SBJ Unpacks: Globe Life Field Ready For Fall Classic

Tonight in SBJ Unpacks: Highlights from Day 2 of the AXS Sports Facilities & Franchises and Ticketing Symposium.

Also:

• Rangers' Rob Matwick on Globe Life Field hosting World Series
• ASM Global's Bob Newman talks facility management in 2020
• What Michael Jordan brings to NASCAR
• ESPN's John Buccigross connects with NHL fans via Twitter contest
• Riot Games all-in on digital media value

GLOBE LIFE FIELD SET TO PLAY HOST TO FALL CLASSIC

• Rangers Exec VP/Business Operations Rob Matwick expressed confidence that the club is more than ready to host next month's Fall Classic at Globe Life Field, in addition to an NLDS series and the NLCS, at today's AXS Sports Facilities & Franchises and Ticketing Symposium.
  
  
• Matwick said having the new ballpark play host to over 50 graduations in the spring "allowed us to test some of the social distancing practices that we'll now hopefully be able to use here for the postseason, if we're able to get fans in the building."
  
  
• Matwick: "It allowed us to turn systems on. ... We had more than 100,000 people come through the ballpark for the graduations. We've had more than 20,000 come through on tour so far since July and the start of summer camp and the resumption of play. We've now been able to get players and the visiting teams in and out successfully. So I think it's all been cumulative over time, but it all started with those graduations." 
  
  
• Quick hits:
  
  
  • On how much of a priority was placed on communal spaces at Globe Life Field: "We like to say that baseball is an eating sport, where people try different foods throughout the course of a game, but we also give people the opportunity to get up, stretch your legs, and walk around. In this ballpark, just about every place you go in the building, you always maintain a view back to the field, which is critical."
    
    
  • On what's still to come with the Texas Live! development: "Obviously, COVID has slowed some things down, but by the end of this year, we will actually complete construction of a 1,500 car parking garage. ... That garage will accommodate guests of the Live! by Loews Hotel, but also hopefully in January, we will start construction on a new convention center, and a new 900-room hotel, to give us up to 1200 guest rooms at the two hotels across the street from one another."

ASM GLOBAL’S BOB NEWMAN ON WHAT’S NEXT FOR FACILITY MANAGMENT

• How facility management has dealt with the pandemic and where it goes next were the focus in a discussion with ASM Global CEO & President Bob Newman as part of the AXS Sports Facilities & Franchises and Ticketing Symposium.
  
  
• Newman said the company’s VenueShield reopening program that has been activated at ASM Global’s 325 venues was created to “provide confidence” to customers, tenants, athletes, performers and owners that it is a “great opportunity to come back and enjoy events.” But VenueShield is “not just about the first day” that a venue re-opens. “Let's create something that's a living organism, that continually evolves, traces that customer journey, the athlete journey,” Newman said. “Let's make sure that it's something that we can always adapt to geographies, to users, to types of events.”
  
  
• Newman noted some of the developments facility management companies are looking at include “more efficient entry access” and “more contactless touch points.” He mentioned Allegiant Stadium, an ASM Global managed venue, is “one of the first cashless venues in the world,” which can help to “decreases transaction time to increase customer satisfaction.”
  
  
• Factoring in social distancing in opening facilities back up has been “an evolving process, because every building is different,” per Newman. In the future, he could see concourses “designed differently with the social distancing thoughts in it.” But, if a COVID-19 vaccine is available and works, “the mandatory social distancing guidelines also may quickly dissipate.” Newman: “We have to be careful not to overreact, wait to see what science provides on the medical front, too.”
  
  
• Quick hits:
  
  
  • Newman, on the comfort level of people to return to venues and live events: “Ticket refund levels have been very low compared to what they could have been. To me, that's a great indicator that the consumer wants to come back, is willing to come back.”
    
    
  • Newman, on the positives for facilities management that could come out of the pandemic: “I really see this being like a bell curve of innovation that's going to drive our industry on the service side, and it'll start in the ticketing process all the way through post events. And the experience when you're onsite, I think will be enhanced beyond anyone's initial thoughts right now.”
    
     
     

NEWS YOU NEED FROM SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY

• During this crisis impacting the sports business, we want everyone to be up-to-date on the latest news and information. Sports Business Daily's section on the AXS Symposium today is free, outside the paywall, for the foreseeable future. Below are the headlines:
  
  
  • Sports Ticketing Execs Confident On Path Ahead Post-Pandemic
  • Looking At Long-Term Changes The Pandemic Will Bring To Ticketing
  • AEG's Todd Goldstein Optimistic '21 Will Be Boon For Sports Industry
  • MLB Execs Navigating Unpredictable Premium Sales Market

MICHAEL JORDAN BRINGS NEXT-LEVEL STAR POWER TO NASCAR

• NASCAR drivers and media pundits alike touted Michael Jordan's decision to start a team with Denny Hamlin as a way to bring increased visibility to the circuit. 
  
  
  • NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace said Jordan "will give NASCAR a much-needed boost in the right direction." He added, "NASCAR got incredibly lucky here. We've had quarterbacks from the NFL try this before, but this is different. You know, this is the most famous athlete in modern time in the United States."
    
    
  • FS1's Shannon Sharpe: "This is not just anybody, this is Michael Jordan, arguably still one of the most recognizable faces and names in all the world. This is a very good look for NASCAR."
    
    
  • The Athletic's Frank Isola, appearing on ESPN's "Around the Horn," said, "It's a win-win all the way around for NASCAR. You put that Jumpman logo on the car, good for everybody."
    
    
  • ESPN's Tony Kornhesier: "This is wonderful if Jordan wants to get involved. I don't know how you make money in NASCAR, but if there's a way to make money maybe he's going to make money, and I think Black ownership in sports on all levels is good."

ESPN'S BUCCIGROSS CONNECTS WITH FANS VIA TWITTER CONTEST

• ESPN "SportsCenter" anchor John Buccigross and his Twitter contest dubbed #BucciOvertimeChallenge has become synonymous with the NHL playoffs for nearly the past decade, writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. What started off years ago as a gimmicky $1 a game friendly wager between colleagues Barry Melrose and Ray Ferraro on the ESPN2 set of "NHL 2Night" has now morphed into a nightly trending topic on Twitter. 
  
  
• Buccigross: “Playoff overtime hockey might be the best thing in all of sports watching on TV. Every shot is a buzzer beater. Every shot is a ball in the air when the buzzer sounds. At some point, it’s going to go in. It’s the field goal being kicked. It’s the long fly ball when the home team is batting in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth. You get that over and over. That’s what makes it so exhilarating.”
  
  
• Buccigross said that the Twitter phenomenon -- which simply features hockey fans picking one player per team to score the OT game-winner and including the hashtag -- has had staying power that the 24-year ESPN employee didn’t originally anticipate. Over the past month, there’s been more than 101,000 engagements with the #BucciOvertimeChallenge hashtag on Twitter, according to data provided by Zoomph. The reach has eclipsed 6.7 million users during that same time period. “I’m still surprised it has some legs,” said Buccigross. “It still trends. I thought it would fade away. It’s almost like some nostalgia for people.”
  
  
• Buccigross picks a handful of correct guesses on any given night, retweets the accounts and sends the winners branded merchandise. Over the years, more than $220,000 has also been donated to various hockey and non-hockey charities through the sale of #BucciOvertimeChallenge merchandise. Buccigross: “(The Twitter contest) heightens your viewing situation of the game. It’s like a scratch ticket. You’re following along and it adds to your enjoyment.”

STRONG DIGITAL FOCUS HELPING RIOT SHIFT FOR LOL WORLDS

• Without fans in the stands, many traditional sports have been forced to have tough conversations on make-goods with sponsors, but Riot Games is benefiting from the digital media value it was already set up to deliver for its partners, SBJ's Adam Stern writes. 
  
  
• The game publisher's League of Legends property is starting its annual World Championships this week in Shanghai, but the event will be greatly scaled down from original ambitions. While Riot is still working on having a limited crowd for the final, early rounds will have neither fans nor on-site experiential activation. Riot in the spring unveiled its in-game Summoner’s Rift Arena Banners, and now it can use those new digital assets to help get sponsors the best value possible.
  
  
• Naz Aletaha, Riot Games head of global esports partnerships & business development, tells SBJ Esports that the company has largely been able to add more digital assets to partners’ pre-existing deals to make up for some of the missed in-person assets. That’s due in large part to the global digital viewership for Worlds being so significant.
  
  
• “For us, so much of the value of working with us is actually already delivered through the digital side of those rights and benefits,” Aletaha said. “That’s not to say I would discount the importance of live-event attendees and wanting to create some really awesome and compelling experiential activations, but what we ended up going with this year is doubling down on the digital aspect of the sport, broadcast and event.”

SPEED READS

• The landscape of Twitch has changed dramatically this year, writes TEO's Trent Murray. Many of the biggest names in streaming are moving away from playing a single competitive game to becoming adept at multiple titles. In the last week, the most popular game to watch on Twitch -- by a wide margin -- was an obscure game called Among Us. The game has no esports component, but has captured viewers in droves because it forces the most-popular Twitch streamers to play one another, regardless of their game specialty. It creates drama akin to reality TV shows.
  
  
• TBS’ MLB postseason studio show will have a new look, as Ernie Johnson and Curtis Granderson "are in," while Casey Stern and Gary Sheffield "are out," according to sources cited by the N.Y. Post. Pedro Martinez and Jimmy Rollins will "return to the pre-game and join Johnson and Granderson, who made some guest appearances for TBS last year."
  
  
• MLB today named the Atlantic League its first “Partner League.” The league will meet regularly with MLB to discuss joint marketing and promotional opportunities, including the leagues’ shared goal of providing baseball to communities throughout the U.S..  
  
  
• The Padres have "won the opportunity to turn four city blocks, currently used as a Petco Park parking lot, into an urban square." San Diego officials this afternoon announced that the Padres and their development partners, Tishman Speyer and Ascendant Capital Partners, were picked to "redevelop the 5.25-acre plot of land known as Tailgate Park."  The winning group’s $1.4 billion project proposal "seeks to refashion the asphalt area" into a "commercial office hub."
  
  
• The Int'l Swimming League has chosen to host its 2020 season in a single location with a condensed 5-week schedule starting Oct. 16. Duna Arena in Budapest will serve as the venue.

• The Drone Racing League today announced the 2020 DRL Allianz World Championship Season and their first-ever Drone Racing League Simulator on Xbox. The season will challenge a dozen elite pilots through 16 races, premiering on Wednesday, Oct. 21 on NBCSN, Twitter, and Facebook Watch.

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our SBJ Unpacks podcasts:
  
  
  • SBJ's Adam Stern joins Bill King to talk Michael Jordan’s foray into motorsports and much more.
    
    
  • Austin FC President Andy Loughnane on the expansion club readying itself -- amid this global pandemic -- for MLS play in 2021.
    
    
  • Dan Mannix on how CSM has navigated the pandemic, his decision to step down from his full-time role as the agency's CEO and more.
      
    

Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.