Conventional wisdom has today’s top team executives focusing much of their time on such sexy topics as real estate development, startup investments, Wi-Fi networks and virtual reality. But let’s not forget that sports comes down to the doorway to doorway experience.
That point was hammered home on a panel of six team presidents at our recent Sports Facilities and Franchises Forum, held earlier this month in Santa Clara, Calif. When asked about today’s most common fan complaint, the executives echoed each other: traffic.
“The No. 1 complaint is still traffic and getting in and out of the stadium on time,” said Dolphins President and CEO Tom Garfinkel, who is investing a great deal of time and money on this after a study showed it was taking fans 90 minutes to get out after games.
I’m interested to see how successful Garfinkel is in attacking this issue by developing pedestrian tunnels and bridges, along with VIP lanes for premium customers, to expedite traffic flow at Sun Life Stadium.
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THE ROAD FROM LEVI’S TO AVAYA: Two new facilities perched just south of San Francisco were big hits among attendees of our conference. First, Levi’s Stadium is poised to enter year two, with two Grateful Dead shows later this month followed by a second full season of the 49ers and capped off by Super Bowl 50 in February. Niners President Jed York, who will miss the Dead shows, hopes that the team (a mediocre 4-4 at home last season) and fans begin to feel more at home in the facility. “It doesn’t quite feel like home,” he said. “We saw that last year with getting our fans acclimated to the building. … How does it work? How does it function? Are the things that we designed being used the way we thought they would be? Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t. So how do you adjust?” Among the adjustments will be misting stations so that fans get relief on the east side of the building that is in direct sun and resulted in complaints last year.
Meanwhile, COO Al Guido and VenueNext founder John Paul gave a compelling presentation on VenueNext, the in-stadium app that counts York and 49ers President Paraag Marathe as investors. In reviewing year one, Paul said, “We thought that video replays would be the centerpiece of the app, but maybe because of the two big boards in the building [it wasn’t]. But ticketing, wayfinding, and food and beverage were the killer ones.”
Guido agreed and said a focus going forward would be “how does the content change in the app.” He also is trying to formulize sponsorship opportunities within the app. “There are debates about what the mobile sponsorship looks like, and could it be more valuable than naming rights,” he said. “How valuable is that data in the future?”
Just six miles from Levi’s, Avaya Stadium also got great reviews from attendees, as the 18,000-seat facility feels much more intimate than its listed capacity while also offering incredibly clean sight lines. Nestled across the street from San Jose’s airport, the facility has a cool open green on one end that features a killer, standing-room outdoor bar — touted by the team as the world’s largest outdoor bar — with a direct view of the pitch. The stadium also includes green space for family entertaining and an area where food trucks line up on game days. Team owner Lew Wolff credited his son, Earthquakes managing partner Keith Wolff, with the concept of the outdoor bar, saying, “We didn’t anticipate the success of this feature. … Our concession business is very high.” At a cost of roughly $100 million, it’s easy to see how Avaya Stadium could be the model for other MLS clubs in the future.
Joe Manuele, Avaya’s senior vice president of global cloud services, also detailed the brand’s 10-year naming-rights deal at the facility valued at $20 million. “We moved our headquarters from New Jersey to Silicon Valley,” he said.
“Having a presence in the community was a big part of it. The other part of it was the way we incorporated it as a showcase for our customers. We’re a privately held company, 15,000 employees, $4.5 billion in sales. We’re not a small company, but we’re not a name brand, per se. So getting our name out there is a big thing. Creating a brand for Avaya is a big deal. It’s a combination of the [stadium] technology with the branding. Direct ROI for us is the hospitality associated with these events. If it helps close a $20 million deal, then naming rights isn’t a big deal.”
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Don’t look for a center-hung board in the Vikings’ new home.
Photo by: MINNESOTA VIKINGS
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I COULD SEE THE CITY LIGHTS: Attendees sat in on dynamic previews of two facilities a year out from opening: Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center and Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium.
Kings President Chris Granger can command a room, and his passion is evident when he outlines the vision of how the team’s $500 million arena and related development plan will change the city. “We saw this as an opportunity to redefine a city and redefine an entire region,” he said. “Something that showcases our values and how we live our lives. Something uniquely Sacramento.”
The open feel to the venue fits the team’s intention to create the world’s “first indoor/outdoor arena,” with a grand entrance 60 feet tall. “We are trying to blur the lines of sitting inside watching the game or sitting outside watching the game,” he said. “We are trying to create an inviting atmosphere with the doors open inviting you into the arena.”
That entrance opens up to 1.5 million square feet of retail development, an area the team hopes will become “the community fire pit of Sacramento,” Granger said. It’s all about creating an open feel rooted in bringing people together.
I’m sure the leaders of Sacramento already realize this, but in case they need to be reminded: Despite living in the region for only two years, Granger’s a very effective spokesman for your area, as many attendees remarked after his presentation how attractive the city looked from a livability and quality-of-life perspective.
Another venue that will change the dynamic of a downtown core is U.S. Bank Stadium, with the Vikings about 400 days away from opening their new $1 billion building. Similar to Sacramento’s project, the new Vikings facility touts an open/airy structure serving as a magnet for urban development. “There have been reports of up to $2 billion of development around the stadium since approval of the project,” team CMO Steve LaCroix said. “This area of the city has become the hot spot of Minneapolis.”
The stadium’s club areas offer a mix of traditional Minnesota wintertime coziness with a sofa/couch vibe that feels more like a Vegas casino. But don’t expect a continuation of the trend of a large center-hung scoreboard; the stadium will feature video boards situated low in the end zone. “We didn’t get into the arms race of scoreboard signage, as we wanted to preserve the views looking toward the city and maintain the look through the roof,” LaCroix said.
He presented at the conference the video shown to NFL owners during Minnesota’s successful bid to land the 2018 Super Bowl. It showed Minnesota brimming with an entertainment, culinary and fitness lifestyle and, again, left a positive mark on event attendees.
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QUICK HITS: I always learn something from San Francisco Giants President and CEO Larry Baer, one of the most connected and influential executives in sports. He talked about how the organization is big on “risk taking,” which was a mantra of Giants President Emeritus Peter Magowan. “Magowan said that if you have 100 decisions a week and you hit on 87 percent, you’re doing all right. But if you make four decisions a month and hit on all four, you’re letting a lot of opportunities pass by.” It’s clear by how out front the Giants have been in so many business areas that they don’t let many opportunities pass without testing them and trying them out. Baer’s risk-taking culture has obviously been critical to the team’s success. … I continue to watch the trend of teams investing in startups or new technology as a way to diversify their business. The 49ers did it with VenueNext, Sporting Kansas City did it with Sporting Innovations, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are in the same boat with their Accelerator program with ad agency R/GA. Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten was excited about the energy behind the incubator program that launched in April, with the plan to work with early-stage companies, offering funding in exchange for equity. “We thought the Dodgers brand would be a magnet for all of these early-stage companies, and it has turned out that way,” he said. “We’ve had hundreds of applications. … It’s a way for us to extend our brand into areas that go beyond the playing field or television or sponsorship.”
Abraham D. Madkour can be reached at amadkour@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
