The Memphis Grizzlies are not going anywhere. According to Duncan Williams, the leader of the Greater Memphis Chamber, plans are underway to keep the team in downtown Memphis for decades to come.
The interim president of the Chamber told an audience this week that, after meeting with Grizzlies President Jason Wexler and seeing the plans firsthand, the question is settled. “It’s not a matter of if they’re going to sign, it’s when,” Williams said. “When y’all see these plans of what our downtown’s going to look like in the next decade, it’s going to blow you away.”
The team’s current lease at FedExForum runs through the 2029 season, and work inside the arena is already underway. Local and state leaders have committed millions in planned renovations to the Forum, which opened in 2004, along with upgrades to the surrounding district, including Beale Street.
Former Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins put the relationship between the team and the city in perspective. “You’ve laid a foundation here. You’ve been in the community for years,” Hollins told WREG. “It went from people coming to the game to cheer for their own favorite team to, ‘These are my Memphis Grizzlies.'”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has already made clear the league has no plans to move the team. Now the city’s business leadership is saying the same thing, louder. Grit and grind is staying home, and downtown Memphis is building around it.
