By Zack Yohman

Caesars Entertainment, Inc. announced a multi-year partnership with the Cleveland Cavaliers to make Caesars Sportsbook an “Official Sports Betting Partner” and Caesars Entertainment the “Official Casino Partner” of the team. This partnership includes plans to open a best-in-class retail sportsbook on the street level inside the northwest atrium area of the team’s home venue, Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

“We’re ready to welcome Ohio sports fans into the Caesars Sportsbook Empire, while also making history with our second sportsbook at an NBA arena,” said Chris Holdren, Co- President of Caesars Digital. “Building upon our already established roots with Scioto Downs in Columbus, we’re excited to announce our partnership with the Cavaliers at an exciting time in their franchise’s history. As we prepare to launch sports betting in Ohio later this year, this wide-ranging partnership enables us to connect with the Cavs passionate and highly engaged fanbase. Caesars Sportsbook at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse will be a first-class venue providing an exciting atmosphere for sports betting and more.”

Caesars Sportsbook at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse will have betting windows for cash wagering and combine custom VIP and hospitality experiences for Caesars Rewards members, along with on-site activations throughout the year. The approximately 10,355 square foot venue will feature a full-service bar and VIP lounge, an extensive menu, and wall-to-wall TV’s. The costs of these improvements will be paid for entirely by the Cavaliers and Caesars.

With construction starting soon, Caesars Sportsbook will be located on the street level inside the northwest atrium of the venue near the intersection of Huron Road and Ontario Street. The Sportsbook will be open year-round on both event and non-event days for both eligible fans with tickets to events and those without tickets who want to place wagers. Caesars Sportsbook at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse is expected to be open by the end of 2022, subject to regulatory and other necessary approvals and further details and renderings will be announced at a later time.

In addition, Caesars Sportsbook gains access to the use of official Cleveland Cavaliers logos and marks, broadcast and digital content across Cavs properties, as well as TV-visible in-game signage.

Caesars Sportsbook made sports history with the first-ever sportsbook at a professional sports venue in May of 2021 at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. and will soon be opening its doors to another Caesars Sportsbook at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona through a partnership with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

When mobile sports betting goes live in Ohio, sports fans will be able to download the Caesars Sportsbook app to make a bet anywhere in the Buckeye State. Caesars Sportsbook will have mobile market access via the Caesars Entertainment-owned Eldorado Gaming Scioto Downs Casino in Columbus. Caesars Sportsbook players can also earn Tier Credits and Reward Credits through the industry-leading customer loyalty program, Caesars Rewards, to unlock emperor-worthy experiences within the Caesars portfolio of properties and partnerships, including access to a wide range of hospitality assets and VIP experiences with the Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Zack Yohman is Director of Business & Strategic Communication for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Opening its doors for the first time on February 1, 2012, College Park Center (CPC) marked its 10th anniversary in February. In the past 10 years, the 7,000 seat multi-purpose arena has hosted more than 700 events, ranging from collegiate and professional athletics to national concert tours, world-renowned speakers, boxing, wrestling, and conventions, and has seen over 125,000 graduates walk across the stage.

“It’s hard to believe we’re already celebrating ten years,” says Jeff Davis, executive director. “It doesn’t seem that long ago we were opening the doors to the arena. None of our opening team could have imagined the successes that awaited – the numerous events and adding a professional sports team, the Dallas Wings. I can only begin to guess at what the next ten years might hold for College Park Center.”

The UT Arlington Men’s and Women’s Basketball games on February 5 and 6 featured special celebrations in
recognition of CPC’s 10 years on the UT Arlington campus. The party isn’t stopping there, however. CPC will be celebrating throughout 2022, bringing a memorable year of programming, recurring segments showing behind-the-scenes looks at events and highlights of notable dates in the arena’s history, as well as offering limited edition giveaways through social media.

Although College Park Center has not been immune to the complications that COVID-19 has brought to the public assembly venue industry over the past two years, events are steadily coming back to the calendar. And with various improvements made since 2020; GBAC Star Certification, Sensory Inclusive Certification and all new LED sports lighting, the arena is more prepared than ever to deliver, safe, inclusive, and memorable events for all.

To watch a video celebrating the 10 years, click here.

Snapchat users in over 20 countries can now discover when their favorite acts are coming into town.

They can see if their friends are also going, make plans to meet up via Snapchat Camera and buy tickets after being directed to Ticketmaster.com.

A new partnership with Ticketmaster allows Snapchatters to use Ticketmatcher Mini to have shows recommended based on their music tastes and city. Snap Minis are third-party programs that live inside Snapchat’s Chat section.

Users access the Ticketmatcher Mini through the Rocket icon in the Chat section of the app and fill out a quick survey on music preferences. They browse events by swiping left or right, saving what they like.

If the user and friends don’t want to plan too far ahead in meeting up, they can open the Snap Map and find upcoming events nearby through Snapchat’s first-ever partnered Map Layer. This is the first time Snap has integrated a partner to Snap Map through its new Layers technology. Snap Map reaches 250 million users a month.

Ticketmaster’s EVP of distributed commerce, Dan Armstrong, said working with Snap enables the company to ‘deeply engage’ a new generation of event goers.

“As digital natives, Gen Z is highly influenced by what they discover and share online with their friends,” he said. “Discovering a cool show on your Snap Map and sharing it with your friends via the Tickematcher Mini, provides a whole new way for us to help artists, teams, and venues connect with this important demographic.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Snap on a groundbreaking new product, inspiring a new generation to fall in love with going to live events.”

By Jocelyn Postrado

The Sacramento Kings NBA basketball team has partnered with US-based software company Glowing to offer a modern way for fans to communicate with staff via text messaging before, during, and after games and events. Glowing’s messaging solution will be used to heighten the Kings’ fan experience on game days. The team began offering the messaging solution for premium suite holders and has now expanded it to road trips as well as groups in attendance.

It is hoped the partnership will offer messaging to every fan that enters the Kings’ Golden 1 Center arena for any game or event. “”As we continue to strive to provide the best fan experience, the Glowing platform allows us to take our premium service to the next level,” said John Rinehart, the Kings’ president of business operations. “Not only are we able to engage directly with our fans in real-time to share information and answer questions but we can provide ‘anticipatory service’ to ensure a positive and seamless experience.”

The Kings began offering the messaging solution to their premium account holders and have expanded to use it during road trips as well as to groups in attendance. The aspiration is to offer messaging to every fan that enters the arena for any game or event.

“We have always had a keen eye for the stadiums and arenas vertical because those venues do not have a sense as to who is actually in attendance nor the ability to message attendees directly,” said Glowing, Inc. CEO Jasen Lew. “As industry leaders in technology innovation, especially that revolves around the fan experience, the Sacramento Kings are a perfect partner to deliver our easy-to-onboard messaging solution. As we closely monitor and adjust to growing fan engagement, we look forward to our continued partnership with the Kings to develop a best-in-class, leading-edge solution for all of their fan needs in our ever-evolving world.”

Jocelyn Postrado is with Glowing, Inc.

By Diane Johnson

Leadership training and support has arrived for an industry that has been bereft of development opportunities for its future leaders. International consultancy TRG Arts announces the launch of Talent Lab, an incubator where emerging arts administrators can be heard, engage in daring dialogue, and grow professionally with a 21st century mindset. Talent Lab arrives at a pivotal time for the creative sector as it recovers from the pandemic. 2019 saw a thriving arts industry post record numbers in contributions to U.S. GDP, but shuttered venues and the expense of high turnover in the following two years wrecked the momentum of the field. Talent Lab offers arts organizations an affordable means of investing in young professionals at a time when developing and retaining high-quality employees is critical.

TRG Arts’ commitment to professional development, for client organizations as well as internally, is led by Keri Mesropov, TRG Arts’ Chief Talent Officer.

“I’m beyond thrilled to lead this talent initiative that ends the status quo for what used to pass for professional development of arts and culture employees,” Mesropov said. “If we together are to ensure the sustainability of this sector, we all must evolve as professionals and challenge the mindset of constant scarcity of both money and time. It is just as valuable to spend resources training arts administrators as it is to train dancers, musicians, or actors.”

Along with a passion for developing young talent, Mesropov has a sterling tenure with TRG Arts, extensive industry experience, and association as a Professional-in-Residence at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

In the initial rollout of services, Talent Lab is offering a series of workshops at $89 per attendee on personal development topics such as emotional intelligence, effective feedback, learning agility, and strengths-based leadership as well as technical frameworks like budgeting revenue targets with precision. The workshops are designed for mid-level managers and their teams to learn professional skills and industry best practices that they can take back to their organizations and put into action.

Talent Lab is hitting the market in an innovative way that matches the unique nature of the offering. Mesropov will be engaging young professionals on social media outlets like TikTok and Instagram to expand the reach and interest in the workshops and the value they present. In the coming months, the arts field will also be invited to participate in a series of “experiments” that Talent Lab will be conducting to test hypotheses and discover new workplace norms that create the most daring, accelerated, and inclusive cultures.

TRG Arts is uniquely qualified to bring this product to the arts and culture field. Throughout the company’s more than 25-year history, talent development has been core to the company’s consulting engagements.

“Talent lab will be a relational, empathetic, inclusive workshop that prioritizes attendees’ development and knowledge expansion,” Mesropov said. “We want to ignite people—the way our consulting always has—but in a potent, bite-sized workshop.”

To register for the first two Talent Lab workshops, or for more information, visit https://trgarts.com/talent-lab:
● Effective Feedback Workshop
March 8, 2022, 9 am MDT, and July 21, 2022, 9 am MDT
● Hit Your Revenue Goals Workshop
March 22, 2022, 9 am MDT, and April 11, 2022, 9 am MDT

Diane Johnson is with Keeton PR on behalf of TRG Arts.