By Anna Wong

After over 40 years working in the facility management industry, Senior Associate Athletics Director of the Frank Erwin Center, Jimmy Earl, CVE, announced that he will retire at the end of September. Earl is only the third director of the Erwin Center since the building’s opening in 1977.

Earl was the first Events Manager of the Erwin Center and has also had experience in large convention complexes, such as the Fort Worth/Tarrant County Convention Center where he was the Manager from 1987 to 1990. Earl completed the Leadership Austin program in 1994, has served with the Austin Arts Commission, the UT Mentor program, Pflugerville Education Foundation (President), Steward Board Metropolitan AME Church, Travis County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (Public Information Officer), Amateur Radio Operator, Extra Class WB5MET, and various other boards in Austin.

Earl is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., a 1993 graduate of the Public Assembly Facility Management School at Oglebay and attended the Senior Executive Symposium at Cornell in 1997. He has also been an active member of the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM), the acknowledged leader in public assembly facility management, since 1987.

He has served on several IAVM committees including Convention Centers/Exhibit Halls, Professional Development, Diversity, Arenas, Universities and Publications. Additionally, Earl has served on the IAVM Board as Director-at-Large Universities, Board of Governors Senior Executive Symposium, and the IAVM Foundation as a trustee. In 1995, he attained the Certified Facilities Executive (CFE) designation. He is also a past president of IAVM and in 2016, he was awarded IAVM’s Charles M. McElravy Award, which is given to a Professional, Honorary or Retired member of IAVM, who in the opinion of the Board of Directors has made extraordinary contributions to the Association or the profession of public assembly facility management.

Earl’s colleagues shared the following memories and praise upon hearing about his retirement.

“How could I not love the man who named me the ‘Moses of Rock ‘N’ Roll’? Jimmy is like that Sade song ‘Smooth Operator,’ no matter what the problem, he always made it go away. He is not only a great building guy, but he’s my friend – I love you Jimmy ‘Duke Of Earl’ – best of luck my friend!” – Louis Messina, CEO, Messina Touring Group, LLC

“The Frank Erwin Center brings special memories to mind, not only because of the wonderful basketball team performances and fan support, but because of the people. The people who supported athletics, entertainment, music and cultural events, that put Austin on the map. Over the decades, I have considered Jimmy Earl a friend and true teammate. He and I shared a passion about increasing diversity on our campus. He spent nearly his entire arena management career at the Erwin Center, rising to the very top level of respect in his profession while the venue emerged as the world’s most productive campus-based multipurpose arena. Jimmy cared about the success of our program no less than that of the biggest rock and roll show staged there. He listened to what mattered to us, and he and his staff worked tirelessly to deliver events in a first-class manner. I will miss our entertaining discussions and banter, from which we always emerged somewhat weary but ready to take on the next exhilarating opportunity to join hands and make our great University a more accessible and embracing place. For that, I’m ever thankful for Jimmy’s service and friendship.” – Jody Conradt, Former UT Women’s Basketball Head Coach (1976-2007), Texas Athletics

“Jimmy Earl has done an outstanding job for The University of Texas for many years. As Senior Associate Athletic Director, he has managed the Erwin Center, which is one of the most complex institutions within The University, with professional style and grace. The University owes Jimmy a great deal of thanks for the support that he has given our scholarship athletes, as well as the many people who have enjoyed a wide variety of events at the Erwin Center.” – Dr. William Cunningham, Former Chancellor (1992-2000), The University of Texas System

Anna Wong is Assistant Director, Marketing and Sales at Frank Erwin Center.

Shenyang New World EXPO staff held its annual staff retreat on September 4. There has been an annual staff leadership retreat each year since the venue began hiring staff in 2016.

Pictured: Shenyang New World EXPO staff was all smiles at its annual leadership retreat on September 4. The theme of this year’s team building activity was “Enthusiasm and responsiveness,” which is a fundamental part of the staff’s mission and customer care practices. The team is led by General Manager Diane CHEN and Deputy GM Jack CHENG (front row, 5th and 4th from the left, respectively). Cliff Wallace, CVE, Chairman of EXPO (2009-2018), is the Senior Executive Advisor to the EXPO team. The venue reopened on July 30 following closure on January 27 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Don Clark, CEO of Provo, Utah-based BioSaphe, announced that industry veteran Chuck Rogers is now a member of the
BioSaphe team.

“Chuck has a unique combination of knowing both sides of the business,” Clark said. “He will bring a wealth of
business acumen to our operation. Given his track record and enthusiasm, we look forward to his contribution as the newest member of our Business Development team.”

Rogers joins BioSaphe and carries on a distinguished career in the public assembly venue industry spanning nearly 40 years. During that time, he has sold and managed sales teams providing solutions from capital equipment to managed services from concessions to cleaning, security staffing, stages, and scoreboards.

Rogers is well known as an advocate of high levels of customer service, and has served on numerous committees for IAVM, as well as on the Board of Directors and as a Venue Management School Co-Class President. He currently serves on the Region 6 Board of Directors.

“I am thrilled and honored to join the BioSaphe team,” Rogers said. “This opportunity allows me to pursue a long-time passion for our industry, help facilities save valuable natural resources, and improve their playing surfaces. The incredible team Don has assembled is ready to grow and I am honored to play a role in that effort.”

By MIC Coalition

The MIC Coalition, a broad-based group of associations representing millions of restaurants, bars, hotels, wineries, breweries, local radio and television broadcasters, digital music services, retailers and other venues that bring music to consumers, announced the addition of three major organizations representing the exhibition and events industry.

International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), Meeting Professionals International (MPI), and Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) join the MIC Coalition’s robust membership, representing the trade show, meeting and event industry in the Coalition’s shared mission to create a more sustainable and transparent music licensing system to drive the future of music. IAVM is proud to be a member of the Coalition.

The expansion of MIC’s membership comes on the heels of a public workshop hosted by the Department of Justice which explored the importance of the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees. During the workshop, voices representing the U.S. hospitality industry and events and meeting industry were largely underrepresented. As these industries continue to experience financial strain as a result of the current outbreak of COVID-19, IAEE, MPI and SISO are dedicated to ensuring the voices of their members are heard by policymakers and regulators in Washington.

The new Coalition members commented:

“For decades, trade shows around the world have been instrumental to building brands, forging partnerships, providing education and so much more. Securing music licenses is a key process in making these events successful. As our industry begins to rebuild, we look forward to working with the MIC Coalition and bringing the stories of our members to policymakers and regulators. Now, more than ever, it is critical our members are protected from anticompetitive practices to ensure a fair and transparent music licensing ecosystem,” said David DuBois, CMP, CAE, FASAE, CTA, President and CEO, International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE).

“The meetings and events industry has been devastated by recent cancellations of conferences, sporting events, and large gatherings. As our community prepares to host events again, once it is safe to do so, it is critical that they retain the ability to play music and pay for music licenses. Modification or termination of the existing structure will only act to undermine and further delay the progress that has been made towards creating a fair and transparent music licensing system. This system is critical to keeping our industry strong and we look forward to working with the MIC Coalition to ensure members like ours are given the same pro-competitive protections that have been provided for decades,” said Paul Van Deventer, President and CEO, Meeting Professionals International (MPI).

“Our members, who include companies, corporations and other for-profit entities that own, produce or provide full-service management of ‘face to face’ trade shows, consumer shows, expositions, conferences and similar events rely on music to make their events positive, well-rounded experiences for attendees. While the music licensing system is not perfect, we look forward to joining MIC Coalition in making the ecosystem a place where SISO’s members are able to secure licenses in a fair way,” said David Audrain, Executive Director, Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO).

For years, the Sports Events and Tourism Association (formerly the National Association of Sports Commissions) produced an annual state of the industry report in an effort to gauge the economic impact of the sports tourism industry. But association leaders were quick to note that the survey, while producing interesting results, was only as good as the number of member organizations willing to participate. Earlier this year, and before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the association set out to do something more ambitious with its research. Combining data from Tourism Economics, Longwoods International and U.S. government research, as well as valuable information culled from its members, Sports ETA, with the support of the Northstar Meetings Group, commissioned what is believed to be the most comprehensive research ever conducted about the sports tourism and sports-related travel industries. The end result: In 2019, sports-related travel accounted for more than $45 billion in direct spending, generating an estimated 69 million room nights across amateur sports and collegiate championship events.

In this podcast with SportsTravel Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz, Sports ETA President and CEO Al Kidd and Jennifer Stoll, the lead researcher on the project, discuss the data in the new survey and how destinations and event organizers can take advantage of the numbers that will serve as a benchmark as the industry continues its recovery.

Among the topics discussed in this episode:

Details of the 2019 State of the Industry study
What future studies from Sports ETA will address
Growth over the last five years in sports-related travel
The rise of sports complexes across the United States
The impacts already measured from COVID-19 on sports-related travel in 2020
How many hotel room nights are generated from sports-related travel
The impact the industry has on local economies in terms of jobs and attracting job candidates
The industry’s impact on tax generation for local and state governments
The role sports-related travel is playing in the overall economic recovery
Industries affected by sports-related travel
The average number of events held per destination
The trend of destinations owning their own sports events
The need for destinations to diversify their funding sources
The rise of community health-based programs
How the rightsholder-destination relationship may be changing
Expectations for the sports tourism industry in 2021

To access the full 2019 State of the Industry report, click here.

For more coverage of the State of the Industry report, click here.

To listen to the SportsTravel Podcast, click here.