Kroenke Sports & Entertainment launches
Club Lexus this fall at
Pepsi Center, which joins the arena’s 2-year-old theater boxes as an all-inclusive premium-seat product.
The project, at a cost surpassing $10 million and funded by the organization, covers the 11,000-square-foot club, built on the event level at the arena’s stage end and extends to a new 12,000-square-foot storage facility/player parking garage next to the club.
A need to fill a gap in Pepsi Center’s premium offerings, as revealed in a survey of premium-seat holders and local C-level executives, drove the creation of Club Lexus, said David Burke, Kroenke Sports’ senior vice president and chief ticketing officer for the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets.
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A total of 396 seats in Pepsi Center will be tied to the new club.
Photo by: COURTESY OF KROENKE SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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The arena has suites, club seats and theater boxes, part of a retrofit completed for the 2014-15 season. But until now, there has been no all-inclusive package for those paying the highest ticket prices. Nuggets courtside seat holders, for example, received in-seat service only, a separate fee from their ticket price.
For the Nuggets, the 396 seats tied to the new club are in the first three rows along the sidelines and the baselines, priced at $375 to $1,500 a game. Kroenke Sports is redoing the courtside seats with all new cushioned chairs bearing the Lexus logo.
The Avs, meanwhile, charge $210 to $300 a game for Club Lexus patrons sitting along the glass and in the first seven rows behind both team benches, for a total of 360 seats.
Those ticket prices cover food and unlimited beer and wine. Hard liquor is a separate fee.
Stan Kroenke, owner of both teams under the umbrella of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, had been targeting the concept for a few years, Burke said. Kroenke Sports met with officials from both franchises and together they developed a plan for Club Lexus to generate incremental revenue of $1 million a year for each of the two teams.
The company is well on its way to hitting those figures. As of early September, Club Lexus was 90 percent sold for both teams, distributed among the 396 seats for Nuggets games and 360 seats for Avalanche games, Burke said.
Within Club Lexus is a smaller Owners Club, a “club within a club,” reserved mostly for team ownership and VIPs. For Nuggets games, there is no additional charge for those sitting center court and in the first row on the floor. For Avs games, it’s a $100 upcharge to gain access to the smaller club. In return, Owners Club attendees get valet parking and concierge services.
Kroenke Sports modeled its owners club after similar exclusive spaces at Madison Square Garden, Verizon Center and Amway Center, Burke said.
Lexus, a familiar sponsor of premium levels at sports facilities, upgraded from a small media deal to a new three-year agreement covering naming rights to the new club, valued at seven figures annually, sources said.
In return, the luxury automaker receives vehicle displays in the lobby entrance, meet-and-greet sessions with players and coaches and the opportunity to host events at Pepsi Center for its clients.
Sink Combs Dethlefs designed Club Lexus in tandem with Dimensional Innovations, which planned the interior spaces. Turner Construction is the general contractor.
Pepsi Center’s premium food provider, Levy Restaurants, will operate the club. It’s on schedule to debut Oct. 15 for the Avs’ regular-season home opener.
> PRIME ACQUISITION: Premium hospitality firm PrimeSport has acquired CID Entertainment, a provider of VIP ticket packages for music festivals, concerts and theatrical shows. The purchase price was not disclosed.
PrimeSport officials said the desire to develop one company that offers hospitality and ticket resources for all types of live entertainment drove the purchase.
Dan Berkowitz, former tour manager for the Disco Biscuits, founded CID Entertainment in 2007. The Philadelphia firm has 90 employees. Its clients include Bonnaroo, Coachella, Lockn’, Peach Music Festival and Christmas Jam.
Don Muret can be reached at dmuret@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @breakground.
