Capital improvements and renovations are happening
throughout our industry and are arguably more important than ever as stadiums
are constantly working to enhance guest experience. At Long Beach State, as we
are finally set to break ground on a multi-phase renovation of our ballpark, I’m
reminded of the past few years’ worth of ballpark designs, challenges,
breakthroughs and cost-cuttings. While these experiences weren’t unique to our
project, they highlight some of the common challenges and processes that venue
managers face today.
Our biggest challenge was insuring that the renovations were
both functional for the team and tenants and also enhanced the guest
experience. With many stakeholders investing their time and money into the
project, we couldn’t just make a better ballpark for the team or university or
a better guest experience for our patrons while neglecting the tenants. A
simple example of that balance is in phase two of our project as we plan to re-design
the parking lot to include a practice infield for the team and more parking
spots with better ingress/egress for guests (our number one complaint). That
balance between guest experience and functionality is key –the core of our
business is to create entertaining experiences and lasting memories but that
must be within the confines of venues that are functional, easy to navigate and
most importantly, safe.
During any renovation work, I’ve leaned on a few key
questions to help guide the process:
1) What is the stadium or company’s mission
statement? It’s always important to remember your mission statement. Is
your mission to just run a stadium, make a profit or create the best guest
experience? It’s likely a combination of all three and even more but that mission
statement will give insight as to how the owners and management would want to
spend and allocate their renovation dollars.
2) What is the intent of the project? Is
the intent of the project to increase revenue? Increase ingress/egress? Enhance
the guest experience? Improve the team’s facilities? Allow for better
recruiting? Expand the stadium’s seating capacity? A project can have many
purposes but at its core, what’s the goal?
3) Who needs what? Leading up to and
throughout the renovation process, it’s important to accumulate customer
feedback from patrons, current and potential future tenants, the management
team, the city, the university, the marketing team, the operations team, and as
many people who have a hand in your stadium as possible. We had meeting after
meeting with the city, the university, the team, the athletics department and our
fans and donors - all of whom had a different but important view on what was
necessary in these renovations and helped shape the final design.
4) Where can we cut the fat? Rule #1 of
every capital project – it’s going to cost more than you think! How do you
decide what to cut after you’ve already decided that you needed everything? Splitting
the project into phases is one way to help spread the costs out. Consider
picking the items now that will generate revenue which can pay for future
phases and enhancements. For example, does the new grass seating berm lead to
selling extra seats that will drive enough revenue for future profits? Or perhaps that giant new scoreboard creates a better guest experience and
atmosphere which leads to larger crowds and more revenue for future work.
Renovations are never simple: they may start with a plan,
but, as the process unfolds, management realizes the effects on each of the
stakeholders, budgets and guest experiences. There’s no “right” path to a
renovation project but the end goal is the same for all of us - a safe, fun
venue that teams want to play in, promoters want to host their events in and guests
want to come back to, time and again. We all do different things as part of our
in-game event management to engage our guests but a lot of the fan and client loyalty
really begins with the initial stadium design phase and continues throughout
future renovations.