Brooke Bockelman has been named vice president of booking for Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (formerly Quicken Loans Arena). Bockelman comes to Cleveland from Columbus where she most recently served as director of booking for Columbus Arena Sports & Entertainment (CASE), the organization responsible for handling events for Nationwide Arena, the Schottenstein Center, and Ohio Stadium.

In her new position, Bockelman will manage all aspects of event booking for Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, including budgeting, event production, promotion, and negotiation. She will be responsible for coordinating and maintaining the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse event calendar which includes schedules for the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers and AHL Cleveland Monsters as well as all musical entertainment, live shows, and other private events. Additionally, she will work closely with community leaders on bidding for the opportunity to bring national events to Cleveland and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

“Brooke has worked with some of the best people in the industry and is highly respected across the country,” said Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Senior Vice President of Facility Operations Antony Bonavita, CVE. “We are excited to welcome someone with such diverse event experience into this role to help maintain our long-standing reputation as one of the busiest arenas in the country and the world.”

Bockelman’s accomplishments span beyond the workplace. In 2013, she established the Michael Belkin Scholarship at The Ohio State University, her alma mater, to send students to Pollstar Live!, the world’s largest gathering of live entertainment professionals. In 2016, she was inducted into IAVM’s 30 Under 30 Club.

Bockelman spent seven years with CASE in various booking capacities including booking manager and booking coordinator, where she served as the primary contact for all arena usage requests including schedules for the NHL Columbus Blue Jackets and various NCAA Ohio State Buckeyes sports teams. In addition to managing large-scale concerts and conventions, she also handled various national NCAA events including the 2018 Women’s Final Four Basketball Tournament. Prior to CASE, Bockelman worked for Live Nation Ohio Valley and Columbus Blue Jackets Arena Management.

George R. Brown Convention Center (GRB) in Houston, TX, has promoted John Gonzalez, CMP, to Senior Vice President of Operations & General Manager; Kelly Wolf, CMP, CEM, to Director of Convention Services; and Todd Holloman to Director of Live Events and Experiences. All bring leadership expertise and industry experience to their new roles.

In his new expanded role, Gonzalez will manage the day-to-day operations of the convention center, as well as Houston First Theater District venues Wortham Theater, Jones Hall, and Miller Outdoor Theater.

Kelly Wolf has been at the GRB since 2009, previously having worked with Aramark as the banquets & catering manager before moving to the GRB Event Services team as a convention services manager in 2015. Since then, Wolf has worked diligently to deliver the highest quality of service to clients while demonstrating strong organizational, planning, and management skills. She is currently completing her Master of Science in Hospitality and Tourism Management from Purdue University. In her new role, Wolf will oversee the Convention Services team.

Holloman has been with the GRB for a year and a half, having previously served as the director of convention services. He comes to the role of director of live events and experiences with a background in event operations, specializing in large-scale outdoor events. Previously, Holloman served in event management and director roles in the Mayor’s Office of Special Events and at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, before taking the role of vice president of Super Bowl Live for the Houston Super Bowl Committee. His new position will focus on building outdoor experiences and activations on the Plaza at Avenida Houston, the GRB’s 100,000+ square foot plaza and event space, as well as various outdoor venues in Houston’s Theater District.

Chefs from Centerplate, the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center’s exclusive food and beverage provider, impressed judges at two culinary competitions in recent weeks. At the 11th annual Hogs for the Cause, a barbecue-themed fundraiser for cancer research, Centerplate New Orleans Executive Chef Brandon Felder, Centerplate New Orleans Sous Chef Adam Gianelloni, and team leader, Sysco’s Andrew Shuford, raised $50,000 for cancer research, the ninth best out of more than 85 teams competing.

Days later, at the New Orleans Food and Wine Experience, Chefs Felder and Gianelloni walked away with a gold medal in the Best in Show – Meat/Poultry Category for their dish “Duck Four Ways”: Duck, Foie Gras and Goat Cheese Ravioli with Duck Confit and Spinach, Rich Foie Gras Laced Duck Demi-Glace, Sunchoke Purée, and Duck Crackling.

“This event is always fun for Adam and me. We get to play around and show our fine dining side,” said Chef Felder. “We never agree on what to do, but it always works out in the end.”

The Centerplate team continues a streak of high placing dishes at the New Orleans Food and Wine Experience, winning three gold medals and one silver medal over the last four years.

“Our Centerplate team, time and again, excels at what they do both in our facility and in the community. Not easy in a world-renowned culinary destination. Our event planning clients routinely give our culinary team high marks,” said Michael J. Sawaya, Convention Center president. “We are proud of Brandon and Adam but not surprised.”

The Major League Soccer Minnesota United played its first game at its new Allianz Field against the New York City FC, a 3-3 deadlock held under bright evening lights.

Allianz Field seats 19,400 and cost $250 million after breaking ground in June 2017. The St. Paul-based club assumed management from construction manager Mortenson earlier this year.

“The club has done an incredible job of catering it to everything we need,” United coach Adrian Heath said in a prepared statement. “I know the supporters are going to be impressed with everything that they’ve got. I can say from the professional’s point of view, and I’ve been doing this since I left school at 15: We’ve got everything that we need. This is as good as anywhere in the world.”

United previously played home games at TCF Bank Stadium, home to the University of Minnesota’s Golden Gophers. Attendance in the team’s final season was 23,902. The team plans to sell up to 2,290 tickets in a standing-only section in the south end of the new stadium.

“You look from the outside and it’s just a beautiful piece of architecture,” United veteran midfielder Ethan Finlay said. “Then you walk out of the tunnel and you can see the detail. It’s truly going to be a special place for years to come.”

United managing director Bill McGuire added that the stadium “will bring soccer, the world’s game, to our community in a long-lasting way, with a vision that says we want the future to be better than the past.”

Daktronics and The Centennial Authority, owner of PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC, are partnering to install a 4,000-square-foot centerhung LED display system by the start of the 2019-20 hockey season to enhance the fan experience at Carolina Hurricanes hockey games, NC State University men’s basketball games, and other special events held at the facility. The centerhung is nearly three times larger than the existing system and adds to the already-installed 5,250 square feet of digital displays at the arena.

“We are committed to maintaining PNC Arena as a first-class facility and providing enhancements that create the best possible fan experience for all events,” said The Centennial Authority Chairman Thomas McCormick. “We are excited to unveil the new centerhung scoreboard at the opening of the 2019-2020 Carolina Hurricanes and NC State men’s basketball seasons.”

The centerhung is curved around the corners to provide a large, single canvas presentation that is HDR ready and capable. This single canvas presentation will measure approximately 25 feet high by 148 feet wide and will feature 5.9-millimeter line spacing to bring high-resolution imagery to fans throughout the arena. Each side of the centerhung provides a 25-foot-high by 47-foot-wide viewing experience while each end measures 25 feet high by 27 feet wide.

“This new video system will bring a larger-than-life experience to fans and event attendees at PNC Arena,” said Daktronics President and CEO Reece Kurtenbach. “We’re excited to work with PNC Arena, the Carolina Hurricanes, and NC State to bring this improved visual centerpiece to their events. As the fan experience at live events continues to be paramount, our team remains dedicated to providing the best possible solutions for our customers to help them exceed their entertainment goals.”

Two displays will be mounted to the underbelly of the centerhung to appeal to fans, players and coaches sitting courtside. Each display will measure approximately 10 feet high by 20 feet wide and will feature 3.9-millimeter line spacing to provide optimized resolution for those viewers.

The main display features variable content zoning allowing it to show one large image or multiple zoned images. Live video, instant replay, statistics and game information, graphics and animations, and sponsorship messages can all be shown simultaneously or take over the entire display in coordination with specific moments during the event.

These displays join approximately 5,250 square feet of Daktronics LED displays currently installed at PNC Arena including two 360-degree ribbon displays, five more ribbon displays, 10 scorer’s tables and an exterior marquee.