NBAE / Getty Images Bobcats Majority Owner Bob Johnson.

This is an absolutely great day for the city of Charlotte, the fans of the Charlotte Bobcats, the viewers of Time Warner Cable and the viewers of Fox Sports South Network. It is the culmination of a lot of work with a lot of complexities to bring three companies together for the benefit of the Charlotte fans and the surrounding community and for the City of Charlotte, itself.

Let me say what I believe this means for Charlotte. First, it’s a reaffirmation of the commitment that the people of Charlotte made to building a downtown arena. When I first acquired the franchise, it was stated clearly that the purpose of the arena was not only to house the Bobcats and the hundred of other exciting events that would take place here over the years, it was to be a catalyst and a cornerstone for economic growth and development in downtown Charlotte and to be a stimulus for the cultural enrichment and entertainment of the people throughout the surrounding regions of Charlotte.

This coming together of these three media companies represents our commitment to respond to the goal of the businesses and the citizens of Charlotte who wanted to have a downtown arena, a professional sports team and an institution that would commit itself to making Charlotte a better place for all of us to live, work and enjoy life. By having now together, three very powerful, business citizens of Charlotte - Fox Sports South, Time Warner Cable and Bobcats Sports and Entertainment - we invite, more than invite, we encourage, the rest of the business community to join with us in making the downtown arena the leader in revitalizing the entertainment, sports and cultural environment of Charlotte. This is only the beginning of what these three great organizations can do to raise Charlotte’s profile, to be an engine to attract business here, to be a catalyst to want people to live here and play here. I am very excited about this. This is probably the most exciting day in Charlotte since the community invited the NBA to bring a franchise here. I was fortunate enough to acquire that franchise. It’s only the beginning and we need everyone’s help to fulfill the joint goal.

I am delighted and honored to celebrate this historic re-naming of the building from Charlotte Bobcats Arena to Time Warner Cable Arena. It’s an appropriate name without question because of their tremendous presence in this marketplace and their commitment to provide a broad range of telecommunications and media services to people throughout the region. Having Fox Sports Net South carry our games, delivers them to a vast new audience. It's their joint ability to promote what’s going on in the arena, to tell the story with what’s happening with non-basketball events like the CIAA, the ACC or the first event that will be taking place in the Time Warner Cable Arena, that’s a non-basketball event, one near and dear to my heart, the upcoming Charlotte Jumper Classic.

This is all a part of what the combination of these three companies can mean. I am both honored and delighted to speak on behalf of the Bobcats ownership to say this is the beginning that all of us hoped for and it’s going to bring a great deal of enrichment and excitement to the Charlotte community.

NBAE / Getty Images Bobcats President and COO Fred Whitfield

This is a great day for us. I’d like to say it’s a monumental day, a watershed day for our organization as we move forward to continue to elevate our brand and elevate our organization. This is just another symbol of our commitment to continue to improve every facet of our business. This venture started about 16 months ago and when I think about my original meetings with Brian Kelly (Time Warner Cable) what I asked him to do was think completely out of the box and let’s chase a dream. Let’s do something that most people think at best is a remote possibility if we can pull it off.

Without everybody working together there’s no way all the pieces would have fit together in the puzzle. I’m extremely proud of how we worked through this as a team to enhance this overall relationship. As we look at the entitlement of this building, how prouder can we be that we found a way to work with an already great partner in Time Warner Cable to take it to the next level. When I think about this arena being named the Time Warner Cable Arena, it’s very fitting because they’re an unbelievably huge regional brand that touches so many potential fans. They worked tirelessly with us to find a way to reach even more fans and still serve their base of customers. We’re proud that they have found a way to create additional space for us to attract even more additional fans.

It’s not that easy to switch from one network to another, but tonight is our first game on Fox Sports Net. We’re excited to have that happen. As most of you know, Fox Sports Net is a leader in this sports industry. From Greensboro to Wilmington, throughout all of North and South Carolina, this new partnership gives us so much more of an opportunity to reach a fan base we hadn’t been able to reach. To have those that can become Bobcats fans, see our games and gradually become part of our fan base.

Fox Sports Net guaranteed us one thing, the first day they came in. They don’t just want to carry our basketball games, they want to carry our content. They want people to know deep inside our Bobcats organization, how great our players are, the great things they do in the community and how we try to elevate our brand and be a great community partner.

NBAE / Getty Images Bobcats Managing Member of Basketball Operations Michael Jordan

The only thing I can say is that I echo everything that has been said. It’s great for the city of Charlotte, but not just the city of Charlotte, but for the state of North Carolina, South Carolina and the surrounding states to be able to connect to the opportunity of what the Bobcats present.

I grew up here in North Carolina and didn’t have the opportunity to see much professional basketball, but now I think you guys are being a great opportunity to see professional basketball as well as other entertainment.

I guess the pressure has kind of been put on me from the entertainment standpoint to make sure we continue to improve as a product that you guys can build a fan base and support for the team here in Charlotte and all over.

I get my brothers calling me all the time saying, ‘When can we see the games,’ Thank you for allowing me to go back to these guys and say, ‘You can catch the games on Fox Sports.’

I am very happy for this day and for the Bobcats. I think Fred (Whitfield) and his staff have done a tremendous job trying to build this relationship. I think from a player’s standpoint, the best thing that could ever happen for us is to come in here and know that we have a fan base and a supporting system here in Charlotte and all throughout the state of North Carolina.

I think this is really going to expand that to now when we come home we really have a sixth man here.

NBAE / Getty Images Time Warner Cable Carolina Region Executive Vice President Carol Hevey.

I am so very proud to be standing on this stage today to be part of this very exciting announcement. The Time Warner Cable Arena is going to be such an exciting entertainment venue for many events for people of all ages for many years to come. We are very, very proud that it will carry our name. Time Warner Cable has been part of the Charlotte community for over 40 years now. We’ve grown over those years from a few thousand customers to more than half a million customers in Charlotte and the surrounding area and over two million customers throughout the Carolinas region. Our corporate and regional offices have joined our local presence over the years and we now have over 2,000 employees in the Charlotte area. We have four facilities and we’re building a fifth. We brought 800 new jobs to Charlotte. We’re very, very committed to the Charlotte community and we have been for a number of years. We have a long history of being committed to Charlotte and the community. In the past five years, we’ve given more than 20 million back to the community in cash and in-kind services.

Today we’re taking our commitment to the Charlotte community to another level. We’re investing in the future of Charlotte and the future of the community. We’re adding Time Warner Cable’s name to this magnificent skyline. Our partnership with the arena is win-win-win. It’s a great win for our cable customers for our cable customers and Bobcats fans and basketball fans across the Carolinas as we’ll open up access to televised Bobcats games to hundreds of thousands more fans and television viewers. This is a win for the Charlotte community. The Time Warner Cable Arena will be an exciting venue for many events. It’s a win for the Bobcats. We believe in this city and we believe in this team. We believe in the future of this team. We’re just delighted and we’re proud and very, very excited to open the Time Warner Cable Arena.

NBAE / Getty Images Time Warner Cable Carolina Region Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Brian Kelly

For me, today is really about the future. The future of this outstanding partnership, the future of the world-class arena and Time Warner Cable’s future in the great city of Charlotte, which I am now proud to call my new home. As Charlotte grows, the role that Time Warner Cable Arena plays in this community becomes increasingly important.

Just look at how this region came together this past few weeks in the amazing events we’ve seen here at the arena, the CIAA, the ACC, the NCAA tournaments, the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, not to mention the Checkers and the Bobcats games.

Charlotte is a world-class destination and this arena is the center of entertainment in this region.

Our new partnership will bring historic sports and entertainment events to this city. In looking to the future here are a couple of events that are coming our way: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Kanye West, the Charlotte Jumper Classic, Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood and the Doodlebops Live and many, many more family and community events.

The future is now. The Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina will be and is the entertainment destination in the Southeast. We pride ourselves on being strong and committed local citizens in the cities and towns we serve. We’re proud to bring that commitment to this arena which is the home of the very best local, regional and national entertainment.

NBAE / Getty Images FSN South and SportSouth Senior Vice President and General Manager Jeff Genthner.

We’ve heard from the speakers that proceeded me, that today begins a new era. We are so excited to be part of it, everyone at Fox Sports South and everyone in the Fox Sports family. What really is unique about today is, we really begin a collaborative effort to combine the resources, the spirit and the commitment of three large and major organizations, Bobcats Sports and Entertainment, Time Warner Cable and Fox Sports Net. In coming together, we have made a commitment to each other to really enhance the content, the production, the distribution and the promotion of Bobcats basketball in and throughout the Charlotte region and across the Carolinas. We are really excited to contribute our piece to group. We also are very excited to partner with these organizations. These are very respected companies in their field. They have demonstrated a tremendous innovative spirit and a commitment to excellence in serving their communities, a spirit that we share and that’s why this is such a great partnership for us.

Beginning tonight, right here, we have the Bobcats and the Timbewolves, and we have five games left this year. What do you do with five games? Let’s be honest about expectations. You’re not going to see a major difference on the screen tonight. You’ll probably see a few more of those promos promoting Fox Sports Net, the Best Damn Sports Show and many other things we have. You might see some new graphics and you might see some new enhancements, but for the most part as Fred indicated, it’s a big transition. We want to put the game on and get through everything in a safe manner and make sure we create a great presentation. That’s the expectation for tonight. A lot of people have worked to make this transition, both at Fox Sports Net and at the Bobcats and Time Warner Cable. What you won’t see though, is that as many as 40 percent more people will be able to watch the Bobcats game.

As we look ahead to next fall, you’re going to see a major difference. We have a lot of work to do this summer. We are not here to just televise games. We produce and televise over 700 games just out of Fox Sports South and our sister station SportsSouth. We want to present the Bobcats in the community. We want to bring new graphics to the game and bring new in-game enhancements to the game. You will see starting next fall, an expanded pregame show for every Bobcats game and an expanded postgame show for every Bobcats game. We’re already working now on plans to bring high-def to Bobcats telecasts. We hope to introduce that to select games as early as this coming fall.

One other initiative that we are very committed to is promoting the team away from the court. We have invested heavily in the last few years in really creating an environment in our office where we can tell stories and we convey those stories to the fans - stories about athletes and stories about coaches and the organization. We want to be that media pass that some of us have the privilege to get in our profession and extend that to the fans, so that everyone can get behind the scenes and see what the team is like and what the players are like off the court. That is something we are very committed to and we’re very excited to make that effort. The Bobcats have assured us they will support that effort because it is good for the fans and good for the team. All of this will be promoted on FSN South in a local programming environment that includes the Carolina’s other major sports interest, the Carolina Hurricanes, the ACC, the SEC, the Southern Conference, the Big South Conference, extended NASCAR coverage and even from afar over 100 Atlanta Braves games. The future is very exciting for us. We have a lot work to do. It’s very exciting for the Bobcats, but most of all, it’s exciting for the community of Charlotte. We look forward to a great future.