The Jacksonville Jaguars have partnered with Uber to become the first professional sports team to provide in-app access to promotion-priced tickets for fans using Uber to go to EverBank Field on game days. The initiative begins November 19.

“With Uber, we’ve created an integrated solution to the seating and transportation needs of Jaguars fans,” said Steve Ziff, Jaguars vice president of marketing and digital media, in a statement. “It’s a convenient ticket purchase and safe ride wrapped into one quick and easy transaction.”

According to a Jaguars’ press release, fans going to EverBank Field can access the Uber app on any smartphone and select the Jaguars paw print icon. Upon setting a pickup location, fans are then prompted to select up to four, lower level tickets at a promoted rate and “will be billed directly through Uber. Account holders will receive a confirmation message which can be presented at ticket will-call with a valid ID upon drop-off at EverBank Field.”

It is because of Uber’s forward-thinking partnership with the Jaguars that it is possible for the team to offer tickets at a promotional price, said Chad Johnson, Jaguars senior vice president of sales and service, in a statement.

“For last minute-decision makers not wanting to miss out on the excitement at EverBank Field, it’s a cost-effective choice to get downtown and into the game,” Johnson said.

(Image: Donna McGraw/Creative Commons)

Raise your hand if you love a good venue transformation video. For those with their hands raised, check out the video above, which shows the Royal Albert Hall transforming from a concert venue to a tennis venue. The change-over is part of the Champions Tennis event happening Dec. 2-6, 2015, at the iconic U.K. venue.

These are selected news articles that showed up in our inboxes on Monday morning that we want to pass along to you.

NFL Teams Honor Paris Victims With Touching Tributes (The Huffington Post)
“The NFL stood in solidarity with Paris on Sunday through a league-wide moment of silence, tributes with the French flag and other touching homages to the hundreds of victims of Friday’s terror attacks.”

Orpheum Renews Management Agreement with SMG (Wichita Business Journal)
“With the renewal, SMG will continue to manage the Orpheum’s programming, marketing and theater operations. SMG also aids in events bookings, rentals and community events.”

MLB Owners to Debate Safety Nets at Ballparks (Boston Herald)
“Fan safety has moved toward the top of the owners’ agenda after numerous instances this year in which fans were injured by either foul balls or broken or flying bats.”

KFC Yum! Center Management Contract Extended Until 2027 (The Lane Report)
“Since taking over management of the KFC Yum! Center in July 2012, AEG Facilities has brought nearly 150 public concerts and family shows to the city of Louisville and hosted several hundred University of Louisville events alongside dozens of private events.”

Tim Leiweke, Irving Azoff to Launch Oak View Group Venture (Billboard)
“MSG, Philips Arena, Forum, Prudential Center among early clients.”

(Image: NFL Twitter)

You, as an IAVM member, are our most important asset. Without your commitment to the association and to the venue management industry, we wouldn’t be here. Because of your support, we are featuring member profiles in our I Am Venue Management series.

If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be a: teacher. I have grown up around teachers. I have a wide variety of family and friends that are all teachers. I would want to be an elementary school teacher, because I love kids and think that teachers can have such an important impact on kids’ lives. I am a better person today because of the teachers that I have had.

Most impressive person I’ve ever met: is Sarah Rogers. Not because of what Sarah has done or the accomplishments she has (which are incredible), but because of the person she is and the heart she has. Sarah has a way of caring about students and their futures. She has definitely had an influence on my life.

I unwind by: going to the gym or going for a run. My biggest stress relief after a crazy day is definitely running.

On my desk right now: are lots of sticky notes, papers, and a note pad with highlighted reminders.

My favorite IAVM conference I ever attended was: VenueConnect. Doug Sandler gave my favorite session called, “Nice People Finish First” at VC15. It was a powerful message that left you feeling like you can do better and be a better person.

One trait an up-and-coming venue manager should have is: a good work ethic. If I could give one piece of advice to anyone wanting to work in this industry, do the work you don’t want to do, because one day it will pay off. Be ready for long days and lots of hours. It won’t always be glamorous, but it will always have its benefits.

One of my goals for this year is to: implement an app so students at our university are able to redeem their sports tickets online or on their phones. This will help for tracking purposes and make life a lot easier for everyone involved.

How do you plan to help elevate the profession? In today’s era, technology is rapidly growing and becoming more diverse. I think the world of technology has so much to offer, and for those of us just starting out in the industry, I think it is important to get behind social media and truly understand the capabilities and endless possibilities it can have for a company.

Where do you see new growth opportunities in the profession? This profession has definitely expanded tremendously in the last decade. With my foot in the door, I hope to continue developing and learning from all those surrounded by me. Being that I have just started out, I don’t know where life will take me, but I full heartedly believe that possibilities are endless.

How do you stay current with industry trends and developments? I try and stay on top of all the industry trends by doing lots of research and reading lots of articles. Not all articles pertain to my current job or even my profession, but I feel like there is potential for growth by reading and learning for all avenues.

Who are three people you’d invite to a dinner party and why? I would invite my dad, because he has been my role model and my biggest supporter. I would also invite Holly Rowe, because my dream would be to work for ESPN. Finally, Aaron Rodgers, because what girl wouldn’t want to have dinner with Aaron Rodgers!

McKell Bennett is assistant marketing director for the Adam Center – University of Montana in Missoula, Montana.

Every venue and organization has its star employees. However, the influence those stars have on others around them is often overlooked, according to research from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.

“Star performers produce more than other individuals, help increase the productivity of those around them and have an important impact on the performance of their organizations as a whole,” wrote Herman Aguinis (John F. Mee Chair of Management and professor of organizational behavior and human resources) with Kyle Bradley (a PhD candidate at Kelley) in the article, “The Secret Sauce for Organizational Success: Managing and Producing Star Performers” in the journal Organizational Dynamics.

Aguinis and Bradley analyzed research studies over the last five years involving more than 600,000 people in a variety of occupations and found that an individual’s performance doesn’t follow the normal bell curve distribution.

However, many organizations force managers to assign a set percentage of their employees to specific performance measures in order to cause a normal distribution. This has the effect of clustering a majority of people around the average of the distribution.

“Rather than a normal distribution, our research suggests that performance usually follows a power law distribution … Under this type of distribution, we expect to see many more star performers,” Aguinis and Bradley wrote.

A dictionary definition of power law is, “The concept that the magnitude of a subjective sensation increases proportional to a power of the stimulus intensity.

“If an organization implements a performance evaluation system that forces a normal distribution when performance actually follows a power law distribution, several star performers will be rated as average,” Aguinis and Bradley wrote. “This could have demoralizing effects on the individual and result in loss of motivation, drops in performance, or even turnover of some of the organization’s most valuable human capital.”

To manage and produce star performers, Aguinis and Bradley offer several recommendations below (from an Indiana University news release).

• Fairness does not mean equality in terms of rewarding everyone the same, but it involves everyone being given the same opportunity to become a star performer. To do so, organizations need to be transparent about the relationship between specific employee behaviors and results with rewards. Chipotle was cited as an example, due to its promotion process that enables anyone to move from making burritos to senior management.
• Remove situational constraints, which unleashes star performance, including when teams are put together. “Managers should leverage their star performers in team settings. This can be accomplished by allowing star performers to rotate in and out of teams, instead of keeping them locked down to one specific team,” Aguinis and Bradley wrote. “As stars rotate through teams, they will be able to have an impact on several other individuals.”
• Instead of focusing training resources on average workers, managers should “recognize that small, incremental improvements to star performers can have a much larger impact than trying to shift all individuals up the performance scale,” Aguinis and Bradley wrote. “Managers should use stars to help train and develop others within the organizations.”

“Implementing such practices may get us closer to reaching one of the most coveted ‘holy grails’ in management: turning human capital into an unbeatable and long-lasting source of competitive advantage,” Aguinis and Bradley wrote.

(Image: Jesús Belzunce Gómez/Creative Commons)