Trey
Registered
Sounds like an open house on the 19th.
Louie Villalobos
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 28, 2006 12:00 AM
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Only 12 days were guaranteed this year.
That's the head start Global Spectrum was given when the company took over management of Cardinals Stadium and responsibility for keeping the $455 million venue open for business all year.
The national facility-management company, a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based Comcast-Spectator, was given the keys to the newest and most technologically advanced multipurpose facility in the country.
Then it was told to go forth and bring events.
That's what the company set about doing for the past year. So far, it's been successful.
Peter Sullivan, the stadium's general manager for Global Spectrum, said more than 115 event days have already been booked during the venue's first year.
That includes 10 Arizona Cardinals home games, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Tostitos Bowl Championship Series title football game. Those dates, aside from possible Cardinals playoff games, are set in stone.
The rest of the year is left up to Sullivan's crew to fill.
The 63,000 capacity stadium is located in Glendale off Maryland Avenue just east of Loop 101. It will open for football on Aug. 12, when the Pittsburgh Steelers come to town for a preseason game.
"Our goal has always been to make this facility one of the busiest in the country," Sullivan said before projecting the stadium would bring in 1.1 million visitors in its first year.
Cardinals Stadiums is Global Spectrum's first venture in the Southwest and is the company's largest venue in capacity. The company manages more than 30 facilities across the country.
The long-term success of the stadium will depend greatly on whether Sullivan and his team can attract events every year. Those already planned have signed multiyear contracts but only for the first three years.
Major concerts, NCAA Final Four matchups, international soccer and Super Bowls are all on Sullivan's radar. So are trade shows, conventions, proms and graduations.
"Different things float the boats of different people," Sullivan said. "We're going after it all."
For now, though, Global Spectrum is riding the newness of the stadium and the venue's unique multipurpose design.
HOK Sport, a national architectural firm, helped draw up Cardinals Stadium. The firm has worked on about 15 National Football League venues since the late 1980s.
Dennis Wellner, a senior principal for HOK Sport who worked on the stadium, said designing a good multipurpose facility can be challenging if the anchor tenant isn't first in the thoughts of the designers.
In this case, that meant making sure the sightlines were optimal for Cardinals games and that the team got the natural playing surface it wanted.
Next, he said, the focus should shift to designing a venue that can hold a variety of events with equal zeal.
"So you have to create a building that serves everything as ideally as possible," Wellner said. "These venues have to be flexible."
Several elements give the stadium versatility. Chief is its retractable field, the only one of its kind in North America.
The massive field tray brings electrical life to the stadium's floor by revealing a utility grid for event organizers to use. It also gives the team the playing surface it wanted.
More than that, Sullivan said, it gives his staff the ability to put large-scale events on the floor of an NFL stadium even during the football season.
"Here you can push a button, have at it on the concrete, and you don't have to worry about damaging the field," Sullivan said, referring to the power grid along the stadium's floor beneath the field tray.
Another big component of the stadium's versatility is its open-air design. The main concourse runs all the way around the venue, leaving several spaces open for gatherings.
Sullivan can also take advantage of the stadium's suite level to host smaller events.
All those components combine to allow Global Spectrum to book several events on the same day with little overlap.
That will be evident early on, when the company hosts its first public open house of the stadium, tentatively scheduled for Aug. 19. Sullivan said the public will be able to get a tour of the venue while the first non-football event of the year, the Men's Luxury Toy Expo, is going on at the floor level.
"To me, nothing says it more than that," he said. "You have a free open-house event going on and a paid event on the floor."
In the end, Wellner said, the stadium has shown the architectural community what can be done with a large venue.
Several teams, including Indianapolis and Dallas, are currently planning new NFL stadiums. Wellner said they will have to be covered in order to be a true multipurpose facility.
They'll also have to take the good from existing stadiums, something he said the designs for Cardinals Stadiums did.
"It brings all current thinking to bear," he said. "So the newest one will be the best in terms of relying on all that thinking and implementing it."
The Glendale stadium is not the first multipurpose facility in the Valley to handle professional sports, though. It's not even the first in Glendale.
Glendale Arena, which sits across the street from the stadium, and US Airways Center in downtown Phoenix are both known for non-athletic events.
Jim Foss, general manager of Glendale Arena, said staying true to the multipurpose mission can be challenging. His staff contends with the National Hockey League schedule, which takes up at least eight months from the fall to the spring.
Still, the arena was listed No. 54 in the top 100 busiest arenas in the world in 2004 and has gained a nationwide reputation as a venue for such big-name music acts as the Rolling Stones and Madonna.
Foss, who is friends with Sullivan, said Global Spectrum should expect a hectic first year. He said Sullivan isn't just booking a venue, he is involved in the construction as well.
"It's a time when you lose your hair," Foss said. "The opening consumes your life."
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Louie Villalobos
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 28, 2006 12:00 AM
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
Only 12 days were guaranteed this year.
That's the head start Global Spectrum was given when the company took over management of Cardinals Stadium and responsibility for keeping the $455 million venue open for business all year.
The national facility-management company, a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based Comcast-Spectator, was given the keys to the newest and most technologically advanced multipurpose facility in the country.
Then it was told to go forth and bring events.
That's what the company set about doing for the past year. So far, it's been successful.
Peter Sullivan, the stadium's general manager for Global Spectrum, said more than 115 event days have already been booked during the venue's first year.
That includes 10 Arizona Cardinals home games, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Tostitos Bowl Championship Series title football game. Those dates, aside from possible Cardinals playoff games, are set in stone.
The rest of the year is left up to Sullivan's crew to fill.
The 63,000 capacity stadium is located in Glendale off Maryland Avenue just east of Loop 101. It will open for football on Aug. 12, when the Pittsburgh Steelers come to town for a preseason game.
"Our goal has always been to make this facility one of the busiest in the country," Sullivan said before projecting the stadium would bring in 1.1 million visitors in its first year.
Cardinals Stadiums is Global Spectrum's first venture in the Southwest and is the company's largest venue in capacity. The company manages more than 30 facilities across the country.
The long-term success of the stadium will depend greatly on whether Sullivan and his team can attract events every year. Those already planned have signed multiyear contracts but only for the first three years.
Major concerts, NCAA Final Four matchups, international soccer and Super Bowls are all on Sullivan's radar. So are trade shows, conventions, proms and graduations.
"Different things float the boats of different people," Sullivan said. "We're going after it all."
For now, though, Global Spectrum is riding the newness of the stadium and the venue's unique multipurpose design.
HOK Sport, a national architectural firm, helped draw up Cardinals Stadium. The firm has worked on about 15 National Football League venues since the late 1980s.
Dennis Wellner, a senior principal for HOK Sport who worked on the stadium, said designing a good multipurpose facility can be challenging if the anchor tenant isn't first in the thoughts of the designers.
In this case, that meant making sure the sightlines were optimal for Cardinals games and that the team got the natural playing surface it wanted.
Next, he said, the focus should shift to designing a venue that can hold a variety of events with equal zeal.
"So you have to create a building that serves everything as ideally as possible," Wellner said. "These venues have to be flexible."
Several elements give the stadium versatility. Chief is its retractable field, the only one of its kind in North America.
The massive field tray brings electrical life to the stadium's floor by revealing a utility grid for event organizers to use. It also gives the team the playing surface it wanted.
More than that, Sullivan said, it gives his staff the ability to put large-scale events on the floor of an NFL stadium even during the football season.
"Here you can push a button, have at it on the concrete, and you don't have to worry about damaging the field," Sullivan said, referring to the power grid along the stadium's floor beneath the field tray.
Another big component of the stadium's versatility is its open-air design. The main concourse runs all the way around the venue, leaving several spaces open for gatherings.
Sullivan can also take advantage of the stadium's suite level to host smaller events.
All those components combine to allow Global Spectrum to book several events on the same day with little overlap.
That will be evident early on, when the company hosts its first public open house of the stadium, tentatively scheduled for Aug. 19. Sullivan said the public will be able to get a tour of the venue while the first non-football event of the year, the Men's Luxury Toy Expo, is going on at the floor level.
"To me, nothing says it more than that," he said. "You have a free open-house event going on and a paid event on the floor."
In the end, Wellner said, the stadium has shown the architectural community what can be done with a large venue.
Several teams, including Indianapolis and Dallas, are currently planning new NFL stadiums. Wellner said they will have to be covered in order to be a true multipurpose facility.
They'll also have to take the good from existing stadiums, something he said the designs for Cardinals Stadiums did.
"It brings all current thinking to bear," he said. "So the newest one will be the best in terms of relying on all that thinking and implementing it."
The Glendale stadium is not the first multipurpose facility in the Valley to handle professional sports, though. It's not even the first in Glendale.
Glendale Arena, which sits across the street from the stadium, and US Airways Center in downtown Phoenix are both known for non-athletic events.
Jim Foss, general manager of Glendale Arena, said staying true to the multipurpose mission can be challenging. His staff contends with the National Hockey League schedule, which takes up at least eight months from the fall to the spring.
Still, the arena was listed No. 54 in the top 100 busiest arenas in the world in 2004 and has gained a nationwide reputation as a venue for such big-name music acts as the Rolling Stones and Madonna.
Foss, who is friends with Sullivan, said Global Spectrum should expect a hectic first year. He said Sullivan isn't just booking a venue, he is involved in the construction as well.
"It's a time when you lose your hair," Foss said. "The opening consumes your life."
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