With facility development costs soaring to historic levels and the appetite for public sector financing winnowing rapidly, the industry is taking a hard look at more radical reconsiderations of the very nature of sports facilities. A panel discussion on buildings of the future at the ’17 AXS Sports Facilities & Franchises Conference in Atlanta explored changes driven not only by finance but by technological innovation. “There’s going to come a day when you’re not able to afford a new NFL stadium, if we’re not already there,” said Dan Meis of MEIS Architects, referring in part to recent stadium development costs soaring past $2 billion, which he branded “not sustainable.” Because of that, Meis is among those exploring concepts such as temporary pop-up facilities, smaller structures, and building alongside hills and other topographies to reduce the need for steel infrastructure. “I’m a big believer that smaller is better,” said Meis, who has worked with the Chargers now playing in StubHub Center.
TECH CHANGES: Emerging technologies such as facial recognition, augmented reality and artificial intelligence are already being quickly incorporated into current facilities, and will make a deeper impact in future ones. The recent rise of subscription-based ticketing models, social gathering spaces, and in-game upgrades has also begun to erode the long-held notion of a traditional ticket for access to a fixed-location seat. “Maybe the future ticket doesn’t tie a fan to a specific seat location,” said Melanie Lenz, Rays Senior VP/Strategy & Development. “Maybe it’s something of a roving access model where you have different experiences at different points of a game. ... How do we disrupt the traditional linear seating model?” Along similar lines, several panelists predicted much more variance and choice in premium seating options, something already being seen in newer facilities such as SunTrust Park. “The days of a facility having 100 identical suites are coming to an end,” said Michael Holleman, Heery Int’l Senior VP. “It’s going to be a wide variety of sizes and concepts instead of one standard size.”
NOT A STADIUM: Future sports facilities will also be as focused on non-game day use as they are on the games themselves, if not more so. Again, mixed-use projects such as SunTrust Park and The Battery, and St. Louis’ Ballpark Village, are early examples of that emerging notion, but Lenz said in the Rays’ search to replace Tropicana Field, “We’re designing more for the 284 (non-game days in a year), with the 81 (home game days) following. It’s really about finding ways to interact with the Rays brand every day.”
QUICK HITS:
* Thanks to recent upgrades and tech enhancements, Phoenix Raceway President Bryan Sperber said the facility has bucked recent trends of fan aging in motorsports. “Our fan base is quite a bit younger than what you might expect, and what the television audience is,” he said.
* Facility afteruse is also becoming increasingly critical, and the panel cheered the recent conversion of Turner Field to a football stadium for Georgia State after the Braves left the venue. “We’re really designing a lot now for afteruse,” Holleman said. “It requires great bones to do a conversion like that, but this will continue to emerge.”
