The Golden State Warriors have added two experienced NBA facility developers to their San Francisco arena project team.
Manica Architecture, headed by veteran sports designer
David Manica, and
David Carlock, a former NBA team executive with the Houston Rockets, are both working for the Warriors to help develop their waterfront arena
project, team President
Rick Welts confirmed.
The additions were a topic of discussion during VenueConnect 2013, the International Association of Venue Managers’ annual conference and trade show. The event ran July 27-30 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.
One year ago, the club hired Snohetta, an Oslo, Norway, brand design firm, to plan the arena in conjunction with AECOM, a sports design firm serving as project consultant. AECOM completed its initial work but will remain involved with the project, and Snohetta continues its role as lead designer, Welts said.
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Golden State added professionals with arena design experience to work on the team’s waterfront project.
Image by: SNOHETTA AND AECOM
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Manica and Carlock have crossed paths professionally on several occasions, dating to the development of
Toyota Center in Houston. Carlock was the Rockets’ senior vice president of business development at the same time Manica was lead designer for the arena, which opened in 2003.
The two have also worked together on three arena developments in China as part of a joint venture between the NBA and AEG.
Carlock has been consulting for the Warriors for the past several months, Welts said.
The team hired both professionals because of their specific arena experience “and because the greatest arena ever envisioned should have the greatest team creating it,” Welts said.
> SIZING IT UP: Jay Parker, Daktronics’ national sales manager, thinks the large number of major league teams and colleges ordering new video boards shows the economy has finally regained its footing.
Company officials rattled off a list of a dozen arenas and stadiums that in the coming months will install screens produced by the Brookings, S.D., company. It’s on par with a good year when Daktronics averages 30 installations, Parker said.
In the Big Ten Conference alone, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin will have upgraded HD-quality video boards this fall at their football stadiums
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Illinois and Iowa join Wisconsin in upgrading HD-quality video boards.
Photos by: DAKTRONICS |
after their old screens became outdated over eight to 10 years of use.
“The market is a lot more active, especially with renovations,” Parker said. “People are willing to spend the money. Look at Wichita State. They made it to the Final Four and then buy a new video board. It’s great for us.”
Daktronics is building the video boards for Levi’s Stadium, the San Francisco 49ers’ new facility opening in 2014, as well as an upgraded center-hung board at Madison Square Garden as MSG puts the finishing touches on its $1 billion renovation.
More opportunities await makers of video boards for new NFL stadiums for the Vikings and Falcons and the Sacramento Kings’ arena project.
There are a few holdouts to keep an eye on as well, such as Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, where the original video boards have been in use since the building opened in 1998, Parker said.
> OVERHEARD: Greensboro Coliseum has booked a Duke-Elon men’s basketball game for New Year’s Eve. As of last week, tipoff time was still up in the air, said Scott Johnson, the arena’s deputy director. The two schools played last season at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium. … Notre Dame hired 360 Architecture to develop a master plan for upgrades to the school’s football stadium. The initial concepts extend outside the facility, including new office and classroom buildings that could potentially ring the stadium at ground level, similar to the University Center surrounding Florida State’s Doak Campbell Stadium, sources said. … The RFP for private management of the new Minnesota Vikings stadium should be released this fall. AEG, Global Spectrum and SMG, all of whom manage NFL stadiums in other markets, are the primary contenders for the job. It will be the seventh NFL stadium to be run by an entity other than the primary tenant. … Time Warner Cable Arena, home of the Charlotte Bobcats, has booked the Avett Brothers for New Year’s Eve. The band hails from Concord, N.C., home of Charlotte Motor Speedway. … Mike Enoch, AEG’s general manager of the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China, attended the IAVM conference. On Oct. 18, the arena plays host to the Warriors-Lakers preseason game. … Icon Venue Group can’t win every owner’s representative job. PC Sports is filling that niche for the Rupp Arena renovation in Lexington, the Kyle Field expansion at Texas A&M and the new Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan, a CFL project. Paula Yancey is PC’s president. … Bob Sanders enters his second year as Manhattan Construction’s director of business development after coming over from Hunt Construction. The firm reached the pinnacle of sports construction building AT&T Stadium for the Dallas Cowboys. Since that time, though, Hunt, Turner and Mortenson have all won NFL work, leaving Manhattan on the sideline. The Texas firm is handling construction of the $450 million renovation of Kyle Field and a new stadium for the University of Houston, but that’s not enough. “It’s my job to get Manhattan back to the level of those other guys,” Sanders said.
Don Muret can be reached at dmuret@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @breakground.
