By Sarah McAlister

Kerry Painter, CVE, director of the Raleigh Convention and Performing Arts Complex, announced that Jim Lavery, general manager of the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, will retire at the end of March after a 40-year career. Michelle Bradley will serve as an interim assistant general manager upon Jim’s retirement.

During Jim’s 40-year career in the greater Raleigh Area, Raleigh Convention and Performing Arts Complex, and Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, he has served in many capacities, the latest as the general manager of the Duke Energy Center. During his career as general manager, he worked with national and international promoters to bring performances and concerts to the Raleigh area, which resulted in many memorable experiences enjoyed by millions of North Carolinians and others.

Under Jim’s leadership, the Duke Energy Center became a leader in the national performing arts community. As the executive director of Broadway Series South, Jim was able to bring national Broadway tours to the Triangle area, most notably First National Tours of The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Hair, Miss Saigon, Les Misérables, Disney’s The Lion King, Jersey Boys, as well as many other performances. Jim was a Tony® voter for 25 years.

Jim was the executive producer for the Wake County Public School productions of Les Misérables, and Disney’s Aida which provided an opportunity for WCPSS students to showcase their talents. He has also collaborated with North Carolina Symphony, North Carolina Theatre, Theatre Raleigh, PineCone, and the arts community to recognize and promote local and state talent. He served on several local organizing committees; Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, NHL All-Star Game, Tour DuPont, Ironman Triathlon, IBMA, and First Night Raleigh.

Jim’s significant legacy in the development of performing arts and promoting the Triangle will have a lasting impact.

Sarah McAlister is marketing manager for the Duke Energy Center.

By Andy Malt

Plans to build the UK’s biggest arena venue in Manchester have been announced by Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff’s Oak View Group. If it gets planning permission, it will hold 2,500 more people than the UK’s current largest, the nearby 21,000 capacity Manchester Arena.

Plans have not yet been submitted to the local council, but it is proposed that the £350 million building project will sit next to Manchester’s Etihad Stadium. OVG says that it would host around 120 events per year, with a particular focus on music.

“I’ve always been a huge fan of Manchester and we have been trying to figure this out for many, many years,” Leiweke told the Manchester Evening News. “We’re grateful we finally have a site, we have a vision, and we have a partnership with the community to pull off building what we hope will the best arena ever built in Europe and the UK.”

“Building the best and most expensive arena to date in the UK or Europe is a fantastic testament to Manchester and the vibrancy of Manchester,” he added. “I believe the marketplace deserves it, I believe the marketplace has earned it.”

He also dismissed concerns that the new venue could have a negative effect on the existing Manchester Arena, which is owned by rival venue company ASM Global. “Most of the big markets have two, three or four arenas,” he said.

“If you look at London, when The O2 was built many people predicted the demise of Wembley Arena, but they’ve just had the best year they’ve ever had. There’s one new proposed arena in addition to that one and probably a second one coming. So that’s potentially four in London. Birmingham has two next door to each other that do well.”

“Manchester is not only the second biggest market in the UK, it’s a capital market for around 15 million people in the north. This is a cultural capital, this is where people go for music, for entertainment, for sports. We believe two arenas will do just fine.

“The UK has seen a huge uplift in terms of live entertainment but Manchester has been a bit of a downturn. Some of the tours are simply going elsewhere. Manchester has competition form arenas built in the last 10 years, such as Leeds and Liverpool. This will mean big tours and every big event will be open to Manchester now.”

Among the plans for the venue, OVG says that it will incorporate various low carbon technologies and waste reduction measures to ensure environmental sustainability.

Andy Malt is a London-based music journalist, currently working as editor of CMU, part of UnLimited Media.

By Mark Herrera

The International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM) —representing thousands of venue managers and partner companies in stadiums, convention centers, performing arts centers, arenas, amphitheaters, stadiums and other public assembly venues continues to monitor the developments of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and its impact on Commercial Facilities (Venues) of all types. We are gathering information in order to understand the extent of its impact, learn more about the virus, and make recommended precautions. We remain committed through IAVM and the Department of Homeland Security Sub-Sector Coordinating Council to keep everyone informed because your health and safety is our top concern.

It is also important to use this event as an opportunity to learn and grow as a community and collectively share all best practices pertaining to the coronavirus. When our community faces a health issue, natural disaster, or other emergency, we have a meaningful opportunity to reflect on how we collectively manage through these occurrences as we continue to strive for resilience in our efforts.

We encourage everyone in our community to treat each other with compassion, respect, and openness. This is especially true when dealing with an issue like the coronavirus. We are currently working with the CDC, our Governmental Agency, U.S. Travel, and the American Red cross to continue to seek updates and share information with all of our members and other organizations as we receive them. The CDC landing page for Coronavirus (link below) has additional information, to include the attached posters and websites with updated information.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus
World Health Organization (WHO)
https://www.iavm.org/#

We will work hard to make sure that all venues are well prepared to address every issue concerning the safety and security of our patrons. We are here to serve each and everyone of you and your respective teams. Feel free to contact me or any of the IAVM Staff for any assistance as we continue to receive and share updated information on the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Mark Herrera is Director of Education/Life-Safety for IAVM.

By R.V. Baugus

Kerplunk!

That sound you just heard was another Houston Astro being hit by a pitched baseball. It is a sound that figuratively and literally will reverberate across many Major League Baseball stadiums this summer. It is a sound that in the team’s first five exhibition games saw seven Astros players get drilled with a pitch. Well, drilled might be an exaggeration as some were merely grazed, but the point is that coming off an off-season in which the team was brought out of the darkness and into light for a sign-stealing scandal the likes of which have not been seen before has brought a wave of criticism from those in other organizations, not only for the act itself that was investigated by MLB but for the club’s apparent lack of taking a dose of humble pie in interviews once spring training started. The commissioner’s office has already said that teams that go after Houston batters will be punished accordingly, but for some the edict has fallen on deaf ears.

Gaze into the rapidly approaching crystal ball to begin the 2020 season and it is easy to imagine the reception that Houston will receive in visiting ballparks. Will signs be confiscated from fans? At what point does heckling become too much? What about the Astros fans who show up in opposing stadiums? What effect will one or two too many cold ones play not only in what fans lash out at the players on the field and in the dugout but amongst rival fans themselves?

It only took the team’s very first exhibition game last Saturday against the Washington Nationals for fans to have signs taken from them. One fan’s sign was seemingly innocent enough with the words HOUSTON *’S, a nod to calling the team the “asterisks” for their championship season of 2017.

Expect security to be enhanced for the team at both home and away games to prevent any incidents that prove disruptive to fans simply out to enjoy a game of baseball. It should all add up to a season perhaps unlike any other in the sport’s proud history.

By Zach Spedden

SoFi Stadium will begin hosting the annual college football LA Bowl game in December, bringing another major event to the upcoming venue.

The future home to the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, SoFi Stadium is reportedly on track to be completed in July. Throughout its planning process, it has been expected that the multibillion-dollar stadium will draw a number of non-NFL events, and an annual college football bowl game adds to that agenda.

As was announced Wednesday, the LA Bowl will pit the Mountain West Conference’s number-one selection against the Pac-12 Conference’s number-five selection. The 2020 edition of the game will be held in December, though a specific date and kickoff time will be announced at a later date.

“Similar to SoFi Stadium, the LA Bowl game is designed to deliver an authentic Southern California experience,” Jason Gannon, managing director of SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, said in a press statement. “In addition, our bowl game events throughout the week will embrace Los Angeles as the entertainment capital of the world.”

For the two conferences, staging an annual bowl game in a major western market has its advantages. Adding to that, however, is the amenities that SoFi Stadium and the surrounding Hollywood Park development will offer, something that representatives from both conferences stressed in Wednesday’s announcement.

“We are thrilled to partner with LA Bowl and bring a Pac-12 presence to the new state-of-the-art facility at SoFi Stadium, in one of the biggest markets right in our footprint,” Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said in a press statement. “The entertainment presence of the new facility will provide great experiences for our student-athletes and fans as the Pac-12 continues its postseason matchup with the Mountain West.”

“The Mountain West is delighted to partner with the Pac-12 Conference and the outstanding management team assembled at SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park to launch this exciting new bowl game,” Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson said in a press statement. “Los Angeles is a tremendous market firmly within our footprint that is home to a large number of our member institutions’ alumni and the area from which many of our student-athletes are recruited. This will be a top-flight postseason destination for the No. 1 selection from our Conference.”

It is not unusual to see new NFL facilities land major college-football games, and that trend will continue in 2020 with Las Vegas’s Allegiant Stadium hosting the Pac-12 Championship in 2020 and 2021, along with the annual Las Vegas Bowl. Still, with SoFi Stadium set to host the LA Bowl through at least 2025, Wednesday’s announcement brings another notable entry to a slate of future events that includes the Super Bowl in 2022, the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship, and the 2028 Summer Olympics.

As part of a project led by Rams owner Stan Kroenke, SoFi Stadium will be the anchor of the larger Hollywood Park development, a sprawling 298-acre sports and entertainment destination that is expected to draw crowds on a year-round basis. The stadium naming-rights agreement with SoFi, a digital personal-finance firm, was announced in September.

Rendering courtesy Los Angeles Stadium and Entertainment District at Hollywood Park.

Zach Spedden is managing editor of Football Stadium Digest.