With still five months to go before Super Bowl 50, the NFL has already sold out 70 percent of its corporate hospitality packages for the title game.
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PYNE
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That’s twice the amount that had been sold at this time last year, when just over one-third of the packages had been sold for Super Bowl XLIX in Arizona, underscoring the strong demand for this season’s game in Santa Clara, Calif.
“Interest is really off the charts,” said George Pyne, founder of Bruin Sports Capital, which together with RedBird Capital Partners owns a 10-year license to operate the NFL’s big-event hospitality business, known as NFL On Location. “We are very pleased with the business performance.”
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Seats on the 50-yard-line at Levi’s Stadium are part of Super Bowl corporate hospitality packages for the first time.
Photo by: AP IMAGES
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Business is good enough that Pyne and his partner at RedBird, Gerry Cardinale, are now in the market for a CEO of On Location. They hired recruitment firm James & Co. to fill the new position.
On Location has six employees spread across an office in White Plains, N.Y., and in the NFL headquarters in New York City.
When Bruin and RedBird acquired the license from the NFL in March, On Location, which the league launched a decade ago, had about $20 million annually in cash flow. That looks to grow as its product mix expands.
For the first time, On Location this year is offering up to 1,000 customizable hospitality parties within the security perimeter of the Super Bowl for groups as small as a few dozen to as large as 250. To date, the only hospitality party within the security perimeter has been the NFL Tailgate, which draws thousands of people. For corporations wanting to throw parties in the past, the only option has been to hold the events elsewhere in the game’s host city, though some league sponsors have had events just outside the security perimeter.
“We have a healthy supply of customizable options for Super Bowl 50 inside the security perimeter,” Pyne said.
In total, with the new offerings, On Location is selling up to 7,000 packages for this season’s game. Most of these include tickets to the game, a hotel room, airfare, and perhaps a special event in San Francisco. Prices vary and can range from four to five figures, or even higher.
On Location also for the first time has 50-yard-line seats in its inventory for the Super Bowl, Pyne said. Of those 1,000 midfield seats, On Location has already sold 60 percent of them. The tickets are not being sold stand-alone but in packages.
On Location additionally is offering car service in the buyer’s home city to the airport to travel to the game, so the NFL literally can offer door-to-door service for Super Bowl 50. That, too, is a first for the company.
As part of the license agreement to operate On Location, the NFL has invested in a holding company started by Bruin and RedBird. That company is expected to bid on other sports leagues’ business, though for now, On Location is the only subsidiary.
In addition to the Super Bowl, On Location offers hospitality packages for the NFL draft, the Pro Bowl and the league’s International Series games.
“The mandate from the 32 [NFL team] owners is take the base business, recapitalize it and find a way to evolve and justify it as a stand-alone business,” Pyne said.
