By Scott Powers

The Orange County Convention Center, operating for nearly two years under interim and acting leadership, will be taken over by the former leader of the Austin Convention Center, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings announced.

Mark Tester, who was described as someone who literally grew up in the convention industry and eventually rose to leadership positions in Chicago and Austin, Texas, was announced as the new executive director of the Orange County Convention Center, which is the second-largest in the country behind Chicago’s McCormick Place. He will start February 10.

“I believe Mark Tester’s goals of creating high-end customer service and driving economic impact through sales and marketing aligns perfectly with my expectations for what the Orange County Convention Center can be, both now and in the future,” Demings said in a news release.

The center, which has 2 million square feet of exhibition space, has been under interim and acting leadership since late winter 2018 when Kathie Canning left the executive director’s position. For part of that period, former Mayor Teresa Jacobs held open a search for a new leader for Demings, who was elected in August 2018 and took office in December 2018.

The center is growing. Orange County has embarked on a $605 million expansion and improvement that will create a new grand concourse and a multipurpose venue that will bring the total exhibit space to 2.3 million square feet.
Tester’s father operated destination marketing organizations and later, convention and trade shows. After entering the industry himself, Tester spent 13 years working in the Chicago convention community. There he held senior positions at both the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau [now Choose Chicago] and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the owner and manager at that time of McCormick Place, the nation’s largest convention facility. In 2008 he became director of the Austin Convention Center.

“I greatly appreciate the support of Mayor Demings and the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, and look forward to working with the strong team at the OCCC,” Tester said in the release. “I have always had great admiration for the phenomenal work of the OCCC and its employees, and look forward to my role in Orlando, the nation’s premier destination for conventions.”

Scott Powers is an Orlando-based political journalist.

By R.V. Baugus

Professional sports teams relocating is not new. In the NFL, the Oakland Raiders became the Los Angeles Raiders then the Oakland Raiders and now the Las Vegas Raiders. Somebody got raided. Speaking of Los Angeles, the NFL Los Angeles Rams became the St. Louis Rams only to again become the Los Angeles Rams.

In the NBA, perhaps the most unusual mascot move came when the New Orleans Jazz became the Utah Jazz. The Charlotte Hornets were born and moved to become the New Orleans Hornets. After Charlotte rebirthed a franchise they took with them the Hornet name while New Orleans decided on Pelicans in honor of its being the Pelican State.

Maybe the most awkward feeling in sports is when two professional sports franchises share a venue. It has worked well at MetLife Stadium where the NFL New York Giants and New York Jets both play.

Across the country, both the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers play at STAPLES Center. Those old enough to remember recall the Clippers migrating north from San Diego while keeping the appropriately named Clippers which certainly fits with San Diego. Heck, even the Lakers arrived back in the day from being the Minneapolis Lakers.

The Clippers, though, are ready to have their own venue with the release of the first images of the planned Inglewood arena it hopes to call home in 2024. Inglewood, you will recall, was at one time the Lakers home with the Great Western Forum.

The NBA basketball team’s proposed 18,500-seat arena will have a three-dimensional oval design with an exterior of diamond-shaped metal panels inspired by the concept of a basketball swishing through a net. The panels have been designed to provide solar benefit for maximum energy efficiency, as part of the facility’s LEED GOLD-certified design.

The Inglewood Arena will revitalize mostly vacant land under the flight path of Los Angeles International Airport. The project is targeted for completion by fall of 2024, following the expiration of the Clippers’ lease at STAPLES Center.

In our industry, “on the move” does not refer to just people, but as you can see venues, teams, and franchises as well.

By Cynthia Weaver

The Phoenix Convention Center (PCC) welcomes Mamava Pods to its campus in downtown Phoenix. The Mamava Pods, which are private lactation suites available for nursing mothers on-the-go, will offer PCC guests a safe and secure space to breastfeed or pump milk for infant children.

Made in America, Mamava Pods are a turnkey, all-in-one private nursing room for public spaces. The pods are compatible with the Mamava app with a Bluetooth-enabled SmartLock. Guests will be able to use the app to locate the pods in the Convention Center, see when the pods are available and unlock the door for access. The app is available for download in the Apple App Store or Google Play. Guests who do not have the app can obtain assistance from a Venue Host staff member at any of the PCC Information Desks.

“The new Mamava pods at the Phoenix Convention Center are an added benefit for parents and families looking for a calmer, more private nursing experience. This is another exciting step toward making Phoenix the most family-friendly city in the nation,” said Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego.

Nursing Moms can find Mamava Pods, which are ADA accessible, at more than 450 locations across the U.S. and Canada, including Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The pods at the Phoenix Convention Center are easily identifiable featuring custom mural designs created by PCC’s Planning Graphic Designer, Diana Moissonnier. PCC has two pods, each with different designs. The pod in the West building features a desert landscape image and the North building pod features a Sedona-inspired image (photo above).

Cynthia Weaver is Public Information Officer/Convention Center Communications Director for Phoenix Convention Center & Venues.

The following is the obituary that appeared in the Tennessean for industry friend Tom Powell.

Thomas Joseph “Tom” Powell passed away at Alive Hospice in Nashville on January 21, 2020 at the age of 86. Tom was born in Scranton, PA on July 18, 1933. He was a proud graduate of the University of Scranton. Tom was preceded in death by his parents Tom and Alice, his brother Bobby, and his first wife and mother of his children, Rosamond. He is survived by his wife, Christine, his children, Julia Mulherin and her husband Paul, Alice Stanley, Thomas and his husband Paul Hill, Kevin and his wife Anne Marie, his five grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and cherished nephew and nieces. Tom was a sportswriter for the Tennessean from 1958 to 1972. He was the race announcer at the Nashville Speedway in the 1960s and 1970s. Tom was editor of Amusement Business Newspaper from 1972 to 2006. Since 2007, Tom has written a weekly column for the Outdoor Amusement Business Association (OABA). During his long career, Tom was the recipient of many awards and honors including a board of director’s special award from the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), being inducted into the International Independent Showmen’s Association (IISA) Hall of Fame, and the Showmen’s League of America Hall of Honor, as well as countless others. The funeral service for Tom will be held at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Donelson at 1:30 on Saturday, January 25, 2020. A celebration of Tom’s amazing life will be held immediately after the church service at the VFW at 1907 Lebanon Pike in Nashville. In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to the International Independent Showmen’s Association (IISA) Scholarship Fund in Tom Powell’s name.

IISA Scholarship Fund

6915 Riverview Drive

Riverview, FL 33578

As Tom would say at the end of each his columns, “Have all great days, and God Bless”.

By R.V. Baugus

Tom Powell, most recently known as the news ambassador for the Outdoor Amusement Business Association (OABA) but forever remembered as a writer, editor, and associate publisher for Amusement Business magazine, has died at the age of 86 following complications from a fall that he took last week.

“Tom’s dedication to the outdoor amusement industry is beyond words,” Matt Cook wrote from OABA in announcing the news. “Tom’s dedication to the outdoor amusement industry is beyond words. There will be no one who can replace his weekly columns that touch the lives of so many in our industry.”

Tom was a devoted friend to IAVM and in Association circles is remembered for his ongoing dedicated involvement with the IAVM Foundation and more specifically in years past a softball tournament that was held during the VenueConnect annual conference and trade show to help raise funds for the Foundation to help support industry programming and research. He also was honored in 1995 as the fifth recipient of the Joseph J. Anzivino Distinguished Allied Member Award, a nod to his service as a Foundation ambassador, supporter, and fund-raiser.

“Tom taught me much of what I know about this wacky industry we all love and cherish,” said Brad Mayne, CVE, president and CEO of IAVM and another lifelong supporter of the Foundation beginning with his days as a venue manager. “Friend, mentor, fellow baseball fanatic, one of a kind.”

Linda Deckard and Don Muret are two industry friends most associated with Tom from his days at Amusement Business from when he first joined in 1972 after an earlier career as a sports writer for The Tennessean. AB covered sports, venues, entertainment, fairs, carnivals, and so much more, but it was always Tom’s “On The Earie” column that so many looked forward to reading until the magazine folded in 2006 after a 112-year run. He wrote his last column under the same name for OABA on January 15. To read Tom’s last work, click here.

Before there was an electronic inbox, the tray on the corner of one’s desk was known as an inbox, and Amusement Business and Tom’s handiwork was always much anticipated by readers for its folksy delivery written as one friend sitting across a desk and chatting with a buddy.

“It’s a sad day for the sports and entertainment industry,” Muret said in a Facebook post. “I worked with TP for 10 years and knew him since 1993. He was my friend and mentor. Taught me a lot about the biz. We both love baseball and could talk about it for hours. RIP big guy. Thoughts are with Christine Powell and family.”

Linda Deckard would go on to start her own magazine, Venues Today, but also reflected fondly on her AB days.

“I started two or three years after Tom,” she said. “He was really the first to report on venues.”

It is not often a book is written about a writer, but former AB Senior Editor Tim O’Brien did just that in TP on AB: The Life and Times of Tom Powell.

Even those who competed in Tom’s space could not help but have admiration and form a friendship with him.

“Even though we were at competitor publications, Tom was always a true gentleman to me, a good friend and mentor,” Michael Caffin, International Association of Fairs & Expositions (IAFE), said in a tweet. “There will never be another Powell, a true giant and great man.”

“I am very sorry to hear this,” said Steve Zito, CVE, general manager of the Alamodome in San Antonio. “He was a great man with a wonderful legacy. I remember playing in the annual IAAM softball game with Tom and Earl Duryea for years.”

Zito was also one who was excited each week when his Amusement Business magazine arrived.

“AB used to be our industry bible,” he said. “Everything we needed and wanted to know was in there. I too could not wait for it to be delivered.”

“I first met Tom early in my arena career in the 70’s and loved to get the weekly AB to read all the good news across the entertainment industry,” Carey Harveycutter, director of tourism in Salem, Virginia, added in a post. “Prayers ascending for Christine and Tom’s family and friends. He was truly one of a kind. Well done good and faithful servant, you are now at peace.”

For all his talents, accomplishments, work with the IAVM Foundation, and more, Tom was truly a reporter’s reporter, a fount of information who could help not only fellow reporters but those in the industry in which he worked, which at the time of his passing focused on fairs and outdoor amusements.

“We always waited for the “Billboard’ to arrive on the midway,” said Gina McCulley of Mexico, Missouri, in a post. “Tom’s column kept us informed of births, deaths, and show happenings … this was our ‘cell phone.’ Rest now with no deadlines to meet.”

Another close friend, Bob Johnson, now retired after serving as president of OABA, concluded, “Having known Tom for some 45 years, both professionally and socially, the amusement industry has lost one of its greatest contributors.”

As has the public assembly venue industry and so many more who came to know and love Tom Powell.

Funeral arrangements are pending and will be shared as soon as known. We will also have more coming up from individuals who knew Powell’s work and life the best.