When you think about starting something, you are excited by the opportunity. I think there is something in our brains in those initial idea moments that will not allow us to consider anything but the possibilities of success. This is what went on in my mind when I began considering creating a dedicated educational conference focused solely on public assembly facility operations and engineering professionals.
After the initial enthusiasm and excitement is over, the real work begins. No one person can think of all the things that need to be considered, let alone executed in order to have a successful conference. Fortunately for me, several people like Linda Deckard, Samantha Le, Rob Ocampo, Rich DiGiacomo and the team at Venues Today, along with my business partners Tom Williams and Mike Wooley (who are always wondering what I am going to come up with next), shared my vision, dug in and are responsible for the success the Venue Operations Summit has enjoyed thus far.
This year’s summit, the third annual, will once again be focused on delivering quality information that public assembly facility operations and engineering professionals need to know. My goal for this conference is to deliver quality information in a manner in which the attendees can use this information as soon as they return to their facilities.
The intangible part of the conference is the opportunity to spend quality time with some fantastic leaders from all facility types. When you are in a room or having a conversation at breakfast or lunch with people like Charlie Leone, Amway Center, Orlando, Fla.; Jim Spencer, American Airlines Arena, Miami; Jim Greer, Tennessee Performing Arts Center Nashville, Tenn.; Derek Hillestad, University of Minnesota, Minn.; Joey Dennis, Infinite Energy Center, Duluth, Ga.; Molly Fortune, Newberry (S.C.) Opera House; Greg Poole, Smart Financial Center, Sugar Land, Texas; Josh Robinson, former director of engineering, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, and many more. You cannot help but create the connections that lead to solutions both now and in the future.
When you get the opportunity to hear from true industry professionals like Dave Loverock at Jet Ice, who I believe knows more about ice than practically anyone, Mike Rogers from SSR, who has likely lost track of the number of facilities that he and his firm have designed MEP for, and Ken Burgess from Hussey Seating, who will get to the gritty reality on how to maintain telescopic platforms, the results can make a real difference in how you do your job.
In our first two conferences, I made a conscious choice to stay away from security. I felt there were already several security related opportunities from organizations like the International Association of Assembly Managers (IAVM), the National Center for Sport Spectator Safety & Security (NCS4) and the Stadium Managers Association (SMA). I had a conversation with several operations managers during last year’s summit, and they reminded me that there are a large number of industry facilities where security falls under the director of operations and personnel in those departments do not necessarily get to attend the other security conferences. With that in mind, we have included two security related sessions that will help to address the needs that many facilities’ operators are facing today. The first is a presentation on security screening led by Mark Kranske, SVP of operations for Landmark Event Services, and Joe Vazquez, national security sales manager at Garrett Metal Detectors. The second is a presentation by Doug DeLancey from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office for bombing prevention. Doug will discuss DHS’s efforts to develop the second capability guideline for public assembly venues and the activities necessary to identify, prevent and respond to bomb threats and related incidents.
  We have two spectacular keynotes presented by people who have had real success in our industry. The first is Alex Diaz. Alex’s career goes from crowd manager to the GM of Madison Square Garden, with stops at the Miami Heat and the Brooklyn Nets. I am genuinely excited to hear what Alex has to say. The other keynote is by longtime industry leader and now educator, Sporty Jeralds, from the University of South Carolina, Columbia. Sporty is, in my opinion, someone that reflects all that we aspire to be, working his way through the industry to become the GM of the Charlotte (N.C.) Coliseum.
I encourage you to join us. We will all be better for it.

Russ Simons is...
managing partner, Venue Solutions Group, and has been in this industry for more than three decades, working in arenas, stadiums, design, construction, safety and security. Send questions about any aspect of venue operation to askruss@venuestoday.com or mail questions to Venues Today, P.O. Box 2540, Huntington Beach, CA 92647.

As thousands of fans stream through the gates into Major League Baseball stadiums in Detroit, Atlanta and St. Louis, a new style of training has security dogs moving with the crowds on the hunt for the scent of explosives.
Through a training style developed and patented in 2015 by Auburn University, Vapor Wake dogs—exclusively trained by AMK9 via a license with the university—don’t need a static object or person to mark as their obedience fixes to odor.
In Detroit, Richard Fenton, chief security officer for the Illitch family, took the next step, buying Vapor Wake dogs and then setting up a mechanism, a 501c3, to allow him to share the purchased dogs with other institutions in the city. The result is the dogs stay very active and are trained up-to-date with new threats. “They stay fresh; it was a creative way to solve that problem,” said Chris Robinette, Prevent Advisors, who studied the Detroit project. Other 501c3’s are now taking root in other cities, where everyone can integrate use of the dogs.
Ilitch Holdings own MLB’s Tigers and NHL’s Red Wings. While the Detroit dogs remain in heavy use at games at both Comerica Park and Joe Louis Arena (and starting in September, the new downtown Little Caesars Arena), Fenton has donated the use of the dogs and their handlers to local law enforcement agencies, including the Detroit Police Department, Michigan State Police and Wayne State University.
Fenton said donating the use of the dogs to neighboring agencies not only helps bolster the cooperation between the sports teams and those serving to help secure sporting venues, but it also keeps the dogs sharp and in year-round practice.
Ilitch Holdings was able to use its Ilitch Charities, specifically its Detroit Tigers Foundation, 501c3 nonprofit status to connect the Vapor Wake technology to the community through an initial investment of $135,000. The donation of the dogs to the three law enforcement agencies runs through the foundation, serving the goals of the charities in supporting the community.
“It is the only technology that can fill that gap for body-worn explosives on a moving target,” said Charlie McGinty, vice president at AMK9. If someone is carrying explosive material, it will leave a scent trail or vapor wake that the canine will detect and then lead the trained handler to the source of the scent.
A Vapor Wake dog, most commonly a Labrador retriever breed, can take up to 15 months to train. The $50,000 price tag on the dogs include the dog, Vapor Wake training and a seven-week course taught in Anniston, Ala., that matches a handler with the trained canine where, as McGinty says, “they bond together and learn to be a certified Vapor Wake team.”
AMK9 sells packages, such as they’ve done in Detroit, or rents the service with their own dogs and handlers.
Training teaches the dogs to sample the air behind hundreds of people moving toward a venue, a key factor in keeping the flow of fans unobstructed. “Everybody wants to have a good fan experience,” McGinty said. “This is a very unobtrusive way of screening people. Our canines can detect trace amounts of explosive material on a moving target.”
While sports venues have certainly taken notice, the Vapor Wake technology remains on the rise in New York City’s counterterrorism unit as new orders coming this year help supply dogs for events such as the Macy’s Day Parade. The St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves have proven regular supporters of Vapor Wake, as is the Arlington Fire Department, which works Dallas Cowboys games at AT&T Stadium.
Fenton said AMK9’s cooperation with the NCS4 lab run by Dr. Lou Marciani at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, has proven critical in understanding the value of Vapor Wake. The lab constantly investigates how to make venues safer in the larger sense and specifically how to develop best practices and support programs. By continually testing new vendors, whether cameras, metal detectors or vehicle barricades, the NCS4 lab can do the heavy lifting. Dogs play a part, too.
As Vapor Wake has reached certification with the NCS4 lab, Fenton said cooperation from venue operators with the Department of Homeland Security’s subsector focused on commercial facilities, allows the sharing of intelligence and best practices around the country, giving security officials the best idea of how to use new methods, such as Vapor Wake. Without giving away the secrets of the trade, Fenton said that such a robust group of security experts can help devise strategies to combat current threats.
With one of those growing strategies the use of Vapor Wake dogs, Fenton said the labor-intensive process and expense makes this tool hard to obtain for some. “I think all of us in the private sector are looking for different ways to collaborate,” he said, about donating the use of the dogs. “We are pushing the envelope.”

SECURITY TIP OF THE MONTH

Ideas and suggestions on live event safety, security and crowd management from our friends at Prevent Advisors.

Protecting your organization's data and information systems can at times seem like a daunting effort, and it is. With a reported 65 percent year-on-year increase in "phishing" attacks, protecting critical systems will only become more challenging.

Tip: Healthy skepticism is your friend. Take the time to remind your team to never open files or click links from unsolicited emails without first confirming the sender's identity and the origin of the file. While such verification takes a small extra effort on the front end, consistent adherence to this common sense action will save any targeted system or organization immeasurable pain on the back end.

When you’re the director of marketing for a
large sports institution such as Mississippi State University, Starkville,  it’s vastly important to engage athletic fans through different marketing tools.
MSU has done that and more with its customized emoji keyboards that fans download to their smartphones from Apple and Android stores. The keyboards have emojies, stickers and gifs that are shared via text or social media.
When the athletic department launched the marketing tool in 2015, more than 15,000 people downloaded the app on the first day. To date, more than 100,000 fans have downloaded the app, using it leading up to big games and on game day itself.
MSU was the first university in the U.S. to create and launch customized emojis in-house, and the idea stemmed from MSU’s former Athletic Director Scott Stricklin, who saw what the Atlanta Hawks were doing with customized emojis, said MSU Director of Marketing Rhett Hobart.
The emojis give fans the opportunity to text each other or express their excitement about games on social media with emojis and stickers with MSU logos, such as cowbells people send to each other when they’re pumped on game day.
Stickers also were created for the various venues across the campus, allowing fans to text or reach a large audience on social media, telling friends to meet them at the game. College interaction has been phenomenal, said Leah Beasley, associate athletic director of marketing and fan engagement.
“The fans say (to a friend), ‘What are you doing today?’ and they respond with a sticker of the venue,” she said.
Promoting the emoji project was key to its success, Beasley said.
“We promoted across our food vendors, the basketball venue, football venue and baseball venue,” she said. “We also promoted in the venues.  We believe it’s a large part why our marketing team won the National Association of College Marketing Administration award.”
The university reminds fans — both leading up to game day and on game day — to use their emojis and stickers to express excitement and support for their teams.
The use of emojis is especially popular at basketball games, she highlighted.
Initially, the university offered the app downloads for free, but now they charge 99 cents, and the fee goes to pay for the creation and the upkeep of the emojis.
In order to successfully use the stickers and emojis at the stadiums on game days, the stadium has to ensure that fans can successfully use their phones and the internet, which often is problematic for venues across the country which have large volumes of people using the internet and cell data at once.
“Two years ago, we put a cell tower in the stadium and put sensors to help improve the cell singles,” Hobart said. “It’s much improved.”
Perhaps the most profound piece of the emoji platform is the game day interaction, he said.
“We feel a pretty big spike during game day,” Hobart said.
To quantify that, in the first year of use, MSU had a million pieces of content shared with using the emojis and stickers during game days.
The university creates each emoji, sticker and gif in house using Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator, giving the athletic marketing department full control of the what kind of hype they want to build for each game.
They also use the emojis to keep fans updated on game days by sending out texts and social media messages about times, scores, and cancellations.
“It’s helping with our brand outreach and our brand equity,” Beasley said.

Curtis Cheng, the founder and CEO of DTI Management, based in Virginia, dropped out of college to get into the ticketing business. He started as a traditional ticket broker, sold that company in 2006, and then got into beverage distribution. That’s where he learned everything about dissemination of products and how difficult logistics can be. With this knowledge under his belt he returned to tackle the ticketing world in 2012.

What do you see as DTI’s role in the future of the ticketing industry?
We want to change the culture of how a customer buys a ticket. Right now, you can’t buy a parking pass, you can’t buy merchandise and you can’t order food and beverage ahead of time. These are all actions that can be handled on ecommerce.
We’re trying to create shopping carts that allow consumers to purchase all the products they want in one place. It happened really quickly for the travel companies like Expedia and Sabre who are selling hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises and, now, experiences. We’re trying to push on all angles, and I think in three to five years, we’ll see a drastic change.

Have you had any issues getting the rightsholders on board?
The content holders control the destiny of our industry. The owners need to get comfortable with the idea that their fans want to buy tickets where they want to buy them. Mini-plans and season ticket packages should be distributed by the team, but I see all single game tickets being sold on ecommerce very soon. How much would Coca-Cola sell if they only sold it in Walmart? The key for any product is to reach as many consumers and get on as many shelves as possible.

What exactly does DTI Management do?
DTI Management is a platform for the ticket distribution of sports and live entertainment content. Our goal is to be the central part of distribution for the content holders to reach the retail outlets. There are hundreds of thousands of outlets that sell tickets and it’s quite difficult to reach all of them in an efficient manner; it’s even more difficult to fulfill all those orders and manage those relationships. We’ve recently moved into the content space, where our goal is to provide a controlled environment to distribute inventory. We have data-sharing plans directly with teams and tools that allow them to reach the outlets in an efficient way.

Did you model this on other industries?
Yes, we modeled this on the travel industry. Sabre is a middleman that sits between the customer and the airlines. We want to be the central point between the fan and the rights-holder, and we believe the end consumer will pay less for a ticket and the rightsholders will make more money.

How has growth been?
Our first year, in 2013, we did a little under $100 million in gross ticket sales. We’ve grown 70 to 80 percent every year since.

How is the ticketing industry changing?
It’s going through a complete evolution. It changes every six months and, with Amazon coming in, we expect it to change again. We haven’t defined yet how the industry will look in the future. There are a lot of companies that want to keep the status quo and other companies that are innovating and moving the industry forward. We like to consider DTI an innovative company.

What made you get back into ticketing after being a beverage distributor?
To apply what I had learned. In 2012, we formed DTI Management. We gave a version of the platform to all the brokers in our space, which allowed them to manage their inventory through our platform. This allows brokers to focus on what they are best at — buying a ticket and selling a ticket.

Do you have investment capital? 
In August 2016, we raised $75 million from CVC Capital Partners to improve our tech platform and create a liquidity event for some of our stockholders. New Amsterdam Capital is another investor.

What do you love about being in this business?
We’re in a very dynamic space that’s moving very quickly. That’s what makes it exciting. It’s refreshing to see people trying to do it a different way. We want to bring the best minds in ticketing and match them up with the best minds in technology to create the ultimate ticket distribution system.

Michael Burgoyne is a new partner at Schuler Shook. Burgoyne joined the company in 2000 as a theater planner and he became a principal in 2011. He is a graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem.

United Talent Agency (UTA) has promoted nine agents to partner status. Sarah Clossey, Steve Cohen, Gueran Ducoty, Joe Eshenbaugh, Charles Ferraro, Pete Franciosa, Allan Haldeman, Keya Khayatian, Tim Phillips and Jo Yao all join UTA’s 44 partners—representing a 20 percent expansion of the agency’s top ranks. Clossey, Cohen and Yao are agents in UTA’s motion picture talent department. Ducoty heads UTA’s licensing & endorsements department. Eshenbaugh is an agent in its comedy touring department. He will be based in Los Angeles. Ferraro and Khayatian are agents in UTA’s motion picture literary department. Franciosa heads UTA’s production department. Haldeman is an agent in UTA’s television department and Phillips is an agent in UTA’s television literary department. UTA has also hired Geoff “Geespin" Gamere as an agent. Gamere spent the last 16 years of his career at iHeartmedia.

Joe Cuello has been named the new GM at EscapeX. Cuello comes to EscapeX from Tunecore, where he served as chief creative officer. Prior to that he spent a decade at MTV Networks. Cuello is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, where he teaches entertainment management.

Ware Malcomb has promoted Jan Davis to director, commercial architecture in the firm’s Denver office. Davis joined Ware Malcomb’s Denver office as project manager in 2006 and was promoted to studio manager, commercial architecture, in 2007.  She received a bachelor of fine arts degree from Colorado College, Colorado Springs and a Masters of Architecture from the University of Colorado, Denver. 

Blitz|GES has promoted two of its senior team, Carol Gibbs and Mark Watson. Gibbs takes on the newly-created role of director of venues. Watson is the new creative director.

Spectra by Comcast Spectacor, the provider of venue management to Chaifetz Arena on the campus of Saint Louis (Mo.) University, has promoted Jeremy Huelsing to GM of Chaifetz Arena. Huelsing most recently served as the venue’s AGM. Huelsing joined the Spectra team at the Chaifetz Arena during the inaugural season in 2008. In 2012 he moved to the Glens Falls (N.Y.) Civic Center as director of finance before taking over as the GM in 2013. He returned to Chaifetz Arena in 2015.

The Mendocino County Tourism Commission has appointed Alan Humason as executive director. Previously, Humason was executive director of Yolo County (Calif.) Visitors Bureau. He received his bachelor of arts degree in English literature from University of California, Santa Barbara, and undertook graduate studies in English literature and rhetoric at San Jose (Calif.) State University. 

Dusty Kurtz is the new president of TicketsWest. Kurtz joined TicketsWest in 2006 as a project manager in the Denver office. He was promoted in 2008 to regional manager and in April 2011 he became the TicketsWest vice president and moved to the head office in Spokane, Wash. Prior to his positions with TicketsWest, Kurtz worked at Montana State University, Bozeman, and Brick Breeden Field House under Duane Morris.

Jack Lucas has stepped down as president of TicketsWest after 30 years at the helm. Lucas will continue to serve as president of West Coast Entertainment, a concert and Broadway promotion company serving the Pacific Northwest.

Mark Nerenhausen is the new CEO for Hennepin Theater Group, which runs the Orpheum Theatre, State Theatre and Pantages Theatre, all in Minneapolis. Nerenhausen is the founding director of the Janklow Arts Leadership Program at Syracuse (N.Y.) University. He previously served as president and CEO of AT&T Performing Arts Center, Dallas, and he led the Performing Arts Authority, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., from 1998-2009.

Former Durham (N.C.) Convention Center GM Jen Noble has taken the GM position at Mansion On Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, N.Y. Noble transitioned into convention centers working for Spectra Venue Management at the Conference and Events Center, Niagara Falls, N.Y., and eventually became their AGM and director of sales and marketing. Noble is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, N.Y.

Albany (N.Y.) Capital Center (ACC) continues to fill key positions; most recently hiring two event services managers, Jamie Parker and Anastasia Purritano. Parker joins ACC after a working at Albany County Convention and Visitors Bureau and The College of Saint Rose, Albany.  In addition to her position at ACC, Parker also serves as coordination assistant for Inspired Occasions. Parker graduated from Fitchburg (Mass.) State University with a bachelor’s degree in Communications Media. Purritano began her career with BBL Hospitality at the Hilton Garden Inn at Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center. Purritano received her bachelor’s degree in sports, entertainment and event management in 2012 from Johnson & Wales University, Providence, R.I.

Joaquin Quesada has been named deputy director of the Anaheim (Calif.) Convention Center. Quesada started his career as an Anaheim Convention Center busboy. In 1997, Quesada was appointed Aramark general manager at the Anaheim Convention Center and continued his Aramark career in various district manager roles, overseeing venues in Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington, Palm Springs and Las Vegas until 2016. Quesada succeeds David Meek, who retired from the Anaheim Convention Center in 2016.

Luc Robitaille has been named president of the L.A. Kings hockey club and will now oversee all hockey and business operations. Rob Blake has been named VP and GM for the Kings and will direct all day-to-day hockey operations for the organization. The announcement of both promotions was made by Dan Beckerman, president and CEO of AEG, the parent company of the LA Kings. In addition, Beckerman announced Dean Lombardi, who has served as Kings President and General Manager since 2006, and Darryl Sutter, who has served as the club’s Head Coach since 2011, have been relieved of their current duties.

Jim Wynkoop has been named GM of Atlantic City’s historic Boardwalk Hall in New Jersey for Spectra Venue Management. Previously, Wynkoop had been GM of Chaifetz Arena at St. Louis (Mo.) University. He joined the team at Chaifetz Arena in 2010 after serving Spectra as the director of facilities at the BankUnited Center on the Campus of the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla. Wynkopp also served in various capacities at the Whittemore Center Arena at University of New Hampshire, Durham, and he was part of the opening team at University of South Carolina’s Colonial Life Arena, Columbia. He began his venue career working at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, N.Y., serving as the parking manager, event services manager and director of operations. He replaces Fran Rodowicz, whom Spectra promoted to general manager of the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, N.J.

A little more than 10 miles from downtown Los Angeles, the Pasadena Convention Center plays host to some of the area’s most prestigious events. As a boutique convention center, however, the culinary team is able to churn out restaurant quality plates under the direction of Centerplate Executive Chef Arnold Preciado.
“When guests come here for the first time, they might have a perception of convention center food,” Preciado said. “That might mean a hockey puck steak and dry chicken. Once they taste our chicken and our steak, however, they see things differently. It’s not traditional convention food; it’s more like a restaurant.
Case in point: Preciado’s beef short rib, a generous portion of beef that’s beautifully plated with fresh, locally sourced produce.
The chef uses Lone Pine Ranch beef (from Mendocino County, Calif.), which is braised for six hours in Dark Horse cabernet. The braising liquid is saved for a red wine reduction to be poured over the final product. For the accoutrements, Preciado makes a puree from celery root and potatoes, adding a trio of rainbow carrots, a roasted herb tomato and caramelized cipollini onion as edible garnish.
The entree is a venue favorite that groups will order repeatedly, Preciado said. Fortunately, he doesn’t have to change the dish with the seasons since the center receives fresh produce year-round. “I don’t like to say we’re spoiled, but we are,” he said with a laugh. “We’re lucky. We’re in California so we get tricolored carrots all year. We work closely with Fresh Point, which provides us with quality fruits and vegetables, anything we want.”

Centerplate Executive Chef Arnold Preciado
Pasadena (Calif.) Convention Center
Arnold Preciado was hired at the Pasadena Convention Center in 2005 as a line cook, a year before graduating from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, Pasadena.
Today, he calls the shots in the same kitchen as executive chef for Centerplate. Preciado develops new dishes and menus, overseeing food service for such prestigious events as the NAACP Image Awards, the Daytime Emmy Awards and the wrap party for the Disney film, “Moana.”
“I have creative control here, and I have a great boss,” he said. “Our client [the convention center] has seen my work and my growth, and they support what I want to do.”
During his career, he spent some time at other establishments, working for Woflgang Puck and helping to open up L.A.’s Hotel Angelino, but the convention center continued to call him back. “It’s my staff,” he added, explaining that the center has just 25 culinary personnel, including dishwashers, cooks and preps. “My staff is what pushes me and motivates me to be more. And I push them as well.”

Chef Ron Abell ventures outside to meander through kale, sweet peppers and parsley, always on the hunt for a new seasonal dish. Immersed in a garden that produces around 6,000 pounds of produce and herbs annually, Abell juggles the freshness of his choices with an ever-changing menu inside his dining experience. But this garden isn’t only for fine-dining, instead giving the Aramark senior executive chef at Fenway Park in Boston options for concessions and premium spaces just 200 feet from his kitchen in a rooftop garden behind the Gate A Fenway Park façade.
From Fenway Farms, born in 2015, to rooftop gardens for both Levi’s Field in Santa Clara, Calif.,  and AT&T Park in San Francisco and from Denver’s Coors Field to a new garden expected in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the growth of on-site gardens at stadiums continues to freshen concessions while connecting to the fan experience.
The Boston Red Sox created Fenway Farms, run by two local companies, as part of the club’s sustainability mission. With a seasonally changing array of foods, Abell’s team can use everything from arugula to broccoli or cilantro to thyme, with an ever-changing variety of vegetables and herbs.
Whether pickling, stewing or making jams of produce that ripens when the team vacates the park for a road swing, Abell tries to limit food waste—which does get composted when it happens—and get product onto the plates of ballpark visitors.
Abell said they create dishes with the Fenway Farms bounty in mind and then use signage to help let fans know that ingredients came from the garden viewable by fans. “Maybe you aren’t a big kale fan and don’t want to eat raw kale—and I don’t blame you—but when handled properly and being organically grown and picked at the right time, you may see a Fenway Farms kale salad on the menu and decide to try that,” he said. “That is a dish we have all over the ballpark.”
In Major League Baseball, stadium gardens flourish at Coors Field in Denver, Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., Petco Park in San Diego and AT&T Park in San Francisco.
Luke Yoder started a small garden near the bullpen at Petco Park in 2011 that continued to grow. Peppers, his specialty, have made their way into salsas and sauces for premium stadium dining. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, partners with the Rockies for a 600-square-foot garden that opened shortly after San Diego upped its effort and the Nationals have a small rooftop garden overlooking the left field concourse.
But by far the two largest gardens in MLB come from the 5,000-square-foot Fenway Farms and 4,320-square-foot garden at AT&T Park. Maintained by Bon Appetit Management Company, Centerplate uses the produce in San Francisco for a mix of menu items in various locations around the venue, said Bill Greathouse, Centerplate senior vice president and the man who oversees the program at AT&T Park.
“We like to think that this edible garden really brings the dining experience to another level for our guests,” he said.
Tucked under the scoreboard behind the centerfield wall—and protected from home run balls by mesh—the garden yields such California specialties as avocados, lemons and tomatoes to go with sunflowers, berries, kale and more. 
While baseball stadiums give summer-time opportunities for growing produce and using it on a near daily basis, a pair of football stadiums have entered the fray, able to up the ante on size. The San Francisco 49ers installed a rooftop garden amidst the 27,000-square-foot green roof of Levi’s Field, but it didn’t happen right away.
Lara Harmanson of Farmscape Gardens, the group behind operating the installation, said the space started as a native plant garden with no food crops when it opened in 2014. “The team owners, Jed and Danielle York, thought growing food would be a better use of the space,” she said.
The winter months include mostly leafy greens such as kale, chard, spinach, lettuce and arugula. But herbs do well in the winter too. The summer allows for tomatoes, eggplant, summer squash, peppers and herbs. In all, Harmanson expects to yield about 10,000 pounds of food from the rooftop garden in 2017, having already sent 2,000 pounds to the kitchen since inception.
Chefs use the produce as much as possible, most commonly in club spaces and for private events. Even the edible flowers grown on the rooftop get used as garnish.
The Falcons plan to use the on-site food in some capacity inside the stadium in farm-to-table organic selections, but also hope to incorporate the garden into an educational program for kids about healthier food.
“There is something about being a chef and walking through your produce,” Abell says. “You can get creative right there and your imagination can go from right there. It is a lot different from placing an order on the phone. You can walk 200 feet to your kitchen.”

(Above)A rendering of the Oak View Group’s KeyArena plan shows the bowl will be 15 feet deeper than the current one to create added seating. (Photo Credit: Oak View Group); (Below) A rendering of Seattle Partner's KeyArena plan shows the exterior of their proposed rebuild. (Photo Credit: Seattle Partners)

Two of the biggest players in the venue world submitted the only viable bids to the City of Seattle to win the contract to rebuild KeyArena by yesterday’s (April 12) deadline. The Request For Proposals process started only last January.

The Oak View Group (OVG), led by Tim Leiweke, former CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, and mega-music manager Irving Azoff, has unwrapped a $564-million package. Seattle Partners, an alliance between Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and Hudson Pacific Properties, has proposed a $520-million pitch for the renovation. (Full disclosure: Venues Today LLC is a subsidiary of OVG.)

The proposals will be under scrutiny for the next two months, with a choice to be presented to the mayor of Seattle by the end of June. A third, amended proposal to build an arena at a different location, brought by Sodo Group, is also before the city council for a decision before the end of the year.

Both KeyArena groups have plans to lure National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL) teams to Seattle but will commit to the project without any assurances from either sports league.

Seattle was previously the home of the NBA’s SuperSonics who played home games at KeyArena, originally known as Seattle Center Coliseum, for 33 of the franchise's 41 seasons in Seattle.

The OVG proposal calls for a 660,000 sq.-ft. venue. It will have 18,350 seats for basketball, 17,100 seats for hockey and a concert capacity of 17,100. The completion date would be October 2020. OVG’s arena expansion method is to place the lower arena bowl and floor 15 feet underground to create a 660,000-sq.-ft. blueprint.

OVG’s bid comes with $350 million in financing from Goldman Sachs, which guaranteed up to $400 million, with the additional $150 million coming from OVG and its equity partner Madison Square Garden (MSG). Concert giant Live Nation has also pledged financial support and Delaware North has signed on as the concessionaire.

Seattle Partners plan envisions a 600,000 sq.-ft. facility. Its projected NBA capacity would be 18,113. For hockey, it would seat 17,120 and a concert capacity would be 19,202. The company projects it would take 24-26 months to complete after approval. Seattle Partners development would expand the roof over the south side of the arena.

Seattle Partners financing relies on its partners AEG and Hudson Pacific Properties to come up with the cash, although they do plan to ask the city to participate in the form of public bonding to attain tax advantages.

OVG’S PLAN

“We believe that Seattle is a top-10 music market and the fact that they have not had an arena update since 1995 makes them badly in need of a new state-of-the-art music venue and one that can bring back the NBA and recruit the NHL,” said Lance Lopes, OVG, director of special projects. “We look at this as a tremendous opportunity to do all of those things at one time.”

“We first and foremost are excited about doing something in Seattle Center and maintaining the historic nature of the building,” he said. “It’s a special place in Seattle’s heart dating back to the World’s Fair in 1962. What’s special is that we are going to build a new arena under the existing roof.”

Features of the OVG bid are a revolutionary two-scoreboard system, one sitting  over each end of the arena, and Lopes envisions this as the new standard that will replace traditional center-hung scoreboards. An atrium at one end of the arena called the Millennial Area, where there will be a bar and people circulating, “will have a spectacular view of the Space Needle. It’s going to be a pretty cool feature,”added Lopes.

OVG brought in ICON and Populous as partners to design and build the arena. “It will take 20 months to complete the building and we hope to be open in October 2020,” he said.

Lopes believes OVG has assembled the most powerful team that’s ever been put together for a proposal. “With Live Nation on board, we will have a leg-up on content,” he said.

Lopes is also proud of the community support that OVG has built into their bid. “OVG has pledged over $10 million to tackle teen homelessness through a group called Youth Care. We’ve also offered internships and training and we’ll bring all the things we can to help them solve this critical issue.”

As far as delivering an NBA and NHL team, Lopes said, “We’re not getting ahead of the franchise commissioners. We understand we need to build an arena before we can get a team. We continue to communicate with them on a regular basis and when they are ready to expend, we’ll be ready and well-positioned.”

AEG AND HUDSON PACIFIC PROPERTIES PROPOSAL

Aaron Pickus is spokesman for Seattle Partners. “This is a unique opportunity,” he said. “It’s the best location in a great city for a world-class arena that is also a civic asset.”

“KeyArena has a great story and history. Our proposal will make it not only a great music venue but also up to the standards for a prospective NBA and NHL franchise in the future.”

“We’re looking at a $520-million budget and it should take about two years to complete,” he said. “We plan to take advantage of the historic rooflines of KeyArena and our proposal takes advantage of the ’12 man’ (the fan is the 12th man) concept of Seattle. There’s a great culture of intimate, loud, dynamic fan experiences here.”

“Seattle Partners members clearly bring the most experience to urban arena developments,” said Pickus. “AEG has been in Seattle a long time. Hudson Pracific Properties owns a lot of property here and AEG owns and runs the two Showboxes in Seattle. We have a deep bench of local partners to help, including Sellen Construction, Nelson/Nygaard who will consult on transportation, Gensler Architecture and Rossetti Associates.”

SODO STILL IN THE GAME

A third player in the KeyArena stakes is entrepreneur Chris Hansen who has proposed abandoning the KeyArena site altogether and wants to build a new venue in a different location. Hansen’s Sodo Group’s proposal was shot down by the City Council last May after public outcry over its call for over $200 million in public financing. Sodo Group has drafted a new proposal, without city financing, that must be voted on by the council by the end of the year.

The unique situation has not been lost on city officials. “We’re thrilled by the fact that there are three different groups willing to invest multimillions of dollars in the City of Seattle,” said Brian Surratt, director of the Seattle Economic Office of Development.

“KeyArena has been a great venue for us for music and other entertainment.” he said. “The Seattle Storm play there and we have college basketball and about a hundred other events. What this opportunity presents is an opportunity for the city to re-imagine KeyArena as a facility that meets NBA and NHL standards.”

“We’re excited that the two leading giants in this space agree,” he said. “Each are willing to invest over $500 million to go down that path and we can take KeyArena to the next level with these partners. It’s astonishing that these groups were able to get the architectural concepts, financing, operations and bring in their own partners in only four months.”

“Both proposals are really impressive and do an amazing job of preserving the look and feel and roof of the building,” he said. “Both will accommodate the NBA and NHL and will make this a premier entertainment facility.”

Sturratt did want to acknowledge that two graduate students from the University of Washington submitted a proposal as well. “We got a kick out of their proposal but, of course, it had no funding attached.”

THE PROCESS NOW

Surratt said the process from here starts with internal teams from the city looking at the proposals including transportation and community benefits. The next step is for an outside panel, comprised of local civil and business leaders, to examine the proposals.

The outside council will be led by former Sonics coach Lenny Wilkens. The other nine members are Jan Levy, chair of the Seattle Center Advisory Committee; Deborah Frausto, KeyArena subcommittee chair of the Seattle Uptown Alliance; Nicole Grant, executive secretary of the King County Labor Council; restaurateur Ethan Stowell, music executive Megan Jasper, business leader Ollie Garrett, former pro hockey player Todd Humphrey, architect Rico Quirindongo and Jill Nishi, chief of staff for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

An open house is scheduled for May 11 where anyone in the community can question representatives from OVG and Seattle Partners at KXP radio station, which is next door to KeyArena.

Following the open house, the community panel will give Surratt, the city’s budget director and the director of Seattle Center their feedback and advice. The trio will then ultimately deliver a recommendation to Seattle Mayor Ed Murray by the end of June.

The Mayor will then make the final call. If he picks either OVG or Seattle Partners, lease negotiations will start with the victor and the result of that process will be submitted to the city council for a vote.

“If they vote ‘yes’ we’ll start permitting, transportation planning and then speed along to groundbreaking,” he said.

Both groups addressed increasing the number of loading docks in their proposals and both tackle traffic and parking around KeyArena with a monorail upgrade and rideshare solutions. OVG’s parking plan is to install an 850-car parking garage, while the Seattle Partners say they will subsidize $5 million for improvements and expansion of the current city transportation links.

Both groups have deep ties to both the NBA and NHL that could help them secure NBA and NHL franchises.

Half of the NHL’s 30 teams are part of OVG’s Arena Alliance; Leiweke was part of the NHL executive committee for the Toronto Raptors. He also had four-percent equity in AEG, which operates Staples Center, Los Angeles, where the Lakers play. Florida Panthers Executive Chairman Peter Luukko is co-chairman of the OVG Arena Alliance. OVG’s proposed concessionaire Delaware North, owned by Jeremy Jacobs, is chairman of the NHL’s board of governors.

AEG has built or operates many NHL teams, including the Los Angeles Kings, and hockey arenas, including Staples Center, Los Angeles, and Hudson Pacific Properties is owned by Victor Coleman, who has made it known he wants to bring an NHL team to Seattle. AEG has also built and/or manages numerous NBA venues and is part-owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, N.Y., has expanded its reach on the West Coast and made two strategic hires.

Tina Suca

Tina Suca has joined the organization as VP, industry relations. Suca will support the booking efforts for all BSE properties: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.; NYCB LIVE, Uniondale, N.Y.; Webster Hall, New York; and the soon-to-be renovated LIU Brooklyn (N.Y.) Paramount Theatre. Prior to this, Suca served as VP, entertainment for ArenaNetwork; GM of Nassau (N.Y.) Veterans Memorial Coliseum under SMG; GM of The Forum, Inglewood, Calif.; and GM of The Wiltern, Los Angeles.

Andy Miller

Andy Miller has been hired as executive director, global partnerships. Miller most recently served as director of national sales for NBC Olympics & Sports Ventures, where he managed western regional partnerships. Prior to that, he was GM of sales & marketing for IMG College, Winston-Salem, N.C.; account executive, NFL Network & NFL.com and account executive for national network sales for FOX Cable Sports.

Both will be based in the company’s Los Angeles office.

John Mayer kicked off his The Search for Everything world tour on March 31 at Times Union Center, Albany, N.Y. This tour stretches across eight countries before the first leg wraps May 12, at The O2, London. Mayer made a stop at Madison Square Garden, making our Hot Tickets chart this week, with the Live Nation-promoted event grossing $1.4 million with ticket prices ranging from $50-$120. The nearly 15,000 fans in attendance, along with all online ticket buyers for the North American tour dates, will also receive a physical copy of his new album The Search for Everything. Fans can catch the next John Mayer show this Friday, April 21, at The Forum, Inglewood, Calif.

The much-loved comedian/television and movie star Billy Crystal is having a stellar year with his 2017 Spend the Night with Billy Crystal tour, which hit our Hot Tickets chart this week. Crystal brought his unique, stand-up comedy show to the Chicago Theatre where he entertained over 7,000 fans with two sold-out, Jam Productions-promoted events on April 1-2, grossing nearly $650,000. Crystal will be bringing the laughs with his unpredictable humor to the Fox Theatre, Atlanta, on April 27.

HOT TICKETS is a weekly summary of the top acts and ticket sales as reported to VT PULSE. Following are the top 20 concerts and events, the top 5 in each seating capacity category, which took place between March 21-April 18.

Jack Lucas helped start TicketsWest 30 years ago. He retired at the end of March and handed over operations to VP Dusty Kurtz, though he maintains his ties to the industry through his promotion and production house, West Coast Entertainment. Lucas spoke with Venues Today about three decades in the ticketing industry, what he’s learned, what he’s taking away.

Why is now the time to retire?

I’ve been contemplating it for a while. I can’t believe it’s been 30 years. I’ve enjoyed the whole damn thing. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been a ‘pinch-me’ type of career. But I didn’t want to be one of those guys that people say, ‘is he still there?’ 

How do you feel about leaving a company you started?

I thought there would be a lot of emotion transitioning out after 30 years, but it’s not the emotion I thought I’d have because I know Dusty has it all under control. Ten or 11 years ago, Dusty came aboard and one of my guys said I should keep on eye on him; he’s pretty sharp. He did a great job as regional manager in Denver and then when I was looking for a VP, I thought he was perfect. I’ve been mentoring him to take over for the last four years. He’ll do a great job, and it’s time.

What is the best advice you have given Dusty?

Our business is like a three-legged-stool. One leg is a great product; leg two is great clients and the third leg is getting great people to work for you. If you don’t have all three legs, that stool is not going to stand.

How have you kept up with the dramatic changes in the ticketing industry in the past few years?

We’re constantly changing. If someone says they are not good with change, I will not hire that person. When I started ticketing technology moved like molasses. Today it’s very client-centric, customer-centric, and both bases are telling us what they want. It’s a whole different paradigm. You have to be willing to adapt and move quickly.

What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in 30 years?

I started with four employees and now we have 150. Now we have call centers, IT people, network specialists, marketing people, social media people, it goes on and on.

What are your favorite and least favorite parts of the job?

My favorite is the client interaction. I can sincerely tell you I know every one of our clients. Some of our clients include Spokane Public Facilities District, which we never take for granted just because we are in Spokane; Colorado Rockies, which took three years to land and they’ve been with us 25 years and Portland'5 Centers for the Arts, another account it took several years to get. I love working with Robyn Williams, she is a strong leader. My least favorite part of the job is the business aspect. You have to keep growing the business, ensuring profitability and making a lot of decisions. Sometimes the business side can overwhelm you. The thing that keeps me up at night is that I have to set the vision. My employees are dependent on me, and I take that responsibility seriously. You have to keep pressing and moving the bar up.

How did you get started in the ticketing industry?

I’m a Vietnam vet and came home after two tours in the Navy. I went to Eastern Washington University, Cheney, to get my degree in music. I was almost ready to graduate when my dad, a former hockey player, suggested I go down to the Spokane Entertainment Facilities, where he knew some people, to get a part-time job. I got hired as an usher. I worked for Mike Kobluk, former president of IAVM, and Kevin Twohig, one of the charter teachers for the IAVM school at Oglebay. They both played a key part in my career. A few years later, they created a new position, events supervisor, which involved being there at night. I thought I could teach during the day and work there at night, and I got the job. I used the money to buy an airplane that I still own. The local 93 stagehands asked me if I wanted to work move-ins and move-outs. I took that job and did that during the day, went home, put on a coat and tie and returned as the events supervisor. When the show was over, I put my jeans back on and did the move-out. It gave me an up over a lot of people who don’t understand the backstage part of the business.

How did TicketsWest start?

In 1985, the city of Spokane talked about going from hard tickets to computerized tickets. The city put out an RFP and picked a local businessman named Don Barbieri to run it. A few years later, in 1987, Don created a company called G&B Select-a-Seat and asked me to come work for him. I was called ticket manager. We sold our first ticket in 1987 for a Cyndi Lauper concert. In the mid-90’s, we changed it to TicketsWest.

What was the model?

There’s always going to be Ticketmaster out there. I don’t want to compete with them for the rest of my life. So I found a niche where we can be successful, and that was in the tier two and tier three markets. We have offices in Denver and Portland. so we’re in tier one cities, but we built our client base in tier two and tier three markets. That’s how we built our success and sustained our business. Around that time we got a phone call from Columbia Artists. They were playing a “Cats” tour and lined up Portland and Seattle but needed a third stop in the Midwest to make it financially feasible. We did it in Spokane and started G&B Presents. We grew it, and now we’ve produced everything from Willie Nelson to Tony Bennett to Ray Charles to Broadway musicals to circuses.

What is the biggest highlight from your 30 years at TicketsWest?

My biggest highlight is the first time I put Garth Brooks on sale in the early 90’s. We ended up doing six performances. We’d sell out one show, open up another, then another, and that was a real high point. We pulled it off without a whole lot of challenges, but we brought down the phone system in Spokane and no one could call 911 or the hospitals. We eventually had to have a meeting with the city to make sure that didn’t happen again.

Eric Waller, CTO, and SeetGeek co-founders, Jack Groetzinger and Russ D'Souza.

In a major move, SeatGeek announced the acquisition of Israeli ticketing software company TopTix for $56-million, the largest acquisition in SeatGeek’s history.

The purchase represents a significant investment in primary ticketing on behalf of SeatGeek as it continues to build its SeatGeek Open ticketing platform in an effort to replace industry incumbents as a ticketing platform for rightsholders.

“We have always had a vision of openness in ticketing, when historically, it’s a closed business, and SeatGeek had the same vision,” said Fred Maglione, TopTix executive chairman.

The acquisition was financed by a new $57-million Series D investment round in SeatGeek led by Glynn Capital, with participation from existing investors Accel, Causeway Media Partners, Haystack Partners, Mousse Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures.

“The thing that impressed us was TopTix went through an entire software rewrite,” said Russ D’Souza, co-founder of SeatGeek. “The company is able to take a diverse set of clients, from EPL teams to museums to concert halls, and can ticket anything around the world, which speaks to the heart of the software.”

TopTix brings a modern ticketing platform and engineering team to SeatGeek, and has provided ticketing software for more than 500 institutions. TopTix processes 80 million tickets a year in 16 countries. Current TopTix clients, which will now be clients of SeatGeek, range from museums and theaters to festivals and sports teams, including organizations such as the Royal Dutch Football Association, Ravinia Festival and multiple English soccer clubs.

“We developed a technological platform that is not locked into one silo in how inventory is distributed,” said Maglione.

TopTix will power the expansion of SeatGeek Open, SeatGeek’s primary ticketing platform that launched in August 2016. This platform allows artists and teams to sell tickets directly within other apps and websites, in places where fans are spending time and consuming content. Tickets, for example, could be made available through popular ecommerce websites, travel tools and messaging sites.

TopTix has served as SeatGeek’s technology partner for the company’s first primary ticketing client, Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer. The technology has helped Sporting KC increase online sales by 61 percent thus far compared to last season, and drive four times the amount of mobile purchasing the team saw with their previous ticket provider throughout 2016.

“Every team is pushing legacy ticketing companies,” said D’Souza. “The industry is ripe for change, but the only problem is with the philosophy and technology.”

TopTix will operate as a subsidiary of SeatGeek, continuing to service clients across the globe.

With the addition of TopTix engineering and business leadership teams, SeatGeek is now comprised of about 250 employees, located in seven offices across 13 countries.

“We will look back at this as a pivotal moment in the live entertainment industry,” said D’Souza. “We’re taking the power from ticketing companies and giving control to rightsholders.”

NCAA picked 613 host sites for games through 2022.

The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) sifted through more than 3,000 bid submissions, whittling down a final list to 613 host sites for preliminary rounds and finals of predetermined championships from 2017 through 2022.

With 84 of the NCAA’s 90 championships up for bid across multiple sports, 43 states found their way into hosting at least one round of some NCAA championship, with Pennsylvania taking the top spot with 53 hosting responsibilities, led by Pittsburgh earning 22 tasks, the most of any city. Florida, 51, wasn’t far behind.

While a variety of sports filled out the selection process, the marquee announcements for venues across the country come as the NCAA awards hosting responsibilities for NCAA basketball tournament rounds, doling out key hosting jobs to a variety of venues not yet even built.

“Working with our valued host institutions and conferences, as well as sports commissions and cities, to create a great atmosphere for student-athletes, coaches and fans with the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments is our goal every year,” said Dan Gavitt, NCAA senior vice president of basketball.

Criteria for selecting host sites included creating an “exceptional experience” for the student-athletes, along with adherence to NCAA bid specifications. Specifications can include, but are not limited to, providing optimal facilities; ease of travel to the location and ample lodging; and adherence to NCAA principles, which include providing an atmosphere that is safe and respects the dignity of all attendees.

With the next five men’s Final Four sites previously announced, the NCAA needed to fill in the locations of the preliminary and regional rounds from 2019 through 2022. The new faces enter the fray in 2022, where three cities that haven’t hosted a men’s tournament in decades were added to the mix. And two in buildings not yet constructed.

Chase Center, San Francisco, the future home of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, earned the West Regional in 2022, bringing the regional round of the tournament to the city for the first time since 1939, the year of the inaugural tournament. Set to open in 2019, Chase Center has already landed the largest NCAA tournament stage an arena can muster (all Final Fours are played in stadiums).

“Chase Center and the surrounding area are going to be a destination for the entire Bay Area and having the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship West Regional at Chase Center in 2022 is great for not only the city of San Francisco, but the entire Bay Area to come and see some of the best in college basketball,” said Rick Welts, Warriors president. “This is one of the most exciting events on the calendar for sports … we’re excited for this to be the first event officially on our Chase Center schedule.”

Less than an hour after the planned, $450-million Multipurpose Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, announced its new naming rights sponsor as Dickies Arena, the venue was named host for the 2022 first and second rounds, along with four years of women’s gymnastics, bringing NCAA basketball to the city for the first time since 1970.

“This is another testament to the fantastic partnership that Texas Christian University (TCU) has with the City of Fort Worth,” said Chris Del Conte, TCU director of intercollegiate athletics. “Now with the new Dickies Arena coming to fruition, Fort Worth is an incredibly attractive host site for many NCAA Championships, which will certainly benefit TCU student-athletes, coaches and fans.”

Dickies Arena is scheduled for a November 2019 opening and will hold 13,300 fans in its basketball configuration.

For the first time in 30 years, Cincinnati will draw NCAA men’s basketball to its city in 2020. But instead of coming to a building not yet open, the NCAA has selected a 40-year old venue, U.S. Bank Arena, in need of renovations. But that could change. Owner Nederlander Entertainment told local media on April 19 that the plan to draw the NCAA to Cincinnati included a provision to remodel the venue.

That could happen with a brand-new arena, but no official announcement has taken place. The arena has a list of previous hosting responsibilities, including a Women’s Final Four in 1997 and four men’s hosting duties dating all the way back to 1979.

Of the five previously announced men’s Final Four hosts, two will host NCAA events for the first time. Opened in 2016, U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, hosts in 2019 and Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, scheduled for an August opening, will host in 2020.

On the women’s side, five of the seven arenas awarded regional responsibilities in 2019 and 2020 do so for the first time. In 2019, Wintrust Arena, Chicago, and Moda Center, Portland, Ore., earn NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship games for the first time. They join Times Union Center, Albany, N.Y., for its third hosting responsibility and Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum for its fifth.

Greensboro Coliseum also earned early round men’s games in 2020. The venue has hosted 63 NCAA men’s tournament games, the fifth most in tournament history. The NCAA had previously stripped North Carolina sites of hosting duties in 2016-17 following the state’s enactment of HB2. But with the repeal of the bill earlier this year, the NCAA announced that any site in North Carolina set to host a championship in 2017-18 was allowed to keep it. North Carolina sites, including Greensboro Coliseum, were part of the new allocations. 

In 2020, Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Ind., enters the fray as a first-time women’s host, along with first-timers Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, S.C., and Moody Coliseum, Dallas.

“Fort Wayne has a proud tradition of basketball and hosting visitors, and these events will be excellent opportunities to expand our sports tourism resume,” said Dan O’Connell, president of Visit Fort Wayne, who estimates the economic impact of the women’s event at $1.2 million.

The University of Dayton (Ohio) Arena will remain the host of the men’s tournament’s First Four through 2022, as it has done since 2011. The venue has hosted 117 men’s basketball tournament games, the most of any facility.

A scene from Bumbershoot music festival at Seattle Center.

AEG Global Partnerships has formed a new division called AEG Studios that will create, produce and develop original content for the company as a whole as well as its numerous brand partners. Veteran content strategist Raymond Leon Roker will oversee the new initiative as head of the division across music, sports and facilities.

"AEG Studios is a full-service, in-house production department,” said Andrew Klein, senior vice president, AEG Global Partnerships. “It’s basically a content house that will create projects for whatever our brand partner’s desire is. We will shoot long-and-short-form video content, still content, documentaries, photography, Virtual Reality (VR) and 360.”

Klein said the impetus for opening the new division was that content creation is now a standard part of AEG partners’ sponsorship needs. “It’s all about unique content that our partners can use on their social channels,” he explained. “They want experiential, they want signage, and they want access to talent that they can use to amplify the content itself.”

In many cases, prior to AEG Studios creation, the content was either being farmed out by AEG or their partners would use other entities to capture the content. With the studio formalized, AEG can now bring all this under their umbrella.

The physical AEG Studios is a space in Los Angeles that’s currently the home of AXS TV, which will stay in the location. Most of the production work, however, will be shot on location.

“If a client wants us to shoot at the Hangout Music Festival in Alabama, we’ll be on the beach in Alabama,” said Klein. “If content needs to be shot in Staples Center (Los Angeles), we’ll shoot there.”

Roker, who founded and ran Urb magazine for 19 years, founded marketing agency Rebel Organizations and moved on to Red Bull Media House before landing at Goldenvoice/AEG Presents four years ago, said his number one goal is to “answer the real and evolving needs of our partners around content. Everything about a brand’s marketing is their story, and we want to be in that conversation with them.”

“We want to leverage the opportunities these events create, and we want to engage our fans with stories,” he said. “Our first order of business is understanding the state-of-play with content in and around our events.”

Roker said he’s personally very excited about creative partnerships between brands, artists, storytellers and social media creators, and another goal is to expand AEG’s playing field in terms of collaborators.

“Video is the latest incarnation of storytelling as it pertains to brands,” Roker explained. “I’ve spent my entire career looking for ways to tell stories and produce content that’s engaging and relevant and bring facilitators along for the ride.”

Klein believes the creation of AEG Studios will “streamline the process for our partners and create cost efficiencies.” Clients are still free to use any production company they choose.

Klein used Renaissance Hotels as an example of how AEG Studios will operate. “We shot both short-form and long-form video footage in their various hotels and surrounding areas with musicians,” he said. He pointed to projects in and around AEG music festivals Firefly (Delaware), Panorama (New York City), and Bumbershoot as potential AEG Studios clients.

Klein thinks that the fact that AEG Studios is full-service and has the capabilities to shoot in VR and 360 will distinguish the new division from competitors. “We have VR cameras and are ready for the numerous brands that are looking for VR capability,” he said.

Klein said that in the first year AEG Studios will concentrate on working with existing partners and expanding relationships where appropriate. "In the future, we will evaluate with partners on an ad hoc basis," he said. "We want to create content that makes sense for us and the partner, content that is imaginative and creative. What we want to stay away from is creating content just for the sake of creating content.

“We’re going to provide solutions from concept to execution to amplification,” he said. “Our content will allow brands to engage their target audience authentically and tell their stories in more thoughtful and engaging ways. There remains a demand for content that is fresh, targeted and shareable.”

“This the culmination of all the work I’ve done in music and sports, and you couldn’t ask for a better playing field for creating content than under the AEG Studio banner,” added Roker. “It’s a very exciting time to fuse all that.”

The new home of the Braves, SunTrust Park, Atlanta. (Photo courtesy: Atlanta Braves)

The first ever Opening Day at SunTrust Park is in the books. April 14, 2017, home run king Hank Aaron threw out the inaugural ceremonial first pitch to thunderous applause before the Atlanta Braves defeated the San Diego Padres 5-2. The game was played in front of a sell-out crowd of 41,149.

SunTrust Park is located in the Cumberland neighborhood of Cobb County, about 10 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta. At an imposing 1,114,400-square feet, the stadium offers 4,000 premium seats and 19,000 seats for under $20. A massive canopy provides coverage to the majority of the seating bowl. Utilizing a cantilever design, the stadium’s seating configuration maximizes sightlines and places a higher percentage of seats closer to the field than any other ballpark in Major League Baseball (MLB).

From the beginning of design to the end of construction, the building of SunTrust Park took only 37 months, a remarkable feat as compared to the lengthy timelines required by similar ballparks. Structural precast allowed for faster installation and virtual reality mockups allowed construction to move forward as decisions could be made in advance. Incorporating seven miles of handrails, 6,800 tons of structural steels, 908 miles of wire, 57,312 cubic yards of concrete, and 156,000-square feet of sod, the creation of SunTrust Park demanded an eye-popping 5.6-million man-hours. Cumberland is projected to add $2 billion in real estate value by 2024 due to the economic boost from the stadium.

The most impressive aspect of the fan experience at SunTrust Park might be the MLB.com Ballpark app, available on Android and iPhone. Through this one-stop application, the Braves customize every aspect of game day. A designated drop-off/pick-up zone on Windy Ridge Parkway caters to ridesharing through Uber, while real-time navigation updates, delivered by Waze, ease the flow of traffic for fans and commuters. After uploading your ticket and/or parking bar codes, Waze can direct you to the parking lot nearest your seats.

Opening Day at SunTrust Park, Atlanta.

Inside SunTrust Park, the Ballpark app is your best friend, offering key features including ByPass, Fan Assist and Satisfi. Director of Digital Marketing for the Atlanta Braves Greg Mize highlighted the importance of the Braves’ partnership with Comcast Xfinity, which provides an astonishing 200 GB of bandwidth. In more tangible terms, the stadium’s network infrastructure can support more than 40,000 fans simultaneously posting selfies.

Through ByPass, premium ticket holders can order concessions directly to their seats. Through Fan Assist, patrons can alert the staff if they experience a subpar service (i.e. being served a cold hot dog or a warm beer). Using the “Remedy” feature, fans might be compensated with a concessions voucher or perhaps the opportunity to take photos on the field after the game. This in-depth personalization ensures that all aspects of game day add up to a perfect outing. The most forward-thinking aspect of the Ballpark app is Satisfi, an Artificial Intelligence assistant. Looking for the nearest H&F Burger? A concession stand serving Coors Light? The closest restroom? Instead of endlessly perusing a directory, just ask Satisfi.

The stadium’s built-in technology includes a 64 x 121-foot BravesVision LED scoreboard installed by Panasonic. In fact, throughout SunTrust Park, there are 1,300 Panasonic televisions. The ballpark also features a 90x30 sq.-ft. scoreboard at left center field and five new Grass Valley LDX 86 hard cameras for broadcasting purposes. In the name of modernization, SunTrust Park is lit by programmable LED Sports lights (as compared to the incandescent bulbs used at Turner Field).

Premium areas and suites in the ballpark include the SunTrust Club, Delta SKY360 Club, and INFINITI Club among a host of others. Fully padded seats, valet parking and a variety of premium dining options make these suites the height of luxury. Group spaces such as the Xfinity Rooftop, Patio, and Cabanas (each available for private parties) provide a more intimate experience with entertainment options including pingpong and foosball tables. In addition, the Hank Aaron Terrace displays the legend’s 715th home run bat and ball and features two viewing decks for large groups. The Home Depot Clubhouse, Coca-Cola Corner, Coors Light Below the Chop, Coors Light Chop House (a three story restaurant), the Konica Minolta Conference Center, and Batter’s Eye Deck round out the group spaces.

Delaware North Sportservice serves as the Braves’ concessions partner. The company is launching a “Farm to Fan” initiative at the ballpark, which sources from more than 40 Atlanta-area producers to serve seasonal dishes. In a prepared statement, president of Delaware North Sportservice, Carlos Bernal said, “The Braves envisioned and built a state-of-the-art ballpark so we wanted to design a food and beverage operation that was just as forward-thinking. The game day experience has evolved, and fans expect as much out of their food as they do their baseball team. This means incorporating food trends like locally-sourced ingredients and partnerships with hometown brands and companies.”

The Terrapin Taproom featuring Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q, the First & Third Hot Dog & Sausage Shack by celebrity chef Hugh Acheson, King of Pops, Gu’s Dumplings, High Road Craft Ice Cream, Waffle House, and Chick-fil-A give the Braves a full dining roster.

For the Braves, a baseball game is truly a family affair. With Hope and Will’s Sandlot, the team offers youngsters interactive games ranging from a batting cage and pitch simulator to carnival games and a climbing tower. There’s even a zip line.

In all, SunTrust Park does a magnificent job of joining the old and the new. The venue has incorporated technology at an unprecedented scale, but still retains its baseball sensibilities. With curated memorabilia sections throughout the stadium paying homage to the franchise’s rich past and modernized fan experiences, the Braves have brought baseball into the 21st century while remaining true to the game’s humble beginnings.
 

Rendering of the Aberdeen (Scotland) Exhibition Conference Center.

SMG recently was named the management company of the Aberdeen Exhibition Conference Center in Scotland and will also oversee management of the new $416-million Aberdeen complex that is currently being built.

The existing Aberdeen convention center is 20-years old and ready for a new home. The new center is slated to open sometime in 2019.

“We’re excited to take the convention business, exhibitions and entertainment to an exciting new venue,” said SMG Executive Vice President of European Operations John Sharkey, who works out of SMG’s United Kingdom offices in Manchester.

The new venue will have more capacity, the latest technology and all the bells and whistles needed to compete in the global convention market.

The new complex will include a 12,500-seat arena equipped with a moveable stage, hospitality boxes, a club lounge, a total of 538,000 sq. ft. of flexible exhibition space, a conference center, three hotels and an energy center.

To top it off, the new exhibition and conference center will be located only six miles from Aberdeen International Airport, making it easy for conference guests to access events held at the complex.

“The insight that went into the design was amazing, which is what you want. You want a place where people like to go,” said SMG Executive Vice President Maureen Ginty. “We are very excited about it.”

Convention officials and the Aberdeen City Council have touted that the new complex is sure to have a huge economic impact on the area.

It’s projected to generate 600 new jobs during the construction period, add an additional 4.5-million visitors to the area, which includes $142 million in new visitor revenue that equates to a $78-million net impact to the Scottish economy by 2025. It’s also the “key element of Aberdeen City Council’s $1.25-billion transformational infrastructure and culture plans to grow the Granite City economy,” stated a press release.

“It’s so exciting for us to be part of a city that has made these kinds of investments and is moving it forward,” Ginty said.

The goal is not only to cater to the business class traveling to Scotland, but also the destination tourism market, Sharkey noted.

The entertainment aspect the new complex will offer is off the charts, he said.

The new convention center will host over 200 events a year, he added.

Funding for construction came from bond initiatives put forth by Aberdeen City Council.

“Thankfully, they’ve gotten to raise a lot of money in the bond market,” Sharkey said. “It’s a part of a citywide development plan.”

Included in the plan is new commercial and residential development.

“Right at the same time, there will be a new road network that will take a lot of traffic to and from the venues,” he said. “To access the current venue, you have to travel through the middle of Aberdeen where there’s a lot of transfer routes. You can probably make it much easier for people from the UK to fly into Aberdeen and do their corporate meetings and do the town hall meetings and also stay over for some entertainment.”

The new center will host meetings slated to accommodate anywhere from 50 to 50,000 people, Sharkey said.

“The venue versatility is most highlighted in the design process. We have banqueting space, we have conference space, we have entertainment space,” he added. “The whole idea of this building is to have more than one event running at one time.”

Managing the Aberdeen complex adds to SMG’s long list of venues it manages worldwide. In its 40th year of operation, SMG now manages more than 230 venues, over 15 million sq. ft. of exhibition space and more than 1.5million sports and entertainment seats globally.

Juan and Cari Rodriguez at the grand opening of Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, Calif.

It’s a homecoming of sorts for Juan Rodriguez, who has accepted the position of executive vice president and general manager for BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, home of the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer.

Rodriguez worked in Houston for SMG at NRG Stadium prior to moving to Sacramento to become senior VP and general manager of the then under-construction Golden 1 Center, Sacramento. The new home to the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association opened Sept.30, 2016.

His last day in Sacramento will be May 25. He and his wife, Cari, and their two children, ages 13 and 11, then move to Houston where he starts the new job June 15. It is bittersweet for the entire family, but it is close to grandparents, and it’s a city they know well from Rodriguez’ 14 years at NRG Stadium. Prior to that, he worked at Miami Arena and then what is now BB&T Center, Sunrise, Fla., for LMI/SMG.

He is replacing Paul Byrne who moved on two months ago, taking a job as VP, Operations at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., home of the Washington Redskins.

The friendships Rodriguez made during his three years in Sacramento will last forever, he said.

In Houston, he will answer to Chris Canetti, president of the Dynamos.

“It’s the right place and the right time,” Rodriguez said. The opportunity came about organically. He had dealt with the Dynamos organization when he was in Houston and the Kings season at Golden 1 Center has come to a close. He notified management Monday. The staff was told Tuesday. “It’s very emotional,” Rodriguez said.

A fan using the Robin app.

Robin is a music-tech startup that wants to be your personal concierge for concerts and live events. Based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the service’s aim is to get fans tickets they want at face value. It started in May 2016.

Robin is one of only 11 startups selected by the Techstars Music Accelerator Investment Program, headed by Bob "Moz" Moczydlowsky, formerly of Twitter, Topspin Media and Yahoo! Music.

“We started Robin because we believe a great live-event experience has the power to change your life,” said Adam McIsaac, cofounder and CEO, Robin. “Whether it’s a concert, comedy show, sporting event or music festival, the effort of getting tickets to these events has become increasingly painful and time consuming.” Robin’s other founders are Cam Gorrie and Dave Levin.

“There are issues with the primary market, the secondary market, scalpers, bots and every tour has about eight presales associated with it, and it’s become much more confusing than it has to be,” said McIsaac.

Robin’s goal was to re-imagine what the ticket buying experience would look like if there was a way to focus solely on the fan and the consumer experience. “For the consumer, it’s a much better experience because they don’t have to worry about missing out on an event that they love,” he said.

Robin is essentially a reservation platform. Here’s how it works: people can sign up through the Robin website and create an account where they will then curate their personal "bucket list" of artists or events they want to see live, regardless of whether any dates have been announced. From there Robin keeps track of their reservation, and when an artist or event announces a show in their city, the service works directly on the fan’s behalf to purchase their tickets at face value.

Robin acquires its ticket inventory in a variety of ways. They work directly with artists; they partner with promoters to get access; they buy tickets directly from the primary vendors and they work directly with venues as well.

The company makes its money from a convenience fee that’s typically five percent of the ticket but can go as high as 10 percent. Robin stores a user's credit card and there is currently “over $2 million worth of reservations in the system.”

Still in the incubator stage, Robin recently executed two successful campaigns with Canadian bands Arkells and July Talk.

“Arkells announced their Canadian tour in the Fall and were stepping into full-scale arenas for the first time, and it was an opportunity for us to protect the fans and get our name out,” explained McIsaac. “This gave fans a way to avoid the secondary market and scalpers.” Arkells primary tickets were sold through Ticketmaster and Ticketfly.

To stop professional scalpers from getting their hands on Robin tickets, the platform asks fans a few simple questions about the band and their new album. “It’s an engaging way to get proof that it’s a real fan buying the ticket and not a bot,” he said. “Professionals operating on scale will not bother and invest the time to research a band.”

The beauty of Robin, according to McIsaac, is that the services push the tickets at the fans who have expressed interest in their Robin profile so that the fan doesn’t have to keep up with where, when and how the primary tickets will be put on sale. “We don’t just push a long list of events at people,” he said. “We only push what they want to see.” 

The company recently added sporting events and comedy shows to its offerings. “Ideally we want to have deals with the major agencies, promoters, artists and venues to facilitate acquisition of tickets,” he said.

Robin was accepted to be part of the 2017 TechStars program in February. They received $120,000 in investment, mentorship from a vast pool of professionals, support for life and they are in the middle of an intensive 13-week program out of Techstars' new Los Angeles office. This is in exchange for six-percent equity in the company.

TechStars is supported by member companies Bill Silva Entertainment, Era of The Engineer, Harmonix, Q Prime, Silva Artist Management, Sonos, Sony Music and Warner Music Group.

“Robin offers unique solutions to ticketing,” said Jen Nicholas, director, TechStars Music. “Ticketing is a huge problem. It’s an incredibly inconvenient and unpleasant experience.”

“When you use Robin, it’s delightful,” she said. “They’ve taken the ticket concierge concept to the next level. We knew right away there was something there. We wanted to give them a shot to turn the company into something and get the ticketing problem fixed.”

“Robin is a service for people who just don’t have time,” she said. “They make it easy to see who you want to see, and then they email you your tickets. No refreshing pages, no waiting for the moment tickets go on sale, no paying crazy money to a secondary market ticket seller. They make it seamless and lovely.”

Success stories from TechStars’ incubator include Sthero, SendGrid and Digital Ocean. The other members of the TechStars 2017 class are Amper, Hurdl, JAAK, Pacemaker, Pippa, PopGun, Shimmur, Superpowered, SyncSpot and Weav.

“Sign up and try it,” urged McIssac. “It makes the experience of getting tickets simple, painless and easy.”

Renovated, customized sleeproom at Fenway Park, Boston.

(Editor's note: This story previously appeared in SportTechie.com)

The MLB season is off and running as the Atlanta Braves, in particular, open technology-infused SunTrust Park. SportTechie recently broke down the most important storylines to follow for the 2017 MLB season and with that, we also wanted to highlight some of the baseball technology companies to watch during the year.

From wearables and virtual reality training to digital media, there are a number of companies making headlines at the intersection of sports and technology.

1) The Boston Red Sox recently partnered with Bedgear for the company to become the team’s Official Performance Bedding Partner, even helping equip the clubhouse with a sleep room designed to improve performance and recovery. Each player was fitted for a customized pillow for optimal sleeping. While Bedgear only has one official MLB partner, it has also worked with the New York Mets, San Diego Padres and Detroit Tigers, among other organizations. The question remains, will the dedicated sleep room translate to more Ws in the win column?

2) WHOOP, which is a wearable and performance technology company, recently conducted the largest performance study with a U.S. professional sports league in Major League Baseball. It then came as no surprise when the league approved players to wear the WHOOP Strap during regular season games this year. As wearables continue to make appearances, how will they improve an individual’s performance, if at all, and could they potentially become a distraction as well?

3) Major League Baseball Advanced Media is upping the ante with its Statcast system as it integrates more advanced metrics into MLB Network and game-day broadcasts, further helping fans better understand what is taking place on the field via a numbers and percentages breakdown.

4) Sports data and wearable company Catapult Sports just announced its first baseball analytics product, which will help decrease players’ risk of injury. One of the industry leaders in the category, Catapult has worked with hundreds of companies across football, basketball and rugby, among others. Expect them to make some headwind in MLB soon as well.

5) 15 Seconds of Fame, a social sharing platform, inked a multiyear partnership with Major League Baseball Advanced Media where it will help deliver video footage and highlights directly to fans. The new MLBAM relationship for the New York-based technology company adds to existing partnerships it has with other professional sports teams and collegiate programs

6) A baseball pitch-training solution developed by Rapsodo entered the marketplace earlier this season. Rapsodo Baseball, as it’s formally called, combines radar and camera technology to capture data in real-time so coaches can review a pitcher’s mechanics and offer immediate feedback.

7) How Twitter’s season-long live streaming partnership with Major League Baseball Advanced Media performs from a viewership standpoint is something to keep a close eye on. Granted, the deal is different from the social platform’s prior relationship with the NFL, but what type of audience will the games attract? 

8) Dubbed the “next generation of Moneyball,” TrinityVR is hoping its DiamondFX platform can transform how pitchers and batters train, except without the added physical stress. For a five-figure investment, TrintyVR outfits an MLB batting cage with the system, giving players hundreds of extra repetitions which equals thousands of new data points for them to analyze. Virtual reality is a tool that is already being leveraged in the U.S., especially football. Perhaps baseball could be the next frontier for alternative VR training.

9) Wearable technology company Motus Global, which has been approved for in-game use during MLB games, partnered with the Baseball Factory this year. The latter company focuses on player development at the high school level and with the new relationship, will utilize the motus THROW device for injury prevention and performance analysis.

John Burke

Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Convention Centre (the Centre) has appointed John Burke as its new deputy GM. Burke is a senior venue operations professional with over 25 years of experience.

“I am excited to join the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre’s award-winning team,” said Burke. “I'm looking forward to sharing my experience from working across all areas of venue and event management and applying my operational knowledge to help enhance the Centre’s reputation as Malaysia’s premier facility and Asia’s only AIPC (International Association of Congress Centres) Gold Standard venue.”

“Maintaining a venue’s position as a marketplace leader and having an adaptable and flexible mindset will assist us to maintain a competitive advantage as the regional and global competitor landscape continues to evolve,” said Burke. “As such, I am excited at the prospect of applying the collective knowledge I have gained from opening new venues and many years of business events and industry experience in different destinations to the Centre, in order to drive standards of operational excellence and deliver affordable and personalized solutions to enhance the client journey.”

Prior to joining the Centre, Burke was director of operations, Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre (OCEC), Muscat. During the construction and preopening period of OCEC, he also assumed the responsibilities of technical services manager, where he provided operator input on design and modifications. Before his time at OCEC, he was the director of IT at Qatar National Convention Centre, Doha, for four years.  Burke kicked off his career with the NEC Group, where he gained over 15 years of comprehensive IT, technical and operational knowledge. During this time, he was involved in the infrastructure and technical design of Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre, U.K., the Convention Centre Dublin (Ireland), and LG Arena, Birmingham, U.K.