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Carrier’s
Ad Space At Ford Drives Deal At Montage Mountain Ballparks Now Making Sales Through Use Of Cells Tess Fesses On How Theater Managers Manage |
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Carrier’s
Ad Space At Facilities Cleared For Take Off
Ford Drives Deal
Ballparks Now
Making Sales It seems that the use of
cellular telephones knows no boundaries. More and more baseball parks are
now allowing fans to use their cell phones to place orders for ballpark
fare, whether it be food or merchandise. From their seats, fans can phone in
their location and whether they want some hot dogs or the latest team
paraphernalia. Within minutes the delivery is made to the seat location,
saving fans from missing any of the game action. Allied member Dial4snax
says that in the near future its U.S. patent and two pending U.S. and 26
international patents will enable it to become the sole provider of
spectators’ in-seat services via cellphones and other wireless devices
throughout the world.
Tess Fesses On How Theater Managers Manage
U.S. Steel has bought the
naming rights for the new 6,000-seat, $45 million minor league baseball
stadium in Gary, IN, that opened in June. Under a 10-year agreement, the
home of the Gary Southshore RailCats will be called The Steel Yard.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
How Long Will It Remain Ravens Stadium? Nevermore
The new Rexall Centre, due to
be completed for the men’s 2004 Tennis Masters Canada, is named after Katz
Group Canada’s private label brand. The company is the largest pharmacy
retail network in Canada. The facility will be built on the York University
campus and will feature a 12,500-seat stadium court, show courts with
seating and amenities, and the Rexall Sports Nutrition Centre. In addition,
the facility will provide year-round training facilities, community
programming and will be the home of the Ontario Tennis Association and
Tennis Canada. |
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© 2003
International Association of Assembly Managers |
American
Airlines Inc. is renegotiating its naming-rights deals at sports arenas in
Dallas and Miami as part of its effort to cut costs. The company is selling
back advertising space at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, where it
signed a $195 million, 30-year naming-rights deal in 1998 that costs it $6.5
million a year. Also, the Fort Worth-based company is negotiating a similar
deal with the American Airlines Arena in Miami. The company has a 20-year,
$42 million deal with that arena. The naming-rights renegotiations are part
of $175 million in concession agreements with more than 100 suppliers,
aircraft lessors and other creditors the airline announced May 15. American
has already cut $4 billion in costs through negotiations with its labor
force, cutting back on some services and aircraft deliveries and other
actions.
So
maybe you can’t move mountains, but at least you can move the name attached
to the mountain. Known before as the Montage Mountain Amphitheater near
Scranton, PA, the facility is now the Ford Pavilion at Montage Mountain.
Besides the new naming rights deal, the Clear Channel Entertainment venue is
adding a pedestrian walkway that will ease congestion where there was
previously a single entrance and exit. To make sure those pedestrian
walkways fill up, kids under 12 will get in free with their parents when
adults buy a lawn seat ticket for selected concerts.
HKS,
Inc., a Dallas-based architectural firm, in association with Streeter &
Associates Architects headquartered in Seattle, was selected to design the
new multi-purpose arena for the University of Oregon. The new facility,
estimated at $100 million, will include up to 16,000 seats with 1,000 club
seats, 2,700 donor seats and 20 suites. The facility, which will begin
construction in late 2004, replaces the University of Oregon’s nostalgic
McArthur Court. Mac Court, built in 1926, is the second oldest on-campus
basketball arena in Division I and is filled with great traditions and
moments in Oregon sports history. “HKS will focus on transferring these
special features into a modern facility with all of the amenities expected
from an entertainment venue,” said Mark Williams, AIA, project manager of
HKS.
Tess
Collins has worked for the Shorenstein-Hays Nederlander organization in
theater management for more than 20 years and has transferred that
experience into a new book entitled, How Theater Managers Manage. The book
brings together the stories, beliefs and experiences of seasoned theater
managers. Through them, a portrait and a concept emerge depicting what they
have unknowingly practiced throughout their careers—managerial imagination.
Designed to be a stepping stone for new theater managers, the book covers a
wide variety of topics including budgeting theater costs, gross potentials
and ticket prices, show contracts, settlements and emergency and security
procedures. For more information on the book available at
Finally, a
naming rights deal that literally carries a lot of bark behind it. The San
Diego Padres might want to look at changing their Spanish-named mascot to
the San Diego Perros (that would be Spanish for “dog”) after a deal was
signed for the team’s new stadium to be named Petco Park. The 22-year deal
signed between the team and Petco Animal Supplies Inc. takes effect when the
$294 million stadium opens for the 2004 season. And should the team fall out
of playoff contention rather early in the season, at least the Padres can
give real meaning to playing in the “dog days” of August.
A
radar-based device that can identify people by the way they walk is being
developed by the Pentagon for use in a new anti-terrorist surveillance
system. Operating on the theory that an individual’s walk is as unique as a
signature, the Pentagon has financed a Georgia Institute of Technology
research project that has been 80 percent to 95 percent successful in
identifying people. If the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency orders
a prototype, the individual “gait signatures” of people could become part of
the data to be linked in a vast surveillance system the Pentagon agency
calls Total Information Awareness. At a restricted facility, the technology
could warn security officers that an approaching person was probably not an
employee by comparing his gait with those on file.
The
International Facility Management Association released some findings to a
rather unusual survey dealing with the top 10 office complaints. The top two
complaints were “It’s too cold” and “It’s too hot,” findings that also were
the top two when the association conducted surveys in 1991 and 1997. The
2003 Corporate Facility Monitor survey was conducted in early May with the
largest percentage of respondents managing facilities where more than 100
employees work. But lest you think the results dealt only with room
temperatures, some of the, uh, different beefs from respondents included,
“The elevators make my computer screen wave and I get seasick,” and “The
arms on my task chair are giving me breast cancer.” Upon review, maybe it’s
the employees with too much time on their hands.
Well,
Ravens Stadium did not last long. The latest naming rights deal takes place
in Baltimore, where the former PSINet Stadium that hosted the Ravens is now
known as M&T Bank Stadium. PSINet was the original owner of the naming
rights when the 68,915-seat stadium opened in 1998, but the Internet
provider company went bankrupt in 2002. M&T Bank, based in Buffalo, NY,
swooped in on the new deal, a contract that is worth $75 million and covers
15 years with annual payments of $5 million.
And
now it has come to calls going out on how to save the Houston Astrodome. The
38-year-old “Eighth Wonder of the World” has been reduced to a venue that
hosts occasional high school football or baseball games or motorcross and
costs taxpayers about $1.5 million a year to keep cooled, lit and
maintained. The facility landlords have reacted by sending out a Request for
Proposal for those with ideas for usage of the Astrodome. The deadline for
proposals is August 8, and though the request is open to ideas for the
stadium’s redevelopment, there are limits. One idea being floated is to
build a hotel inside the stadium along with small concert halls and a horse
arena.
The
historic Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA, continues to be a hot topic of
conversation and destination for a potential National Football League team.
The 81-year-old stadium, home to the Rose Bowl game known as the “granddaddy
of them all,” presently seats 92,000, but that number will drop to about
60,000 as part of a reconfiguration that will add corporate boxes and better
parking facilities. Despite the planned redesign, officials have steadfastly
maintained that the “elliptical” shape will remain intact. The greater Los
Angeles area has not had a team to call its own since the Rams and Raiders
both relocated after the 1994 season.