The renovated Kyle Field at Texas A&M.
There comes a time when a trend that is ongoing long enough ceases to be a trend and instead becomes a way of life. In the public assembly venue world, those new ways of life include print-at-home ticketing, retail and residential construction around facilities and regionalized food items at the concession stands. Trends found within Texas venues are as big, vast and varied as, well, the state of Texas.
Larry Fontana is a respected industry veteran and is general manager of Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie. Even with his years of experience he admits to having difficulty wrapping his arms around ever-changing trends by confessing that, “If I could identify trends I would be retired by now.”
But Fontana looks forward the same as his peers around the state and trends have in fact surfaced that are distinctly Texas. The state is unique in that it has two NFL teams, three NBA teams and two Major League Baseball franchises. That puts the onus on universities around the state to up the ante for the competing fan experience.
“More super premium spaces are being developed for college venues,” said Jason Cook, senior associate athletics director at Texas A&M University in College Station. “The new premium spaces are putting a big emphasis on the social aspect of the fan experience. Fans are no longer coming to stadiums to sit in a single seat and watch a game. Sports are becoming more and more of a social experience, not just a sports experience. Fans are now expecting the same amenities at both professional and college venues.”
Texas A&M’s Kyle Field underwent a recent renovation that shot seating capacity from just over 83,000 to 102,733, but in Fort Worth Ross Bailey, senior associate athletics director — facilities and operations at TCU, said most venues that renovate are actually decreasing capacity.
“I’m not sure that Texas is different than the rest of the country right now when it comes to new or renovated intercollegiate facilities,” Bailey said, “but I think one trend we are seeing is an overall reduction in seat count. Not by a lot but when people are renovating facilities, growth in the number of seats is not as important as having better sight lines, customer amenities and premium offerings in the seat selections.”
Bailey agreed with Cook by noting that premium seating “increases the fan experience with video and audio, premium food and beverage offerings.”
Texas is a state that enjoyed a population explosion the past year and, in Dallas, numerous corporations have relocated and moved thousands of people to the metroplex every day.
“Because North Texas is in hyper growth mode, we have to be sensitive to issues and opportunities created such as mobility and increased traffic,” said Dave Brown, executive vice president and general manager of American Airlines Center, home to the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars. “The epicenter of population in the metroplex is moving north of the city and instead of a 20-miute drive for our patrons, it’s now closer to a 45-minute drive.
“We continue to work with mass transit and look at other avenues to provide the best accessibility. For instance, the arena recently entered into a partnership with Uber. We offer Uber exclusive access to drop off and pick up points around the arena and promote the use of Uber in pre-event emails, social media, and in-arena during events.”
While the demographics reveal that arena patrons are driving farther to come to events, greater housing options are also springing up or have already sprung up in all four directions next to the arena.
“There is an increase in housing options within our district, Victory Park,” Brown said. “Within a quarter mile of the building, we anticipate 5,000 new residents as apartments and condos continue to be built around us in the coming year. We have to ask ourselves how we captivate and compel those new residents within a five-minute walk to be frequent visitors.”
The blending of sports and entertainment continues to mix in North Texas, with the latest an announcement from the Texas Rangers Baseball Club about its Texas Live! development and partnership with the Cordish Companies. The $200-million mixed-use project will sit next to Globe Life Park and will open later this decade.
“With this project, and with the work the Dallas Cowboys have done on The Star in Frisco, the blending of sports and entertainment continues on a large scale,” said Rob Matwick, executive vice president of business operations for the Rangers. “Of course, the Stars and Mavericks have played adjacent to Victory Park for years now, and FC Dallas has had the stage as part of its building, so it seems we’re completing the circle among the teams.”
Convention centers in Texas are also now a part of this blending, and it is a marketing tool that many use to attract business.
“Much of the renovation is focused on a new approach to convention centers, which used to be set apart from the action elsewhere in the city, requiring transportation to get to dining, nightlight and more,” said Dawn Ullrich, president of Houston First Corporation, the entity that manages the George R. Brown Convention Center. “Now, the trend is to be immersed in that action, whether it’s downtown or elsewhere in the city. Attendees want to walk to their sessions as well as entertainment experiences. A number of cities are looking to reimagine their convention districts to lure more business, and Houston is actively working to create a benchmark for this new approach.”
In Texas, rodeo joins football as two native staples, and to that end Sammy Wallace, vice president of marketing and assistant general manager of Cedar Park Center near Austin, said that his venue takes advantage by transitioning its rodeo and professional bull riding summer events into a back-to-back “Wild West Week” and has added a post-event music concert so that the event falls more in line with what Texans expect from rodeo: rodeo competition and live music.
Border towns along the Rio Grande Valley have their own unique challenges and circumstances. In El Paso, a unique trend is last-minute ticket buyers.
“Due to demographics, our patrons are much more selective to what they purchase since disposable income is limited,” said Julian Valdes, marketing manager of the office of special events at the University of Texas at El Paso. “Our buyers buy the hot ticket events and are not able to support all the events that enter the region. We rely on Ticketmaster outlets to purchase tickets and we may be the highest market that relies on these outlets.”
Farther south along the Texas-Mexico border in Harlingen at State Farm Arena, Marketing Director Raziel Cano said that because of their location entertainment offerings are unique.
“Texas is a great and diverse state and a melting pot in so many ways,” Cano said. “There are so many opportunities to provide a variety of entertainment to all different types of people.”
To capture the flavor of Texas, it is of course important to take the pulse from the folks at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. Steven Flores, sales manager for Fair Park & Community Services, said that the beer festival business is booming not just locally but throughout the state.
“Untapped is a local brew fest that started three years ago,” Flores said. “This year they will hold five craft beer and music festivals across the state of Texas. The Big Texas Beer Fest has grown from one day to two to satisfy the large number of attendees.”
Spotting Other Trends
Due to its sheer size, Texas is a haven on the booking and routing trail as artists can gobble up a number of dates with minor travel just by playing shows in the state.
“There certainly seem to be a lot more multi-act packages (almost minifestivals) out there than there have been in the past,” said Wallace at Cedar Park. “From our perspective that’s a great thing — customers see a lot more value for their money, and it creates more opportunities for us with ancillary revenue streams like food and beverage. There also seems to be a lot more retro packages out there as well.”
As shows flow into the state, some like Brown at AmericanAirlines Center hustle just to find enough dates on the calendar to satisfy those wanting to play his venue.
“The trend in booking and routing is a generous pipeline of content for concerts and shows,” Brown said. “Our problem is finding enough dates for the acts available to us. We’ve missed some major shows because we’ve been booked, which is a good problem to have.”
Down the road from Brown at Fair Park, Flores picked up on some trends that are more recent.
“We are getting some more West Coast and national tours coming through,” he said. “International soccer games come out of Mexico and are always looking for dates for when the leagues are on break. Then car companies are hosting more ride and drives during the winter months.”
As vice president, public relations and communications at Dell Diamond in Austin for the Round Rock Express Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, Jill Cacic said that regardless of what other events are booked at her venue, the importance remains on making the act or the event special to make them want to return.
“They all want to feel like VIPs and we strive to make everyone feel that way,” she said. “Event planners are looking for a personal touch to the event that goes above and beyond.”
Texans Love Their Food
Wallace rightly cites Austin as a big “foodie” town and said that several food and beverage trends have been on the radar for some time. Last September Cedar Park Center brought in new F&B provider Ryan Sanders Sports Services (RS3) to fully rebrand the venue’s offerings.
“The biggest and most visible changes were at our six concession stands which went from six more traditional concession areas to unique, branded storefronts with new, high-quality options,” Wallace said.
There is also a significant quantity of options for guests including alligator bites, deli options and flat breads and gourmet tacos and nachos.
“The biggest trend for us is the addition of specialty items,” said Brown. “We introduce new specialty items every season and this year was no different. We had a menu of new items that included a tamale dog and Shock Top Brat.”
When you play in a venue that is home to the sixth leading scorer in NBA history in Dirk Nowitzki, why not introduce a Dirk Burger, which broke the record for most units ever sold in one night by a specialty item when the American Airlines Center sold 250 burgers?
“We glamorize these featured offerings by kicking it off with a press conference, then leading into in-game promotions, and continuing with social media and promotion throughout the month,” Brown said while noting another burger on a rotating menu was the Klingburger named in honor of Dallas Star John Klingberg.
The craft beer boom has also been noticed in Texas and at the Toyota Center in Houston, home to the NBA Rockets.
“We are trying to keep up with the growing pallet of the regular fan,” said Amanda Strudler-Mann, assistant general manager of the venue. “We are elevating standard arena fare to another level. We are also trying to expand the options, provide healthier options and expand our craft beer presence. Right now we have craft beers on tap and in bottle.”
Eventually, everything comes back home, and while venues want to show off their region’s fare for out-of-state guests, they want to make available food and beverage that locals can relate to.
“An ongoing trend is to highlight local foods and vendor products that customers can identify with,” said David Ratti, general manager of Tobin Catering at The Tobin Center in San Antonio. “National brands and concepts are rapidly being replaced in concessions style food venues with smaller hometown one-off locations. You can also see this trend in the beverage industry as many smaller craft beers and liquor companies have become the preferred choice. This is a customer driven preference that cannot be ignored. Clearly this indicates that the voice of the customer is being heard.”
Interviewed for this story: Ross Bailey, (817) 257-7009; Dave Brown, (214) 222-3687; Jill Cacic, (512) 238-2206; Raziel Cano, (956) 219-4059; Jason Cook, (979) 845-1030; Steven Flores, (214) 670-8496; Larry Fontana, (972) 854-5050; Rob Matwick, (817) 273-5222; David Ratti, (210) 223-3333; Amanda Strudler-Mann, (713) 758-7200; Dawn Ullrich, (713) 853-8000; Julian Valdes, (915) 747-5481; Sammy Wallace, (512) 600-5195