Today we’d like to introduce you to Danita Johnson.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina and attended Western Carolina University where I earned my degree in sports management. When I graduated, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do or where I wanted to be, but I did know I wanted to work in sports. Sports had always meant community and family to me. I remember vividly to this day growing up in my neighborhood (Windtree). On weekends we’d have cookouts where we’d move hoops into the streets and play basketball from one driveway to the next making the streets our court. Those memories of basketball and family stuck with me.
After college, I was able to get an internship with the Fayetteville Patriots, the first NBA G League team, and eventually got hired full-time. There was the first time I was exposed to the opportunities that were possible for me. That led me to my next opportunity of helping start a new franchise, the Bakersfield Jam of the G League and the Tulsa Shock of the WNBA. When you help start a team you learn every part of the business: ticket sales, marketing, PR, community relations and even pick up a lot on the basketball side. Those experiences set me up for my career in this business.
My 14 years in professional sports also included stops with the Phoenix Suns and Mercury, the Washington Mystics, the Sparks and the Los Angeles Clippers. When this recent opportunity was presented to me to become the President and COO for the Sparks, I knew it was where I was supposed to be at this time in my life.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’ve worked for eight different teams all across the country. While helping to launch franchises and gain new experiences has made me who I am today, it’s not easy to pick up and start over. You meet all kinds of great people, but then have to start the process from the beginning in a new market, all while being away from your friends and family at home.
Another professional challenge was being a director at age 26 and learning how to manage and work with people. That can often be the greatest challenge for young professionals, much more than the technical aspects of the work.
Los Angeles Sparks – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from others?
I like to think of the Los Angeles Sparks as a multi-dimensional company: we’re a professional basketball team, but also a business, a women’s empowerment organization, and part of the fabric of the Los Angeles community.
We’re known for our championships on the court: we’ve won three WNBA titles (2001, 2002, 2016) and have the most franchise wins and playoff appearances in league history.
But we’re also known for what we’re doing off the court. On the ticket sales side we led the WNBA in attendance in 2017 and 2018 and are number one this season. We’re currently leading the league in sponsorship dollars earned. And we’re growing our media coverage and social media footprint every day.
I’m proud of how creative we’ve been as an organization to create opportunities not typically available to women’s sports franchises. In my first stint with the Sparks, I helped launch our #WeAreWomen campaign which culminated in selling out Staples Center with over 19,000 in attendance.
This year we launched a community partnership called Spark The True You, which was the largest community-based partnership in WNBA history with the LA County Department of Mental Health and the LA County Department of Military and Veteran Affairs.
To accomplish the unprecedented you can’t be afraid of fear and you have to be willing to change. What has set me apart is that I’ve found ways to be mentally strong even amidst change and difficult situations. It’s crucial to stay calm and keep moving things forward when others might stagnate or run from growth, expansion, and evolution in business.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest career moments came from taking risks. I moved across the country, took new jobs and believed in myself in order to experience a championship and feel the impact of the #WeAreWomen campaign. I am most proud of the decisions that I made to take risks and bet on myself because those decisions have evolved into my proudest career moments.
Pricing:
- Ticket pricing:
- Courtside ($275)
- VIP ($165)
- Sidelines ($80)
- Baseline ($60)
- Corner ($40)
- Upper Baseline ($25)
- Peak Courtside ($285)
- Peak VIP ($175)
- Peak Sidelines ($88)
- Peak Baseline ($67)
- Peak Corners ($48)
- Peak Upper Baseline ($30)
Contact Info:
- Address: 5120 W. Goldleaf Circle, Suite 130
Los Angeles, CA 90056 - Website: lasparks.com
- Phone: 1.844.GO.SPARKS
- Instagram: LA_Sparks
- Facebook: LosAngelesSparks
- Twitter: LA_Sparks
Image Credit:
Los Angeles Sparks and Davy Greenberg
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