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At All-Star Game, Spectra will show MLS clubs what’s cooking

Don Muret
Spectra Food Services & Hospitality is positioning Thursday’s MLS All-Star Game at Avaya Stadium as a showcase for new business opportunities across the league.

MLS has experienced tremendous growth in facility development — nine new stadiums have been built over the past decade, including the retrofit of Providence Park, the old minor league ballpark converted for the Portland Timbers. Another growth spurt is expected over the next several years. As many as eight new MLS stadiums may be constructed, a number that includes current MLS teams, two USL teams targeting a move up to MLS, and potential MLS expansion teams in Detroit and Miami.

Avaya Stadium’s scoreboard bar will be busy as always for the MLS All-Star Game.
Photo by: CASEY VALENTINE
Officials with Spectra, the Comcast Spectacor subsidiary that runs the food service at Avaya Stadium, recognize the trend and hope to make a positive impression on team owners making the trip to San Jose.

As a result, Spectra plans to bring in seven chefs from Oakland Coliseum and Raley Field, the Class AAA ballpark in Sacramento, plus additional support staff of 140 from the 15 California venues where the company runs concessions.

All told, between managers and employees, Spectra will use 375 game-day workers for the All-Star Game, double the number for a typical Earthquakes game, said Jay Satenspiel, Spectra vice president.

The food and drink menu will be upgraded for the All-Star Game with a farm-to-fork program using local ranchers and wines from Sonoma and Napa Valley, Satenspiel said.

“It’s not just an opportunity to show off our client, but to show to the rest of the league what Spectra brings to a soccer stadium,” Satenspiel said.

Elsewhere, Spectra runs the food at Talen Energy Stadium, home of the Philadelphia Union. Next year, the company adds Camping World Stadium, Orlando City’s new $155 million facility, to its portfolio.

> WIPED CLEAN: Hunt Construction Group teamed with Turner Construction to win the job to build the Los Angeles Rams’ $2.5 billion stadium, but you wouldn’t know it from reading the Rams’ official news release.

Turner/Hunt officially formed a licensed joint venture in California to compete for the project, but Hunt’s name was nowhere to be seen in the July 14 release. Instead, “Turner/AECOM” is mentioned repeatedly as the partnership capturing the job, including the headline and a quote attributed to Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ chief operating officer and executive vice president of football operations.

It could have something to do with the Los Angeles market. AECOM, a global design and engineering firm that acquired Hunt Construction Group in 2014, has its headquarters in L.A., but the two entities operate independently. Mostly.

Jon Niemuth, AECOM’s director of sports in the Americas, would not comment on the decision to not include the Hunt brand in the release despite its position as a leading builder of NFL stadiums.

“Very happy our team was eventually selected — that’s a huge project win for Turner/Hunt,” Niemuth said by email.

For the record, the hardhats worn by stadium construction workers in Inglewood will carry the Turner/Hunt brands, Hunt officials said.

> MOVES: Steve Zito left Andy Frain Services in a move that was completed in late 2015, confirmed Dane Vontobel, executive vice president and owner of the crowd management company. Zito had been the firm’s president since 2010 after spending more than 25 years as a facility manager. … Sports architect Scott Capstack has joined Populous after a 10-year run at HNTB, which included designing Levi’s Stadium. … Robert Rayborn is now with general contractor Tutor Perini after serving as project manager for the Orlando Magic’s mixed-use development since July 2014. Rayborn was with Turner Construction and was the firm’s project manager for Levi’s Stadium.

Don Muret can be reached at dmuret@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @breakground.

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