In a super-competitive environment seeking major league sports venue management contracts, nice still works.
Doug Thornton, executive VP, SMG, spent almost two years pursuing the contract to manage the Minnesota Vikings new $1.26-billion stadium, which opens in 2016. That something different that set his bid proposal for SMG apart was knowing the stakeholders and embracing “Minnesota Nice.”
Winning the 10-year, hotly contested contract to manage the Vikings Stadium won Thornton the 2014 Venues Today Hall of Headlines award for News.
(Caricature by Greg Dohlen)
“My first trip to Minneapolis was late October 2012 for a basic introductory meeting with Michele and Ted,” Thornton recalled of Michele Kelm-Helgen, chair, Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, and Ted Mondale, CEO/executive director. “They told us a private manager was mandated through the legislation but they were not ready yet.”
SMG does not run any other buildings in Minnesota so were an unknown quantity to the sports authority and to the Vikings. Thornton did know Craig Skeim, consultant on the project. “Our first meeting was ‘here are our credentials, a little about our company, and, by the way, when is the RFP coming out?”
Then the footwork began. Thornton and Harry Cann, Sr. Regional VP for SMG Stadiums and Arenas, got to know Minneapolis and its people. All things being relatively equal financially, experience and empathy tipped the scales. In meeting after meeting, they heard from stakeholders from all walks of Minnesota life.
Big events were clearly important to create economic impact. Every part of the project, including the roof overhead and an urban park next door, need to be used to the max. Final Fours (2019), Super Bowls (2018), big concerts and even baseball — they want it all.
And the Vikings certainly wanted the highest quality operating standards and NFL best practices.
“They wanted to have a private operator to both maximize the revenues and maintain the asset,” Thornton said.
The lease in Minnesota is very well balanced, Thornton said, remarking that the deal is very thorough and covers many potential circumstances. The playing field is clear, including carveouts like the Authority’s use of the suites for big events, which helps in the bidding process.
This was all about the community, so Thornton and Cann continued to make their acquaintance.
“We went out to meet the university baseball coach who would be playing there; the real estate companies involved with the $450-million, mixed-use, retail and residential project next to the stadium. We talked to the downtown council chairman, hotel/motel association, CVB. We got to know the stakeholders very, very well.”
When it came time for the bid, Thornton had a list of things to harp on: Experience (like nine Super Bowls at SMG buildings); governmental knowledge (92 percent of SMG’s U.S. clients are municipalities); and the ability to protect the asset (“we have a deep bench”).
Thornton learned a lot about Minnesota, including the fact they have a term, “Minnesota Nice,” to describe the population – Midwestern, downhome, charming and so, so nice. “They are really, really warm people, even though it’s cold up there,” Thornton said.
That prompted the coup de grace of SMG’s winning bid. At the end of the two-hour process, Thornton presented the Authority with a “Facemat” of Minnesotans with their thoughts on what the stadium meant to them written on their hands in black ink — like the weather lady with “No Snow Inside” or Coach John Anderson with “More Baseball.”
“It said to everybody in the room that we got to know Minnesota,” Thornton said.
Those images also flashed on the screen behind Thornton. And then, he presented the Authority with a football signed by all those stakeholders — the game ball, a symbol of SMG’s commitment. “We will never forget we work for the people of Minnesota, the people who signed this football,” Thornton declared.
Cute, yes, but it connected. It was Minnesota Nice.