By R.V. Baugus

I met Jana Brooks, CVP, for the first time two years ago in Chicago at VenueConnect. To say I was impressed with this young lady would be a huge understatement. Vivacious, curious, driven are just a few words I can immediately think of to describe Jana. Oh, and maybe “fast-track,” as in someone who is going places in the world of public assembly venue management.

Jana’s new move on January 3, 2023, as Operations Manager of Baltimore’s CFB Bank Arena and the Oak View Group is proof positive and validates what I already knew. She will not be moving far after serving as Manager of Events and Tenant Services for the Maryland Stadium Authority – owner/operators of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, M&T Bank Stadium, the B&O Warehouse in Baltimore.

Jana, in her own social media words, shared the following under the title of “End of an Era.”

I don’t even know how to describe the past nine years of games, special events, long hours, conferences, tours, relationship building, travel, meetings, logistical planning, meeting coordination, dignitary visits, reports, site maps, walk throughs, contracts, golf cart rides, certifications, and personal growth, but here we are.

My time as the Event and Tenant Services Manager for the Maryland Stadium Authority has come to an end. There is SO much gushing I can do about a position that has brought me such incredible joy and excitement, but we would be here all day. As with anything in life, there are highs and lows; however, my accomplishments with MSA have been some of the greatest achievements of my life and career and for that I am forever grateful. I have grown in ways I could have never imagined. This is not a goodbye, just a ‘see ya later.’

I am looking forward to moving onto the CFG Bank Arena and the Oak View Group as their Operations Manager on January 3, 2023. I am thrilled to learn the intricacies of arena life, gain exposure to new events, and leading a team in a completely renovated building! Let’s goooo!

Oak View Group, providers of venue management to the St. Charles (MO) Convention Center, has promoted Mark Tenholder to General Manager. Tenholder will oversee all functions of the building at the award-winning facility.

Tenholder joined the team in July of 2021 as Director of Sales and Marketing and has been serving as Interim General Manager since February 2022.

Prior to joining the Convention Center, Mark was the Corporate Director of Sales Task Force for
Crescent Hotels and Resorts, building teams at hotels across the country. Mark is a veteran of the
hospitality industry with over 27 years in hotels, most of those in the St. Louis area.

By VenuesNow and R.V. Baugus

The VenuesNow Hall of Honor celebrates industry professionals who have reached the highest level across all sectors of the business during their long and distinguished careers. A small number of honorees whose professional lives exemplify excellence, integrity, ingenuity, and a passion for the business are selected by VenuesNow editorial staff and inducted each year.

This year’s class is made up of legends in their respective fields.

Peggy Daidakis was the first woman to run a major American convention center, and her tenure lasted through nine Baltimore mayors. Daidakis retired on September 1.

Daidakis joined the staff of Mayor William Donald Schaefer in 1973 and served in his administration for over four years. She began her career in the convention industry in 1978 when Schaefer assigned her to be part of the team that opened the BCC in 1979. In July of 1986, Daidakis was appointed by Mayor Clarence “Du” Burns as the first female director of a national convention center. She was instrumental in planning the BCC’s expansion, which tripled its size to be the largest public assembly meetings and exhibition venue in the State of Maryland.

In 2013, Daidakis was honored by the Convention Industry Council (CIC) as an inductee to the CIC Hall of Leaders, one of the highest honors in the hospitality industry. That same year, she also received the International Association of Venue Managers’ Convention Center Leader of the Year Award. The BCC serves as a model to facilities around the country and has been honored to receive numerous industry awards for excellence.

Dot Lischick, after 26 years at Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, this year celebrated her retirement, which came after COVID as she was dedicated to getting the venue through the difficult period before moving on to her next chapter.

Lischick has been as much a part of the roughly 8,000-seat World Arena as the thousands of concerts, trade shows and sporting events that the venue has hosted since it opened near Interstate 25 and Circle Drive on the city’s south side.

Originally called the Colorado Springs World Arena, the $57.2 million venue was financed largely with private donations, along with infrastructure contributions by the city and El Paso County.

Lischick worked for a Florida company that was hired to run the World Arena and its adjacent Ice Hall, and she oversaw operation of the facilities when they opened. When a local nonprofit that owns the World Arena took over its day-to-day operation in 2002, Lischick joined the organization as an employee.

Ken Young over the past 50 years has owned three concessions firms and continues as an owner of multiple minor league baseball teams.

A food service legend from hot dogs to the Super Bowl to ‘The Simpsons’ Ken Young may be the most unassuming executive in sports and entertainment. Over the past 50 years, Young has owned three concessions firms and six minor league teams, but you’d never know it at the Super Bowl, where he could be seen hawking official game programs. Working basically around the clock on game days, Young and his crews ran 400 to 600 workers, generated more than $900,000 from selling game programs and merchandise at 16 Super Bowls, plus 26 Outback Bowls and seven national championship football games.

By Rick Van Warner

Global design firm Populous and owner Oak View Group celebrated the completion of Southern California’s newest world-class venue, Acrisure Arena, which opened its doors to the Greater Palm Springs public on December 14. The new performance and sports facility will introduce a state-of-the-art music venue to one of the world’s most notable music destinations.

Populous was engaged as architect of record by the arena’s developer, Oak View Group (OVG) — the global venue development, advisory, and investment company for the sports and live entertainment industry — to create an indoor music venue for the Greater Palm Springs and Coachella Valley region, providing architectural, interior, branding, and wayfinding design services. The arena also serves as home to the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, affiliated with the NHL’s Seattle Kraken. Populous completed the new home of the Kraken, Climate Pledge Arena, last year.

“We approached the design of Acrisure Arena by first immersing ourselves in the local history, landscape, and culture of Palm Springs, one of the nation’s iconic music destinations,” said Robert Norvell, Populous principal and lead architect of Acrisure Arena. “The result is a venue that changes the performance and hockey landscape of the West Coast, simultaneously authentic to its site and leading the industry into the future of entertainment experience.”

Acrisure Arena, with a concert capacity of 11,000, marries an intimate and personalized venue with the infrastructure and technology to serve as an ideal jumping-off destination for artists beginning major tours along the West Coast. It is the first indoor/outdoor hockey arena — unique premium amenities harness the warm, year-round desert climate, giving guests access to outdoor concessions and club balconies with a breathtaking array of views, all while remaining inside the arena’s gates. The arena features several sustainable design elements, working with the landscape’s geographical conditions and leveraging its desert climate.

“Populous is one of the best in the business and that’s why we’ve partnered with them on a number of our other buildings such as UBS Arena and Climate Pledge Arena,” said Tim Leiweke, chairman and CEO, Oak View Group. “Palm Springs is well-known for its signature architecture and its beautiful surrounding mountains, so with Acrisure Arena, designing a building that perfectly fit the landscape, with sustainability in mind, was essential. From unobstructed sightlines and premium eateries to modern artist dressing rooms and sports facilities, Acrisure Arena will be the crown jewel of the entire Coachella Valley.”

Populous conducted an audit of the Palm Desert area, studying local architecture and capturing colors, materials, language, and local design to incorporate into Acrisure Arena, from exterior expression to interior design. The team wanted this space to be a leading sports and entertainment venue while also fitting seamlessly and authentically into its community. As such, the windswept forms of the exterior reflect the natural vernacular of the desert landscape with palm tree islands as an oasis and respite from the harsh sun.

The arena’s seating bowl is buried in the earth, downsizing its overall height and allowing direct access to the main concourse through a seamless at-grade entry experience. The arena footprint also includes the Berger Foundation Iceplex, the training facility for the Firebirds that is open to community use and events. The Iceplex is home to a 5,000 square-foot training facility, with a 1,500 square-foot players’ lounge for the AHL team.

Made for Music

Acrisure Arena will host some of the world’s most popular artists, fitting for a region with a rich history in musical entertainment. In order to serve as a first stop for large west-coast tours, the arena’s infrastructure, along with its artist amenities, rival those of any major venue of larger capacity. Acrisure Arena’s rigging system boasts the same capabilities of the nation’s major performance venues, allowing artists to fully test their touring setup and entertainment assets in their first show. Also a hockey arena, the conscious choice to forgo a center-hung scoreboard allows for artists to rig their stage show any way they choose with easy access to multiple catwalks, making the location ideal for rehearsals before a tour begins.

In addition, the intimate size of the venue allows for optimal performance acoustics. The rigging grid is approximately 60 feet above the ground, compared to a tradition 120 feet in a larger arena. This, coupled with sound paneling and the two-level structure of the bowl, creates excellent acoustics, while also generating a loud atmosphere for hockey games.

An arena designed for some of the most popular artists in the world requires detailed, bespoke interior spaces. Populous led the interior design of the arena, from concourses to artist areas, premium clubs and suites. A large premium club hosts exterior balconies with views of the San Jacinto mountains, while the two sponsor-branded end stage bars bookend the arena, allowing for a unique concertgoer experience. These spaces, along with the two Founders’ Suites and 20 premium suites, employ a unified, intimate and locally inspired style that flows easily from one space to another. The design includes local influences and artwork, warm neutral color tones, stone such as marble and quartzite, and notable iconic Palm Springs photography.

Specialized premium areas include the Bunker Club — a Hollywood retro-inspired club on the arena floor with darker tones, a dramatic backlit palm leaf feature wall, and historical black-and-white photos — and the two sponsor-branded center-ice bars, which reflect a classic Palm Springs pool party, complete with yellow baffled ceilings and black-and-white pool tile on the bars.

One of the most attractive aspects for artists visiting Acrisure Arena is the expansive artist compound. A space that is traditionally hidden underground, the star areas at the arena are both indoors and outdoors, with an outdoor space that includes sports areas, a bar and an eating area for artists and their groups. In addition, all indoor star areas are located directly off the loading dock, so artists and their crews can position their vehicles at the loading dock and walk right into their green rooms and crew areas, all outfitted with lounges, restrooms, and prep areas.

Sustainability

Populous designed Acrisure Arena to solve for a notable feat — hosting two ice sheets in one building in a desert climate — while using sustainable design techniques to lessen the environmental impacts of a cold building in a warm climate.

The sustainability of the arena begins with the structure. Both ice sheets are buried several feet below grade to harness the cooler nature of the ground, limit solar exposure and increase energy efficiency. The reflective roof of the arena reduces heat gain, while the landscape uses native and locally adapted plant material to reduce required maintenance and irrigation and minimize stormwater runoff, which has the potential to provide benefits to local wildlife. Recycled water is used for some on-site irrigation, and trenches capture and infiltrate the storm water runoff, recharging the groundwater supply. The rest of the site uses vegetated swales that are incorporated into the site landscape.

From a visitor-facing perspective, the arena will promote alternative transportation by providing bicycle racks and pathways and areas designated for rideshare. The arena uses all LED lighting and sports lighting, and the design eliminated glazing at the south and west façades to reduce heat gain and provide a more energy-efficient exterior.

Rick Van Warner is with Great Ink Communication. Photo of sold-out Doobie Brothers’ show.

From StadiumBusiness.com

The NHL’s Minnesota Wild has debuted a new store powered by Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology at Xcel Energy Center.

Wild Market, which debuted during the Wild’s home game against the Chicago Blackhawks, enables guests to buy food and beverages without waiting in line.

The store also features Amazon One technology, which gives guests the option to enter the store and pay for their items with a hover of their palm. Xcel Energy Center is the first arena in Minnesota to feature Amazon’s Just Walk Out and Amazon One.

Once fans are inside the store, the technology determines what items they have taken or returned to the shelves. After they leave, the credit card they inserted or linked to their Amazon One ID is charged for the items they took.

Wild president Matt Majka said: “The fan experience is extremely important to us, and we are excited to open Wild Market featuring Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology and Amazon One at Xcel Energy Center for Wild games and all our arena events. Our fans will experience the added convenience of quicker transactions getting them back to their seats faster with less time standing in line.”

Meanwhile, Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center has debuted its own Just Walk Out shopping experience powered by Amazon.

The store, dubbed 816 Market, allows fans to enter without waiting in line to check out. Guests will also have the option to enter the store and pay using Amazon One.

816 Market will sell water, beer, seltzers, soft drinks, and other select food and beverage items. Guests aged 21 or older can purchase alcohol by showing their ID to a store attendant for age verification.