By stadiumbusiness.com

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United, has claimed a first for a professional sports stadium after it was awarded Total Resource Use and Efficiency (TRUE) precertification for its zero waste efforts.

TRUE precertification is administered by Green Business Certification Inc (GBCI) and recognizes buildings and projects which have implemented the foundational programs and policies needed to effectively pursue zero waste.

Since March, Mercedes-Benz Stadium has diverted over 90% of accumulated waste from landfill at all major events, including five Atlanta United matches and concerts from Kenny Chesney and Coldplay.

The stadium employs various green practices and programs, which allow it to achieve zero waste status on event day and in the building’s administrative offices. Initiatives have included recyclable and compostable supply-chain items and leveraging a 6,000-square-foot resource recovery room to reclaim, sort and divert materials from landfill.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium has also launched sustainability education and engagement programs for fans, associates, and food and beverage partners, while it has pledged to fit recycling and compost bins at every stadium suite by August.

Dietmar Exler, chief operating officer at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, said: “We are excited to announce that we have earned TRUE precertification, which is a major milestone on our journey to becoming a fully certified zero waste facility.

“Since construction, Mercedes-Benz Stadium has been committed to creating a sustainable environment both in and around the stadium to reduce our overall environmental footprint. This is just the next step in our overall journey.”

In 2017, Mercedes-Benz Stadium became the first professional sports venue in North America to achieve the highest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System certification.

The stadium also employs water retention, energy conservation, alternative transportation, urban garden and agriculture programs. The venue works with partners Coca-Cola, Georgia Power, Novelis, Phade, and Waste Management to further enhance its efforts.

While Mercedes-Benz Stadium is the first stadium to achieve the TRUE certification, it is not the first venue overall. State Farm Arena, home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, achieved this in April.

In 2019, State Farm Arena diverted only an average of 10% of its total waste but since May 2021, the venue has consistently diverted a minimum of 90% of fan-generated waste from landfills.

FIFA has decided on the 16 cities that will host the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, with President Gianni Infantino outlining the goal that by the time of the tournament football will be “the No. 1 sport” across North America.

The announcement on June 16 in New York concluded a process which first started during the bidding stages for the national team showpiece with 44 cities and 49 stadia across the three countries.

It has now been decided that the first edition of the World Cup to feature 48 teams will take in the following cities and venues:

United States

Atlanta (Mercedes-Benz Stadium)
Boston (Gillette Stadium)
Dallas (AT&T Stadium)
Houston (NRG Stadium)
Kansas City (Arrowhead Stadium)
Los Angeles (SoFi Stadium)
Miami (Hard Rock Stadium)
New York/New Jersey (MetLife Stadium)
Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field)
San Francisco Bay Area (Levi’s Stadium)
Seattle (Lumen Field)

Mexico

Guadalajara (Estadio Akron)
Mexico City (Estadio Azteca)
Monterrey (Estadio BBVA Bancomer)

Canada

Toronto (BMO Field)
Vancouver (BC Place)

Estadio Azteca will create history as the first stadium to be part of three World Cups, having been the focal point of Mexico’s staging of the 1970 and 1986 World Cups.

Vancouver has made the cut having only been added to the list of potential host cities in April. Vancouver became the third Canadian city in the running, alongside Toronto and Edmonton, with Montreal having withdrawn from the process in July 2021. Vancouver, Canada’s third largest city by population, initially declined to apply in 2018 to host any 2026 games because of uncertainty about cost and FIFA being able to change the venue agreement without consultation.

The ‘United 2026’ bid landed the World Cup in June 2018, having seen off competition from Morocco, receiving 134 votes to the African nation’s 65. At that time, the United 2026 bid featured 23 stadia across 23 candidate host cities.

“It’s a historic day for U.S. Soccer and the entire American soccer community, from every corner of our grassroots all the way to the pros and our national teams,” said U.S. Soccer president, Cindy Parlow Cone, after the announcement. “Together with our good friends in Canada and Mexico, we couldn’t be more excited to work with FIFA to host what we think will be the greatest World Cup in history.”

Yon de Luisa, president of the Mexican Football Federation (FMF), commented: “Having a World Cup in Mexican lands will also allow us to give greater strength to Nuestro Fútbol and to inspire more followers of the Mexican national team, which will return to experience in 2026, after 40 years, the biggest event of our sport.”

Nick Bontis, Canada Soccer president, added: “The competition for venue selection was the most robust in FIFA’s history. Today’s success is a testament to the cities, provinces, and federal government’s commitment and dedication in pursuit of hosting the most prestigious single sporting event in the world.”

Infantino said FIFA is looking forward to working with the host cities to deliver what he said will be an “unprecedented FIFA World Cup and a game-changer as we strive to make football truly global”.

“By 2026, soccer — or futbol — will be the No. 1 sport in this part of the world,” he added, according to the Associated Press. “You (North America) are leading the world in many areas. The objective must be that you will be leading the world, as well, in the world’s No. 1 sport.”

By Maggie Yu

The Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Industry Association (“HKECIA”) successfully held the annual conference on 1 June to update members of the latest industry information and trends.

The physical conference was hosted at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and was attended by over 130 members and non-members. Aiming to update members and industry players of the latest industry trends and government’s plan to support tourism recovery, the conference opened with speeches from Edward Yau, GBS, JP, the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, and Stuart Bailey, the newly re-elected Chairman of HKECIA, followed by a presentation by Dane Cheng, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) to share the up-to-date global tourism market outlook, HKTB’s overall strategy for the convention and exhibition industry, and plans for tourism recovery.

Conference participants were interested in the analysis of Hong Kong’s exhibition industry from the global and regional’s perspectives presented by George Leung, CEO of Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. Leung also shared insights on how Hong Kong’s exhibition industry could tap into the opportunities in the Greater Bay Area, under the Mainland’s National 14th Five-Year Plan and could work together with local business community to lobby for the roadmap of enabling international business travelers to travel without restrictions.

The conference also covered the hottest topic of what NFTs are and how could NFTs be applied to the convention and exhibition industry.

Another highlight of the conference is the panel discussion among venue operator, event organiser and contractor about the journey to sustainable exhibitions in Hong Kong.

The HKECIA also hosted its Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) on 1 June 2022, from which the new term of the Executive Committee was elected. The Chairman, Executive Vice Chairman, two Vice Chairmen, Honorary Treasurer, and Honorary Secretary were also appointed in the 1st Executive Committee Meeting following the AGM. Stuart Bailey is pleased to have been re-elected as the Chairman of the HKECIA for the fourth time.

At the AGM, members voted to rename the ‘Operations Subcommittee’ to become the Sustainability and Operations Subcommittee. This new sub-committee will be tasked with identifying and measuring initiatives which target the reduction of waste and the reusing of materials in stand construction. The new sub-committee will be working on an “HKECIA Sustainable Charter” in the coming year and which will invite members to sign as part of their commitment to being an agent for positive change.

Bailey commented that Hong Kong’s exhibition and convention industry has survived another challenging year, the fact that there are still a hundred companies represented by HKECIA is a testament to the resilience and belief that Hong Kong will continue to play an important role as the super-connector between the Mainland and the rest of the world.

He said, “There is a huge appetite for largescale international events to resume but we need to have a plan that, with reasonable certainty, shows the international business community that they can travel without restriction or disruption. Almost every other city in the region has already done away with mandatory quarantine periods, while Hong Kong, which now has achieved high immunity rates through vaccination and natural immunity, is still effectively isolated. We will continue to join other business associations and chambers of commerce to lobby the HKSAR government to lift these travel barriers.”

Maggie Yu is Senior Com Executive at Shenyang New World Expo (Management).

By ASM Global

As part of ASM Global’s new strategic convention and meeting space initiative, its U.S. Bank Stadium recently hosted VeeCon, the first-ever NFT-ticketed convention, launched by social media mogul Gary Vaynerchuk. Held May 19-22 in Minneapolis, the inaugural VeeCon, produced by VeeFriends, drew nearly 7,000 attendees from 47 states and 70 countries, of which 83% were first-time visitors to Minnesota, said VeeCon spokesperson Maha Abouelenein. VeeCon generated an economic impact of $21+ million in Minneapolis, according to calculations by VeeFriends.

As the world emerges from the global pandemic, ASM has seen pent-up demand at events produced at its portfolio of 350+ premier venues worldwide. “It’s more important than ever to gather communities together in person,” said Ron Bension, president and CEO of ASM Global, which manages 98 convention centers—including some of the largest and busiest U.S. venues such as McCormick Place, Moscone Center, and the Los Angeles Convention Center. “Hosting VeeCon offers U.S. Bank Stadium and ASM Global the opportunity to lead these large-scale events back to live. This launch event continues the upcoming business-meeting boom that we are seeing in Minneapolis and worldwide.”

In the last month alone, ASM Global venues have hosted several high-profile events, including the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago, Connect Marketplace in Puerto Rico, and the American Thoracic Society International Conference in San Francisco. Among the largest, the National Restaurant Association Show was held May 21-24 at McCormick Place in Chicago with 50,000 attendees and 1,200 exhibiting companies covering 600,000 net square feet.

“VeeFriends and VeeCon was the culmination of my business and creative passions; this made it special to me to see the first inaugural VeeCon come to fruition here in Minnesota,” said Vaynerchuk, CEO and creator of VeeFriends, an NFT project inspired by his desire to build a community around his creative and business endeavors using NFT technology. “I am so grateful to bring iconic figures together to meet the VeeFriends community and speak about topics I’ve been passionate about my whole life.”

U.S. Bank Stadium, home of NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, provided the perfect backdrop for the A-List speaker lineup that included best-selling authors and icons in business, music, art, Web3, sports, and popular culture. Speakers who attended the in-person event included filmmaker Spike Lee; actresses Mila Kunis and Eva Longoria; author Deepak Chopra and Mark Manson; Logan Paul; Liam Paine; music artists Pharrell and Snoop Dogg; and sports icons Ricky Williams, Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell, and Baron Davis, to name of few.

“We were honored to host the first major gathering of the VeeFriends community,” said John Drum Jr., general manager of U.S. Bank Stadium, which has been operated by ASM Global since its opening in July 2016. “There’s a ‘wow’ factor for attendees and first-time guests when they come into a venue like ours that has hosted Super Bowl LII and the 2019 NCAA Men’s Final Four. It was exciting to maximize the versatility of the stadium for a B2C event like this, and the VeeCon team took advantage of the unique space the venue offers.”

The stadium floor, which typically serves as a playing field, featured the main stage with 3,500 seats, four side stages for concurrent sessions, a five-stories tall Ferris wheel, a batting cage, lawn games, six food trucks, and more. VeeCon made use of the entire stadium, building incredible activations in the concourses while using the cabins and club suites to create unique experiences for attendees. The four-day event featured nightly entertainment with concert performances by Wyclef Jean, GARZI, Lian Faz, Immasoul, Lil Polo Tee, Fresco Trey, Miguel.

Since it was the first-ever NFT-ticketed event, venue staff were trained on how to verify access through the show app. According to VeeCon, 10,255 NFT tokens, which included access to VeeCon for three years, were purchased before the event. “The stadium has 5G connectivity, free public Wi-Fi capability throughout the venue, and we added additional antennae on the floor to supplement the existing infrastructure,” Drum said. “We are used to hosting large-scale events, like the Super Bowl in 2018, so we have the bandwidth to make sure the tech runs smoothly. VeeCon used the video boards and LED ribbon boards to enhance the main stage set.”

U.S. Bank Stadium and VeeCon worked closely with Meet Minneapolis to promote the event. “We were excited to welcome VeeCon attendees to Minneapolis. These large conventions play a vital role in supporting our tourism and hospitality industry,” said Melvin Tennant, CAE, president and CEO of Meet Minneapolis. “The value to our local community is supporting the tens of thousands of workers in our industry through the economic impact of visitor spending. In addition, we anticipate many of these first-time visitors to Minneapolis will return now that they have seen what our city has to offer. We’d like to thank the VeeCon team and our partners at U.S. Bank Stadium for their efforts in hosting this successful event.”

By R.V. Baugus

Andy Gorchov, General Manager of State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, gets to be the “home team” when VenueConnect rolls into Phoenix in just a month from now. In fact, as this newsletter reaches IAVM members it is in fact one month exactly when Gorchov will present the keynote address to the Stadiums Sector on July 21 from 11 am-11:45 am at the Phoenix Convention Center about a pair of, oh, fairly major events coming up at the stadium that is home to the Arizona Cardinals. We will get into that shortly as we get to know Andy a little better and what he will be speaking on at VenueConnect.

Share a little of your background and your current role at State Farm Stadium.

I serve as General Manager for ASM Global at State Farm Stadium where I am responsible for overseeing the day to day and event operations of the stadium and for booking all non-football events. Prior to joining State Farm Stadium, I spent 15 years with the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High including five years as stadium general manager. I started my career in college with SMG working at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena. I additionally served as SMG’s Director of Operations for Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio during pre-opening and the first full operating season. I also worked for CAA Icon, an industry leading owner’s representative and strategic management firm for public/private sports & entertainment facility owners and operators, where I served on the project team overseeing the renovation of Wrigley Field in Chicago. I am a native of Philadelphia with a degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

We understand you happen to have two of the biggest sporting events in the world coming up in 2024. What are those and how are things going early on in preparing for them?

State Farm Stadium will be hosting its third Super Bowl in February 2023 and its second NCAA Men’s Final Four Basketball Championship in 2024. Planning efforts are going well. Working in partnership with the NFL along with Arizona’s well-established and experienced local organizing committee, we are excited to deliver an outstanding experience for all involved.

What do you expect to be sharing with your audience at VenueConnect?

In addition to providing a general overview of State Farm Stadium and the planning efforts associated with the Super Bowl and Final Four, I want to provide some insight regarding our current efforts in improving the employee experience to assist with the staffing challenges that many venues are experiencing today.

Everyone likes a main takeaway that they can return to their venue and use. What will be a takeaway you would like to leave for the audience?

Regardless of the bells and whistles of your venue, it’s the people that make the place. Delivering a world-class experience for our guests requires an equally world-class experience for our staff.