Eric Church and Michael Jordan have become close friends over the years, no doubt in part thanks to the fact that they’re both North Carolina boys.

The two have been spotted hanging out on the sidelines of Charlotte Hornets games and drinking Michael Jordan’s Cincoro tequila in Nashville.

MJ even showed up to support Church at the opening of his Nashville bar, Chief’s, back in April.

Michael Jordan

Last year, it was announced that Church, who grew up in the small town of Granite Falls, North Carolina, was part of a new ownership group that would be buying a majority stake of the NBA Charlotte Hornets. Michael Jordan, who was the previous majority owner, would retain a minority stake in the team.

And as it turns out, MJ actually played a big part in getting Church on board as an owner.

During a recent appearance on the How Leaders Lead with David Novak podcast, Church said that it was Jordan who asked him to get involved with the NBA team:

“When MJ started trying to get out, he called and he was like, ‘Hey, you know, a lot of this ownership group is not North Carolina based. They’re not local, and I want to make sure we have a feel there.’”

Of course Eric admits that it’s still intimidating when you get a call from MJ:

“First of all, it’s a frightening call when MJ calls you. I’d never thought about a pro team, and frankly was terrified when he said, ‘I want you to do this.’

I was like, ‘Oh shit,’ you know? What does this mean?

But after talking to MJ, and talking about – he’s a North Carolina kid, we’re both Tar Heels, and he talked about how important it was to have local ownership.

I thought about it, and then I stretched a little bit from what I could do, I think we all do that sometimes financially. But I thought, you know, I like this. I like that it’s back to my touchstone, back to the cornerstone of what North Carolina means to me.

I like it. I like it for the journey.”

Church also says that being an owner of the Hornets has presented him an opportunity to make memories with his son like he made as a child growing up in North Carolina:

“When I was young, the Charlotte Coliseum at the time before they built the new arena was rocking when the hornets were there, you know. And I got two young boys, and it’s been fun to take them to games and do some of that.

So it was just an opportunity that came that I wouldn’t have got to look at if it wouldn’t have been for MJ and the relationship that we had.”

It was a rough first season for the new ownership group, with the Hornets going 21-61 and finishing fourth in their division. But hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day. And like Church says about his new bar, and his entire career, sometimes you’ve got to build things brick by brick.