FROM THE GROUND UPBy Gregory Hoss, AIA ARENAS:
host large events with the completion of its new 14,000-seat multipur- pose arena. The 750,000 square foot facility, recently named Dickies Arena, will be the home of the Fort Worth Rodeo and Stock Show, as well as host concerts, basketball, and hockey events.
the citizens of Fort Worth approved a bond referendum for $225 mil- raise the remaining funds through private philanthropy. The design and planning for the arena began in the early 2000s. During a considerable project delay due to the economic downturn Worth (EFFW) and the City of Fort Worth, completed much of the infrastructure improvements necessary for development of the arena. With approval of the bond referendum in 2014, EFFW signed a mas- ter agreement with the City (who will own the arena) to develop, con- struct, lease, and operate the arena for a term of 70 years.
Building, Anew It is a pretty unique opportunity to build a management and opera- tions structure from the ground up for a large event facility that is not a direct replacement of an older facility. Enter Matt Homan. In 2015, EFFW hired Homan, previously general manager at Philadelphia’s Comcast-Spector Wells Fargo Center, to be the new GM of EFFW and president of the newly created Multipurpose Arena Fort Worth (MAFW), the entity that will operate the facility. Given the fact that EFFW, the Stock Show, and the architects had
been working on this since 2008, Homan had to be a quick study in terms of understanding the goals and aspirations of the City and the many assumptions that EFFW and the design team had made up to that point. To his advantage, construction wasn’t set to start for over a year and opening for four years. He quickly set out to create a “pro- gression plan” in which he prioritized the specialists he would need to hire, as well as a schedule for when they would be needed. To date, he which will grow to six by the end of this year, and an additional eight when the arena opens in 2019.
Sales & Promotion Strategy Under Matt’s leadership, MAFW has decided that the arena will function as an open booking house, with the ability to sell just over 14,000 seats for a center stage event, a size that feasibility experts estimated would be a sweet spot in the lucrative Fort Worth/Dallas market. MAFW will then, in turn, provide all food & beverage for the premium bars, 39 suites, 32 loge boxes, all concessions, back-of-house catering, and catering for non-bowl related front-of-house events. The program, design, and sales strategy for the facility’s premium seating is surprisingly complex for an arena without any profession-
al teams as partners. The extraordinarily popular Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo - which runs for one full month each year - wanted to recreate many of the iconic hospitality features found at its current home, the Will Rogers Coliseum. Rodeo boxes down on the dirt, a cross aisle behind these boxes, and the hallowed ‘Backstage Club’ – where Fort Worth business is largely conducted during the Rodeo’s options. MAFW is leaning toward a simple solution: all premium seating, whether in suites, loge boxes, club seats, or rodeo boxes, includes tick- ets to all events throughout the year. First right of refusal for premium seating would go to those who contributed philanthropically to the construction of the arena (they have the opportunity to purchase the
A Carefully Considered Sponsorship Strategy Sponsorship is another responsibility that Homan is spending a lot
of his time on these days. Naming rights for the Arena was recently awarded to Dickies (the workwear manufacturer) for an undisclosed sum. Matt and his team are now talking to prospective Founding Part- ners, who will have the opportunity to name the new 2,200-stall park- ing structure connected to the arena, the 107,000-square foot exhibit hall, one of four major lobbies, or a four-acre outdoor plaza, along with a handful of other prime spaces. MAFW and the Stock Show believe that less is more when it comes to both the number of sponsors (there is an increased value to each sponsor) and to the amount of advertising allotted to each sponsor (their goal is to maintain the arena
Pre-Planning for Future Success
for the Dickies Arena are extraordinarily visionary philanthropists. Homan is quick to point out that this arena will have no debt service when completed, and that none of the monies generated by sponsor- used exclusively to fund the operations and maintenance of the facility. When asked what surprised him most about coming to Fort Worth
and building his team, Homan noted that the experience of the pub- lic-private partnership was inspiring. “The genuine willingness of the City and the private sector to get things done was wonderful.” In the next two and a half years, Homan has a building to construct, a lot of seats and sponsorships to sell, and a management and operations team to hire and train. We’ll check in with him in 2019, and let you know how it’s going! FM
Gregory Hoss, AIA is a Principal and President of David M. Schwarz Architects, Arena in Fort Worth, TX.
IAVM 33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
