On Location reshapes big game experiences

Upward of 50,000 people will pass through the gates of NFL-licensed parties and concerts this week in Houston, marking the first year of a dramatic change to a hospitality model that gives the league an unprecedented level of control and oversight.

On Location Experiences, the NFL’s official hospitality partner, is hosting multiple major entertainment events over four days at six venues, all at a premium price.

The new structure is sure to be followed closely by other major sports events. In years past, independent promoters and ticket brokers largely put on the shows and sold hospitality packages. But this year the NFL spinoff has its fingerprints on everything from game-day tailgating to the shows leading up to Super Bowl LI.

On game day alone, On Location expects more than 13,000 fans — almost a fifth of the entire Super Bowl crowd — to attend its three major tailgate parties on the grounds of NRG Stadium. Another 4,000 are expected for brunches and parties being thrown for family and friends of the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots.

Renderings of Club Nomadic show the three-level concert venue inside and the exterior of the modular, traveling structure. Photo by: ON LOCATION EXPERIENCES

On the Thursday prior to Super Bowl LI, On Location will crank up its brand of high-end entertainment with shows featuring A-listers such as Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars, who will be playing in its customized traveling space, Club Nomadic.

By packaging some of the best tickets in NRG Stadium, including some near the 50-yard line, with lavish parties and concerts, On Location has been charging from $6,000 to more than $12,000 per person for its hospitality packages.

Prices vary based on the location of the seat and the number of add-on events purchased. Flights and hotel are extra.

On Location has an allotment of 9,500 tickets to work with, up from 3,000 last year when it first started working with the league.

“We’re trying to bring a sense of order to a marketplace that’s been dominated by brokers,” said John Collins, a former NFL and NHL executive who is now CEO at On Location. “It’s a process of trying to change behaviors.”

On Location is owned by RedBird Capital Partners, Bruin Sports Capital, 32 Equity (the entity that oversees the NFL’s private equity efforts) and Jon Bon Jovi. The experiential hospitality company, established in April 2015, is bringing all of its resources to bear this week in Houston.

Collins engineered the acquisition of three companies last year, Kreate Inc., Nomadic Entertainment and Anthony Travel. Kreate is producing the on-site tailgate events, while Jack Murphy’s Nomadic is behind the construction and programming for Club Nomadic in Houston. Anthony Travel is working with teams and fans to get them to Houston. Another major event producer, Ricky Kirshner, went into business with On Location last year as part of a joint venture. Kirshner Events produces the halftime show.

On Location’s Don Renzulli, the executive vice president for events who is an ex-NFL and NHL executive like Collins, has been running point on the ground in Houston.

All of On Location’s game-day tailgate parties will be held either at the stadium or inside the NRG Center across the street. The primary benefit for both NRG sites is that they’ll be within the security perimeter for the game, meaning fans will go through security once when they enter the tailgate party and then be able to go straight into the stadium.

Kreate, the live event production agency based in Los Angeles, is managing and setting up all of the tailgate parties.

The most elite party will be in Stadium Club, which transformed a 17,000-square-foot storage space into a high-end club space with food from Chris Shepherd, a James Beard Award-winning chef. Shepherd owns Underbelly, a popular Houston restaurant that cooks up everything from barbecue to grilled flatiron steak with Coca-Cola pickled onions.

Only 1,000 packages were sold into Stadium Club and they sold out quickly. One of the most attractive features in Stadium Club is that fans can go onto the field for the postgame trophy presentation and then return to the club for dessert.

Stadium Club, since it is inside the stadium, requires patrons to walk only about 50 feet to get inside the bowl.

“Being able to go onto the field after the game is a real bucket list item,” said Sean Connolly, who founded Kreate nine years ago after a long run at Party Planners West. “Our focus is on doing everything better and at the same time doing it at a much greater size and scale.”

Also on game day, Kreate will oversee Champions Club, a massive 225,000-square-foot space in the NRG Center that can accommodate up to 8,000 people.

Champions Club will be an entertainment hub in the three hours leading up to the game with artists Lady Antebellum, O.A.R. and Tyler Farr performing.

The space will be a mix of corporate clients like Bud Light, Fox, DirecTV and the host committee partying on one raised deck, and individual ticket buyers on a separate surface.

Killen’s Barbecue in suburban Pearland, Texas, and Aramark, which oversees the food for NRG venues, will provide and coordinate food, while a 53-foot bar is being constructed to serve drinks. These packages include food and drink.

Next door in NRG Center, the 100,000-square-foot Touchdown Club will cater mostly to fans of the two teams and provide more of a pep rally atmosphere for up to 4,000 people. Packages that include Champions Club and Touchdown Club were still available last week.

The three separate tailgate spaces combined will host around 13,000 people on game day, accounting for On Location’s allotment of 9,500 tickets, plus tickets that come through corporate channels.

On Location is expecting another 25,000 or so fans over three nights of concerts at Club Nomadic, the 62,500-square-foot traveling concert space and nightclub that tours the country with big events.

The crowd at Nomadic will feature individual ticket buyers, corporate clients and other fans who bought a ticket package and added on Nomadic. AT&T/DirecTV, EA Sports and PepsiCo sponsor the three shows, with each sponsor taking the lead on one of the nights.

Murphy’s team began construction of Nomadic on a vacant lot in Houston in early December. The modular structure enables Nomadic to tear down the club and rebuild it in other cities.

On Location also is managing and programming hospitality houses for the Texans and the host committee.