By R.V. Baugus

The next step in the world of virtual experience just became real.

Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves became the first MLB team to join the metaverse through the creation of a virtual platform featuring a photo-realistic digital twin of Truist Park.

Digital Truist Park, powered by Epic Games’ Unreal Engine technology, will give fans the opportunity to experience the Braves’ ballpark and The Battery Atlanta mixed-use development in an immersive, multiplayer environment streamed directly to their browsers.

The Braves said the inspiration to accelerate entry into the metaverse is driven by the opportunity to connect with fans in a non-physical venue free of geographical constraints or capacity limitations.

Mission accomplished.

The new environment, which fans are set to be offered a first look at in April, seeks to become a new way for Braves supporters to engage with the club and consume content. Meanwhile, the team will be able to create use cases for ubiquitous consumption through seamless and blended physical and digital environments.

Inside Digital Truist Park, fans will be able to create and customize avatars; explore exclusive areas of Truist Park and The Battery Atlanta; enjoy exclusive content, performances, and meet-and-greets; and meet and interact with other Braves fans from around the world, among other features.

“It’s exciting to create a new way for our fans to connect with our team and their favourite ballpark,” said Derek Schiller, Atlanta Braves president and CEO.

“The digital version of Truist Park will offer limitless opportunities to create unique fan engagements in the metaverse and we are proud to be the first team to offer this immersive experience. We look forward to building enhancements along the way which will continue to showcase the innovation of the Braves brand in the digital world.”

Earlier this month, Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A football club Corinthians launched a virtual platform to provide fans with a closer look of its Neo Química Arena, while English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur became the first team in the UK to utilize Ticketmaster’s 3D Virtual Venue technology.

In November, Spanish LaLiga club Real Madrid entered into a partnership with computer software company Adobe to create “premium entertainment experiences” for supporters.

Real Madrid and Adobe will look to bring the Santiago Bernabéu to a global audience through an “expanded ecosystem” of online experiences, products and services. The initiative will transform the stadium into a virtual destination that can be accessed by fans worldwide.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is getting its first peak at the latest interactive technology. To see more, click here.

By Gail Sawyer

ASM Global announced that Dan Harris will join Coca-Cola Arena, Dubai, as Commercial Director. With more than 20 years of live events and entertainment industry experience, Dan brings a strong skill set to the Commercial Director position having extensive experience in several UK venues within the ASM Global group.

This appointment comes following the promotion of Mark Jan Kar who assumed his new role of General Manager of the Coca-Cola Arena in June 2021. Dubai’s home of live entertainment has seen a tremendous lineup of events over the past six months, with the arena diversifying its strategy by catering to an increasing number of sporting events.

Dan joins Coca-Cola Arena, Dubai, ahead of a busy calendar of events for 2022.

ASM Global APAC Chairman and Chief Executive, Harvey Lister AM, said he was excited to welcome Dan to the Arena’s award-winning team. “As a proven leader within ASM Global, we are thrilled to welcome Dan to the team. Coca-Cola Arena has seen a strong recovery as it emerges from the pandemic, and I am positive that Dan’s extensive background in events and venue management will greatly benefit the arena as Dubai cements itself on the global touring circuit.”

Most recently, Harris has served as general manager for ASM Global in the UK at Bonus Arena, The Baths Hall, and The Plowright Theatre. Dan brings with him a wealth of experience and extensive industry relationships having managed the pre-opening and launch of both the Bonus Arena (2018) and The Baths Hall (2011).

Iain Campbell, Executive Vice President, ASM Global – Gulf Region, highlights that Dan’s appointment reinforces ASM Global’s reputation to bring the best talent from across the globe. “It is a great pleasure to welcome Dan to the team with his considerable knowledge and experience, supporting Mark Jan Kar and the Coca-Cola Arena team in the Gulf Region.

“It is really exciting when we are able to provide career advancement opportunities for industry professionals already working within our global family of facilities.”

Dan will relocate with his family to Dubai in March in order to take on his new role at Coca-Cola Arena, the region’s premier entertainment venue. “I am looking forward to the challenge afforded to me in the Middle East, by ASM Global and Dubai Holding,” he said. “It is great to see the return of live events in Dubai and I will be working closely with key stakeholders and commercial partners to continue driving the industry at Dubai’s home of live entertainment.”

Gail Sawyer is Group Communications Manager – ASM Global (Asia Pacific).

By Andra Bennett, APR

Experienced hospitality services professional Shanda Cartwright has joined the Fort Worth Convention Center (FWCC) as its Sales & Events Manager. In this position, Cartwright will be responsible for increasing the venue’s share of local meetings, events, and galas.

“As Fort Worth is now the 12th largest city in the U.S., opportunities for hosting more local and regional business meetings have continued to grow,” said Blake Moorman, CMP, Director of Sales & Marketing at FWCC. “Shanda’s wide-ranging experience in sports, entertainment, hotels, events, and catering – in addition to her knowledge of the market – will benefit our existing clients and introduce our venue to new customers.”

The daughter of a college football coach, Cartwright attended the University of Oregon and began her career with Spurs Sports & Entertainment in San Antonio before moving to the Broadmoor Hotel and Resort in Colorado Springs and then to the Denver Broncos. She made her way back to Texas to help open the Cowboys (now AT&T) Stadium and work with the Mavs at American Airlines Center on the 2010 NBA All-Star game. Other experiences include sales and event management at Billy Bob’s Texas, Las Colinas Country Club, The Fort Worth Club and Trinity Food & Beverage, the FWCC’s exclusive catering and concessions provider.

“Hospitality is where my heart is, and I approach sales as being a builder of profitable relationships,” Cartwright said. “Fort Worth is very much my home, as it is the first place I have ever unpacked all of my moving boxes. For someone who had to relocate every few years, that’s a significant milestone.”

Andra Bennett, APR, is Marketing Communications |Public Events Department for the City of Fort Worth.

By Kristi Mexia

Focused on representing California’s vibrant wine culture, SoFi Stadium’s culinary operator Legends recently unveiled a highly curated wine program for the new venue and home of the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers. The program highlights California vintners, with a focus on Santa Barbara County, one of the world’s top wine-growing regions. The wine selection offers guests the opportunity to enjoy exceptional wine in a stadium setting and places California’s world-renowned viticulture on a global sports and entertainment platform.

“Santa Barbara County is a diverse and dynamic wine region that goes head-to-head in quality and artisanal craftsmanship with any wine region in the world,” says Ryan Tawwater, VP of Special Projects for Legends. “While 65 percent of the wines we selected are from Santa Barbara County, the wine list we curated features more than 21 different grape varieties from Santa Barbara County.”

Throughout the stadium, 90 percent of the wines offered are from California, with 65 percent of the selections hailing from Santa Barbara County.

“We challenged Legends, our culinary operator, to put together a wine program that was as unique to Southern California as the project itself,” said Jason Gannon, Managing Director, SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park. “The program Legends created will introduce a large audience to groundbreaking wines from just north of us in Santa Barbara County. We look forward to our guests sampling the unique flavors local to Southern California.”

The wine selection in the stadium’s clubs and suites highlights Santa Barbara County and its six American Viticultural Areas (AVA). The wine list in these spaces is organized for guests by the distance of the vineyard to SoFi Stadium. Showcasing the breadth of selection from the region, guests will find wines from six AVAs within Santa Barbara County on this list. Producers and vineyards featured include the original pioneers of Santa Barbara County (Sanford, Au Bon Climat), trailblazers (Andrew Murray, Lane Tanner), and the top winemakers from the next generation of Santa Barbara County producers (The Hilt Estate, Holus Bolus, JONATA, Tyler, The Paring, Chanin, Deovlet).

Legends also selected Northern California and Paso Robles stalwarts, including Turley, Kistler, Kosta Browne, Paul Hobbs and TOR. The SoFi Stadium reserve wine list has hard-to-source bottles of impeccable provenance including Bond, Harlan, Peter Michael, Promontory and Screaming Eagle.

International wines and sakes round out the selection of California bottles, with six different sakes and wines from some fabled wineries such as Gaja, Penfolds Grange, Domaine Bonneau du Martray, Louis Roederer Crystal, Billecart Salmon and Dom Pérignon.

Several wines from The Paring as well as Nomadica’s sparkling white are available throughout the stadium and in all its concession areas. The Paring wines are from the coastal vineyards of Santa Barbara County. The wines embrace the region’s “refrigerated sunshine” and trademark freshness. Selections include Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a Rosé of Pinot Noir. Complementing the wines from The Paring is the Nomadica sparkling white, from Northern California. Nomadica’s sparkling white blends chardonnay with a hint of muscat to bring out flavors of nectarine, citrus and melon.

In conjunction with the wine program’s official debut, SoFi Stadium created a wine bar in the Google Cloud Club and Suites on the second level of the stadium to feature world-class wines from California’s finest wine producers. The club features a hand-painted mural based off the legendary Hilt wine label and incorporates imagery of the rugged Sta. Rita Hills AVA landscape in California where the Hilt Estate, and many other world-class California vineyards are located. Located in the Google Cloud Club and Suites, the wine bar features a highly curated list of wines, including the bright and well-structured Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from The Hilt Estate in Sta. Rita Hills; a sublime red blend, “Todos,” from the JONATA estate in Ballard Canyon; the mouth-watering “Vandenberg” Riesling from Tatomer; and a single-vineyard Chenin Blanc from Foxen.

Kristi Mexia is Sr. Director/Head Corporate Communications at SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park.

Photo courtesy of SoFi Stadium.

By R.V. Baugus

March ushers in spring as well as the beginning of the severe weather season. IAVM holds is Severe Weather sessions on March 4 in Las Vegas as part of the Academy for Venue Safety & Security.

Wayne Middleton, CVE, is a veteran IAVM member and owner of the risk management consultancy Reliance Risk in Bondi Junction, New South Wales, Australia. When it comes to minimizing threats and maximizing opportunities, Wayne is respected across the globe and has presented virtually everywhere to share his 30 years’ experience as a venue manager, event manager, risk manager, and consultant across the public venue, events, sport and entertainment industries.

You will want to be sure to attend his session at Severe Weather when he presents on The Nexus: A Risk Based approach to mitigating Severe Weather Events & enhancing Organizational Resilience.

Before Wayne jets to the United States, we caught him with him to talk on a variety of topics leading up to the presentation.

Speak some about your presentation at Severe Weather as we are currently experiencing exactly that and approaching the turbulent spring season.

The upcoming spring weather patterns combined with impacts of climate change assures of severe weather ahead. As outdoor events continue to shake off the COVID cobwebs, it’s a good time to sharpen the event planning skills on how to anticipate, prepare, respond, and recover from major weather incidents affecting events.

This year I’ve been invited to share some experiences with students around applying a risk-based approach to event planning and in particular using risk assessment to help determine the best course of action. A key ingredient in good risk management planning is ensuring there is a documented suite of processes and procedures that are considered, comprehensive, and that are well communicated across all key stakeholders.

Risk-based event planning suggests that a ‘one-size fits all’ approach to event risk is not a good use of limited resources. Based upon the context of the foreseeable risks, planning should aim to ensure that the actions, resources, and level of effort in risk mitigation is commensurate with the threat. The same applies for planning for severe weather impacts for events.

Having a well-documented, resourced, and communicated Severe Weather Plan helps ensure the venue and event organiser is well placed to maximise its effective and minimise potential liability.

In my session I’ll touch on:
Applying a risk-based approach to severe weather planning
Temporary structures – and structural integrity assurance
Emergency management including command and control, operating procedures
Adverse weather planning – trigger points and action planning for preparation, response, and recovery for wind, heat, hail, and other storms
Operational readiness testing – considering different methods of testing and rehearsal to set your event up for weather success
Maintaining a continuity of business to ensure critical business functions lead the recovery

The session will look at practical examples furnished with contemporary approaches to building resilient venues and events.

What are the most common oversights that organizations make when it comes to planning for severe weather?

From my experience, some of the more common mistakes made by venue and event managers relating to adverse weather are:

Failure to Anticipate – Failure to anticipate the weather possible that may affect the venue or event is important. Risk-based weather planning requires using historical information and experiences in that location, to help predict the future. Weather planning for events should look at both the more foreseeable scenarios as well as worst case to ensure that the event type, activities, site, and infrastructure is suitable for the conditions.

Inappropriate Infrastructure – There are numerous examples across the industrial world where incidents triggered by adverse weather affected temporary infrastructure that was not fit for purpose, installed incorrectly, or not appropriately signed off by a qualified competent person. Other examples of poor infrastructure include weather monitoring capabilities, access to and use of radar, anemometers, alert notifications, and other available sources of accurate monitoring systems.

Inadequate Planning – We have a saying in Australia, “she’ll be right mate,” which means “don’t worry about it, it’ll work itself out.” That laissez-faire approach to severe weather can have disastrous consequences. Take the time to consult widely to understand what conditions are possible and take the time to ensure appropriately skilled resources are put in place to prepare, respond, and recover effectively.

-Let’s flip the script if you can share a quick story about how proper planning helped alleviate what could have been a possible disastrous situation.

Invictus Games Sydney – Back in 2018 my company, Reliance Risk, provided risk management support to the Invictus Games being held in Sydney, Australia. The Games is an adaptive multi-sport event for wounded, injured, and ill veterans as well as active defense personnel. It was the fourth Games that was founded in 2014 by the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry. The Games Opening Ceremony was held at the Sydney Opera House Forecourt.

As the venue was about to open for patron ingress, a massive thunderstorm moved across the city with lightning bolts striking the Sydney Harbour Bridge (less than 100 yards away) and buildings around Circular Quay. The cracking of thunderbolts was instantaneous with the strike and very loud.

The Games event team coordinated with the Opera House venue staff and invoked a Shelter in Place mode, (part of the adverse weather part of the event’s Emergency Plan), moving all queuing patrons under the Forecourt to safety until the storm passed.

It was a very traumatic experience for some of the veterans who were on route by foot to the Opening Ceremony, with lightning and thunder sometimes being a trigger for severe emotional responses for war veterans.

It served as a stark reminder of the importance of having a plan, coordinating between stakeholders, and understanding the needs of the people likely to be affected by that plan if it is not well implemented.

Any primary or main takeaway you would like your audience to leave with and take back to their venue?

Severe weather planning is one of the many important facets of delivering a safe and successful event. You can’t control the weather, but you can control the plan! This session will equip people with practical knowledge and tools to help address this risk that is evolving and intensifying in many parts of North America.