Zappos Becoming More Sports-Oriented With Sponsorship Of Golden Knights Sled Hockey Team

By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com

 

As team presidents go, Kerry Bubolz appears to be the type of sports executive who would be prepared for any local speaking engagement in metro Las Vegas.

 

Well, that was until Bubolz — the Vegas Golden Knights president — showed up at a recent Zappos all-hands-on-deck quarterly employee gathering that is a tie-free zone.

 

Zappos prides itself on its anti-corporate culture leanings and on having fun running a big online retail clothing and shoes business in the former Las Vegas City Hall building. So, if you show up at a Zappos meeting wearing a business tie, you’re going to learn that the TonyHsiehanistas are going to have some fun cutting that tie.

 

Bubolz remembered the story with a smile Monday because Zappos made a donation to the Las Vegas Foundation at the time and also welcomed the team president’s announcement at the company staff meeting several weeks ago that Zappos would be the presenting sponsor of the Golden Knights sled hockey team. Zappos will now pay for the equipment, travel and ice time for the VGK sled hockey team, which has disabled players who enjoy playing hockey against other NHL team sled hockey squads.

 

Zappos already had a close business relationship with the local professional soccer Las Vegas Lights, which is temporarily housed in work space at the Zappos headquarters in downtown until the United Soccer League team moves full-time into Cashman Field. Zappos helped design the Lights’ uniforms and loaned two llamas for every Lights home game.

 

Zappos and the Lights found a common bond because of their commitment to downtown Las Vegas and to unconventional business styles, which included a helicopter money drop at halftime of a game for the Lights and a manager-free business approach called a “holacracy” that is designed to stem micromanaging at Zappos.

 

Zappos supported many community causes in Las Vegas before it tied the business knot with the Lights, but in years past shied away from entering major business deals with big-time sports events and teams.

 

But the Lights’ relationship changed all that — and now Zappos has expanded its business kinship with the Golden Knights with the sled hockey sponsorship. Zappos leader Tony Hsieh also became a big Golden Knights fan, attending games at T-Mobile Arena in his mohawk hairdo.

 

Steven Bautista, Zappos head of charitable giving, said the Golden Knights’ sled hockey team was an ideal fit because the retail online company is creating an adaptive clothing line. Plus, the Golden Knights “misfits” persona of the hockey team was a match with the “misfit” workers of Zappos, which is known for its non-traditional business approaches.

 

Bubolz told LVSportsBiz.com after the media event at City National Arena Monday that the Golden Knights already had a business sponsorship with Zappos, but it was not an official category sponsor. Now with Zappos as the official presenting sponsor of the team’s sled hockey team, the VGK will build on its business partnership with Zappos to work on internet sales deals and branding opportunities, Bubolz said.

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Take a look at the Golden Knights sled hockey team schedule. There are exhibitions and tourneys around the country in hockey cities such as Chicago and Denver.

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