lieberman Women of Inspiration Award.
The Sky-Wings game, which will be known as the "Inspiring Women Game" as part of the Wings' inclusion into the GEM program, is a rematch of their Saturday meeting where the Sky took the road win, 104-89.