The Orlando Magic and Walt Disney World are keeping their names tied together for years to come, extending a sponsorship agreement that keeps Disney's brand on the team's uniforms while also debuting a reimagined gathering space inside Kia Center. The deal renews what the two organizations describe as a 16-year Champions of the Community relationship, and it arrives alongside a freshly unveiled atrium built around new artwork and projection technology.
The extension, reported Monday, continues an arrangement that dates back to 2010, when Walt Disney World first signed on as the Magic's Champions of the Community sponsor, according to sportbusiness.media. Disney later became the team's official jersey sponsor in 2017, a status it has held ever since. The Magic's own statement framed the renewal as strengthening the teams' shared commitment to Central Florida while continuing their connection globally, per the Orlando Sentinel.
Orlando Magic President of Business Operations Charlie Freeman called the two groups Orlando-born organizations, saying the Magic are thrilled to extend their longstanding relationship with Walt Disney World. Freeman added that the organizations are honored to represent Orlando and look forward to creating more magic for Central Florida, per the same report. Walt Disney World President Joe Schott echoed that sentiment, saying Disney and the Orlando Magic have brought people together through shared experiences and commitment to Central Florida.
A Reimagined Welcome Inside Kia Center
Alongside the renewed agreement, Walt Disney World and the Magic unveiled a redesigned space at Kia Center called the Walt Disney World Atrium, featuring updated artwork and advanced projection technology meant to enhance the fan experience. The station's report notes the projection technology is designed to transform the atrium during Magic games and other venue events, creating what organizers describe as an immersive guest experience. Schott said the redesigned atrium creates a vibrant welcome for fans and an experience distinctly Orlando.
It's not the first time Disney's name has been attached to the arena's communal spaces. The 2022 renewal of the partnership kept Disney's presence spread throughout what was then Amway Center, including an earlier Disney Atrium and a special seating and hospitality area during select home games, according to sportsbusinessjournal.com. That same 2022 agreement also included sponsorship of the OMYF Open golf tournament, the outlet reported.
From a Three-Year Trial to a Lasting Jersey Deal
Disney's path onto Magic jerseys began modestly. When the team first signed Disney as its jersey sponsor in 2017, the agreement ran just three years, matching the NBA's own three-year test period for jersey advertising at the time, as the Orlando Sentinel reported in 2017. Disney had already been a Magic sponsor since Amway Center opened in 2010, giving the jersey deal a head start built on years of existing ties.
Jersey-patch economics around the league have shifted considerably since then. Back in 2017, a comparable Cleveland Cavaliers jersey-ad deal with Goodyear was reported at roughly $10 million per year, while a Brooklyn Nets agreement with the software company Infor was valued around $8 million annually, per that same Orlando Sentinel report. Neither the financial terms nor the length of the Magic's newly extended Disney deal have been disclosed.
A League-Wide Shift Toward Tech-Driven Sponsorships
The Magic-Disney renewal lands amid a broader trend of NBA teams pairing sponsorship dollars with fan-facing technology rather than simple logo placement. The days when an NBA sponsorship was mainly about putting a company logo on a jersey are becoming less common, Forbes observed in its coverage of the league's evolving sponsorship landscape. Such technology partnerships can help fund arena upgrades while giving venues new features marketable to both fans and corporate clients, according to Forbes.
Other recent deals illustrate just how far that trend has traveled. The Brooklyn Nets struck a new multiyear partnership with Alibaba Group, making the company the team's official technology and cloud partner as well as its jersey-patch sponsor for the Nets' 60th anniversary season, with Alibaba's cloud technology powering a real-time 360-degree replay system and personalized digital collectible cards for fans at Barclays Center, Forbes reported. Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors inked a jersey partnership with IREN reportedly worth more than $50 million per year, a deal that also covers the WNBA's Golden State Valkyries and the G League's Santa Cruz Warriors, according to the same Forbes report, which cited Axios on the figure. The NBA itself brought on Amazon Web Services as its official cloud and cloud AI partner under a multiyear deal announced in 2025.
