The Spokane Public Facilities District announced that it has named current Spokane Convention Center General Manager Stephanie Curran as incoming CEO.

Kevin Twohig, District CEO, announced in September that he will be retiring at the end of 2017. The District engaged Venue Solutions Group to lead a national search process and recently conducted a series of candidate interviews.

Curran, who has been an employee of the District since 2003, has served in many roles ranging from Event Supervisor to Assistant General Manager of the Spokane Convention Center and INB Performing Arts Center to being named General Manager in 2015.

Curran brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in event and facilities management, community partnerships, and fiscal awareness of the District. She is highly regarded and respected in both the greater Spokane region and the public assembly venue industry.

“Stephanie’s current depth within the District, her energy and vision for a fast-paced, evolving and competitive event planning environment makes her uniquely qualified for this position,” said Marty Dickinson, District Board member.

The transition will occur on February 1, 2018. A formal transition plan will be in the works for the next 90 days with Curran and outgoing CEO Twohig.

Larry Soehren, District Board Chair, said, “We are excited to have Stephanie step into this role. She has been committed to the District for many years and has demonstrated an excellent ability to effectively lead our exceptional facilities like the INB and Spokane Convention Center.”

“I am very pleased to see Stephanie emerge as the successful candidate from what was an extensive national search process,” added Twohig. “I have great confidence in her ability to lead the District.”

With the 2017 World Series in full gear and tickets to see the games live costing hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars, the personal-finance website WalletHub released its World Series Facts – Dodgers vs. Astros infographic to go along with its Best Baseball Cities report.

To determine the best places to be a fan of America’s second most followed sport, WalletHub compared more than 360 U.S. cities with at least one college or professional baseball team across 31 key metrics. They range from performance level of team(s) to average ticket price to stadium accessibility.

(Editor’s note: The following is presented to you with no bias and is certainly open for lively debate.)

Top 20 Baseball Cities
1 New York, NY
2 St. Louis, MO
3 Los Angeles, CA
4 San Francisco, CA
5 Arlington, TX
6 Boston, MA
7 Atlanta, GA
8 Cincinnati, OH
9 Chicago, IL
10 Pittsburgh, PA
11 Kansas City, MO
12 Detroit, MI
13 Baltimore, MD
14 Cleveland, OH
15 Oakland, CA
16 Minneapolis, MN
17 St. Petersburg, FL
18 Milwaukee, WI
19 Washington, DC
20 Philadelphia, PA

2017 World Series Facts •$3,332 vs. $2,144: Average ticket prices for 2017 World Series games in Los Angeles and Houston, respectively

•$1.47 Million: Amount the Los Angeles Dodgers spent on each regular season win, compared to the Houston Astros’ $1.60 million

•$1.15 Billion: 2016 revenue for MLB Advanced Media, the league’s digital arm

•$1 Billion: Disney’s 2016 investment in MLB Advanced Media’s spinoff, BAMTech, for a 33 percent stake

Thirty SMG-managed arenas and theaters received the prestigious Prime Site Award presented by Facilities and Event Management magazine. The Facilities’ Prime Site award is given to the top entertainment, sports, and special event venues, including Arenas, Civic Centers, Coliseums, Auditoriums, Stadiums, Theaters, PACs, Amphitheaters, University Venues, Fairgrounds and Special Event Venues. Readers of the magazine nominate venues based on numerous criteria ranging from promotional support and event staff proficiency to physical aspects such as seating versatility, A/V and staging quality, and back-of-house amenities. Winners of the award demonstrate the ability to please both incoming acts and patrons on multiple levels.

Doug Thornton, SMG Executive Vice President, Stadiums and Arenas said, “This is continued validation that SMG-managed arenas and theaters provide their users with the greatest value and highest level of service in the industry. We are proud of the men and women of SMG for their hard work and dedication to the communities they serve.”

This year’s Prime Site winning SMG-managed arenas and theaters are:

Arie Crown Theater, Chicago, IL
Bellco Theatre, Denver, CO
BOK Center, Tulsa, OK
Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, NY
Cabarrus Arena and Events Center, Concord, NC
CenturyLink Center, Bossier City, LA
Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OK
Citizens Business Bank Arena, Ontario, CA
Coliseo de Puerto Rico, Hato Rey, PR
Covelli Centre, Youngstown, OH
DCU Center Arena, Worcester, MA
Dunkin’ Donuts Center, Providence, RI
Florence Civic Center, Florence, SC
George M. Sullivan Sports Arena, Anchorage, AK
Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, FL
Laredo Energy Arena, Laredo, TX
Meridian Centre, St. Catharines, Ontario, CA
Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Wilkes Barre, PA
North Charleston Coliseum, North Charleston, SC
Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, NE
Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, VA
Rogers K-Rock Centre, Kingston, ON
Royal Farms Arena, Baltimore, MD
Santander Arena, Reading, PA
Save Mart Center, Fresno, CA
Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA
SNHU Arena, Manchester, NH
Stockton Arena, Stockton, CA
Times Union Center, Albany, NY
Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI

By Russ Simons, Mark Herrera, and Dr. Lou Marciani

The recent events in Las Vegas have identified an area of public assembly facility event operations that involves technical production and event support personnel who need more direction, and we may not be providing all of the information necessary.

In our opinion, this issue requires an industry wide response, which is why we have joined together. This communication is intended to provide some initial direction to facilities of all types, including Arenas, Convention Centers & stadiums, as well as fairs and festivals of all sizes. You can expect that the issues surrounding information, training and response to recent events by public assembly professionals will be included in our continuing commitment to improvement in all areas of Safety and Security in our facilities and at our events.

Questions have been raised about the recommended protocols for technical production and event support personnel who are not regular staff at our facilities and events and how to improve their responses to an emergency situation.

An example is the procedure used to educate and inform visiting teams in many professional sports environments where a mandatory meeting is scheduled with the key staff representing the visiting team and emergency procedures for the facility are communicated using diagrams, maps, or other support information necessary (including rally points etc.) to ensure they know what to do in an emergency situation.

Event-based temporary technical production and event support personnel should be informed of this information through their internal chain of command, i.e., show producers and production managers.

Untrained technical production and event support personnel should never ever take any unilateral action in an emergency situation.

In an emergency situation, technical production and event support personnel should follow the direction of trained Facility, Fair, or Festival staff members.

It is our combined advice that everyone examine the information provided to show producers and production managers to ensure that there is clear direction as to how they, their staff and any sub-contract service providers should respond in an emergency.

We further recommend that everyone look closely at and identify any other areas where as an industry we may not be providing regular and repeated information to any untrained groups in our facilities, fairs and events on how to respond in an emergency. Examples include third party providers for food & beverage concessions, banquet and catering personnel, merchandise sales, not-for profit groups, specialty or one-off programs like designated driver booths and sponsor/partnership activations, and entertainment performers and support personnel.

Russ Simons is on the DHS Public Assembly Facility Sub-Sector Council, Mark Herrera is IAVM Director of Education, and Dr. Lou Marciani is Director of the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4)

Jimmy Earl, CFE, has been named Senior Associate Athletics Director of the Frank Erwin Center by Texas Athletics. Earl is only the third individual to lead the Frank Erwin Center since the building’s doors opened in 1977. Earl was the arena’s first Events Manager and has more than 40 years of experience in the facility management industry.

“Jimmy’s accomplishments and expertise are invaluable as we transition leadership of the Frank Erwin Center,” said Men’s Athletics Director Mike Perrin. “Under Jimmy’s leadership, we will celebrate the 40th year of this great venue as it continues to be the home of the Texas Men’s and Women’s basketball programs along with providing Central Texas with the best live entertainment options.”

In addition to his experience at the Frank Erwin Center, Earl was the Manager of the Fort Worth/Tarrant County Convention Center from 1987-1990. He is also a past president of IAVM. In 2016, he was awarded IAVM’s Charles M. McElravy Award, which is given to a Professional, Honorary, or Retired member of IAVM who, in the opinion of the Board of Directors, has made the greatest lifetime achievement to the welfare of the Association or profession. He is a 1993 graduate of the Public Assembly Facility Management School at Oglebay, attained the Certified Facilities Executive (CFE) designation in 1995 and attended the Senior Executive Symposium at Cornell in 1997.

Earl also completed the Leadership Austin program in 1994 and has served with the Austin Arts Commission, the UT Mentor program, as President of the Pflugerville Education Foundation and on various boards in Austin, including Austin Recovery.

Congratulations to one of our industry’s true professionals and a leader in every sense of the word!