CNBC Sport spoke with Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors superstar, on a boat going from Oakland to San Francisco during this year’s All-Star weekend.
Curry is CEO of Thirty Ink, the mini house-of-brands conglomerate he’s built over the years consisting of his media company (Unanimous Media), bourbon brand (Gentleman’s Cut), marketing consultancy (7k), golf and basketball leagues for kids (Underrated Basketball and Underrated Golf), and philanthropic foundation (Eat.Learn.Play).
A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Sport newsletter with Alex Sherman, which brings you the biggest news and exclusive interviews from the worlds of sports business and media. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
Thank you to all who watched last night’s premiere of “Curry Inc.: The Business of Stephen Curry,” our first longform CNBC Sport TV production. If you missed it, the full-length special is available on demand through your cable provider and on CNBC+.
You can also catch a re-airing of the special on CNBC today (Thursday) at 7 p.m. ET or Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET. Or, if you’re heading out to the club Saturday night, what better way to wind down upon your return home than catching a re-airing on Sunday at 3 a.m. ET. The phrase “time slot gold” gets thrown around a lot these days, but in this case …
I’m dedicating this week’s newsletter to a behind-the-scenes look at how we put the production together. I spoke with Curry, the Golden State Warriors superstar, on a boat going from Oakland to San Francisco during this year’s All-Star weekend. It was a cool way to get an extended one-on-one with him – heading from practice at the old Oracle Arena to the Chase Center in San Francisco.
Fun fact No. 1: It was Curry’s first time back at the old Oracle — where he revolutionized basketball and led Golden State to three of his four career titles — since the Warriors left Oakland in 2019. Fun fact No. 2: The initial plan was to follow Curry at Chase as he prepared for the three-point contest, but he ended up not competing when a potential showcase with WNBA stars Caitlin Clark and Sabrina Ionescu and Curry’s former Warriors teammate Klay Thompson fell apart.
The meat of our feature is on Curry’s Thirty Ink, the mini house-of-brands conglomerate he’s built over the years consisting of his media company (Unanimous Media), bourbon brand (Gentleman’s Cut), marketing consultancy (7k), golf and basketball leagues for kids (Underrated Basketball and Underrated Golf), and philanthropic foundation (Eat.Learn.Play). Curry is the CEO of Thirty Ink. The company says all of Curry’s businesses are profitable – a message his its leaders were eager to share with me, given the history of athlete-led businesses that go belly up.
