Brad Mayne in 2012 with some of MetLife Stadium's best staff ever, including, front row from left, Frank Calandrillo, ticket office; Thomas Kalisch, central parking; Reggie Horne, Delaware North Companies; Melody Muhi, guest services; and Carlos Laracuente, Unicco; and back row, Mayne and Fabian Castellanos, safety services.
Ron VanDeVeen took over as president and chief executive officer of MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J., April 1, succeeding Brad Mayne, who would be wrapping four years at the helm in September of this year.
Mayne will stay on during the transition as consultant. MetLife Stadium houses the New York Jets and New York Giants of the National Football League. VanDeVeen had been SVP, Events and Guest Experiences of MetLife Stadium.
A 26-year veteran in the industry, VanDeVeen has spent the last two decades championing for and bringing the world’s largest events to the New Jersey/New York area. He is a familiar sight at industry events like the Stadium Managers Association and International Venue Management Association conventions through his long association with the Meadowlands complex.
“I have spent my entire career here at the Meadowlands and am honored to lead the team of the best and brightest in the industry,” VanDeVeen said in a press release. “We will work tirelessly to build upon the stadium’s past successes by continuing to host the world’s biggest events on the world’s biggest stage.”
In the May 2015 issue of Venues Today, VanDeVeen expressed his excitement at the performance of the stadium as a Top Stop in the world. MetLife Stadium reported its best year yet since opening in 2010 with a $68.3-million gross reported from concerts and events.
“Our past year was our best year,” VanDeVeen told Venues Today at the time. “At MetLife Stadium, we did about 21 major events plus high school bands and football championships and other minor events.”
Those 21 events, five sporting, 16 non-sporting, are in addition to the 20 NFL games played at MetLife Stadium every season. A September college football game between Notre Dame and Syracuse sold out the stadium at 76,000 people, grossing over $6.3 million and will return to MetLife Stadium ithis year.
In April 2014, Feld Motor Sports brought AMA Monster Energy Supercross to MetLife Stadium, making it the first Supercross event in the area in the last 20 years,and attracting over 62,000 attendees and grossing over $2.7 million. And it paved the way for the event to return to the stadium on April 25, 2015 and become the first time the event was nationally televised on Fox. Supercross has announced a 2016 stop in April, VanDeVeen said.
“It’s been a phenomenal four years hosting the biggest and best events in the largest market in North America,” said Mayne. “I am grateful to the New York Giants and the New York Jets for the tremendous opportunity to have led the best stadium staff in the industry.”
Just after the transition was announced, Mayne and VanDeVeen traveled to Dallas for Wrestlemania, an event Mayne told Venues Today was over the top, especially in production. “Twelve poeple were on my flight into Dallas wearing Wrestlemania clothing,” Mayne said. “ I talked to one of them who said he joins a group of 23 Wrestlemania fans from all over the country at the annual event.” They met each other at Wrestlemania and formed a group, Mayne said. It’s like the Grateful Dead fandom, he said. They come in early and make it a social group event.
VanDeVeen then traveled to North Carolina to watch his daughter in a national swim meet.
Mayne is weighing his options for the future, adding it was time to leave New Jersey. He has strong ties in Texas, where he used to manage American Airlines Center, Dallas.
In his four years at MetLife Stadium each year has broken a record, Mayne said. It has been a great run, he told Venues Today.
Prior to taking the job at MetLife, he had also been a consultant, working on major projects. He “continues to get phone calls” and guaranteed that “something is going to happen soon” regarding his future situation.
Interviewed for this story: Brad Mayne, (201) 559-1565