Thomas A. Robertson National Stadium, Nassau, Bahamas.
On Monday, a contingent of four from AEG Facilities, led by Chuck Steedman, COO, will be visiting the firm's newest client for an operations assessment. The firm has been selected to provide booking and operations services for the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium and Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre in Nassau, Bahamas.
Steedman said their marching orders are to bring sports and entertainment tourism and content to the islands, promoting everything Bahamian. He and Kyle Waters, AGM, StubHub Center, Carson, Calif.; Scott Bosarge, SVP, AEG Global Support Services, and Chris Orpilla, Sr. Financial Analyst, will be there July 27-30 to determine exactly what that will look like.
The venues are owned by the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Culture and administered by the National Sports Authority of the Bahamas. Included are the 30,000-seat Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, constructed in 2012. A new 5,000-seat baseball stadium is under construction. Besides the stadium, the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre consists of several additional athletics venues, including a warm-up track complex, tennis stadium, natatorium, golf course and gymnasium.
Steedman said there will be two AEG Facilities personnel on board full time beginning soon, one focusing on music and one on sports.
Marquis events already hosted at the Robinson National Stadium include two world track and field relay championships, Caribbean championship track and field events, the first of a multiyear deal for Popeye’s Bahama Bowl U.S. college football game owned by ESPN (to be held Dec. 24 this year); and, last year, a historically black college football game and an international soccer match between Jamaica and Tottenham.
The Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium serves as the home of the Bahamas’ national soccer team and the Bahamas national track and field teams.
AEG Facilities will be providing operational expertise and management services, Steedman said. The priority is to “develop a content plan that uses sports and entertainment to draw tourism or build up the Bahamas brand from a marketing standpoint around the globe.”
The three-year contract, with options, was executed May 22 of this year. The team arriving next week will be doing an operational assessment, from procurement to turf maintenance to financial procedures to front and back of house operations.
Joel Katz of Greenberg Traurig in Atlanta vetted bids and negotiated the contract.
Some of AEG Live’s regional offices have booked content in the Bahamas at Atlantis or other places and were involved in discussions with Steedman. “Our responsibility is to the Bahamas in general. Atlantis is not competition, nor is the new Baha Mar property when it comes on line,” Steedman said.
Interviewed for this article: Chuck Steedman, (213) 763-7700