Session 8 – The Redefined Post-Pandemic Venue/Event Safety, Security, and Services
The Redefined Post-Pandemic Venue/Event Safety, Security, and Services panel was sponsored by Johnson Controls, a company focused on keeping the environments where people work, play, and live, safe and secure. Nick Treder, Eric Neuburger, Lisa Schroeder, and Andy Major addressed how the sports and entertainment industry will react to the post-pandemic changes in the safety, security, and service sectors.
Nick Treder, Director of Sports & Entertainment at Johnson Controls, described the use of health screening and other forms of medical observation that are allowing more fans to return to the stands and watch their favorite teams play. One important point raised by Nick regarded data overload and how to properly use data to discern the proper insights.
Eric Neuburger, Stadium Director of Lucas Oil Stadium spoke about the experience of hosting the whole NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and the planning process behind the scenes. The 2020 March Madness schedule was cancelled because of the pandemic with a loss of $600 million. His main takeaway was the importance of touchless systems for sales and ticketing, which allows fans to enter and leave the stadium or arena without touching anything.
Lisa Schroeder, Vice President of Financial Operations at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in New York, spoke about the hardships that her team has faced while attempting to re-open the Center’s 16 venues. She explained that the Center will use health screenings to allow people to enter their venues. Lisa spoke about her hopes to fully reopen venues this fall. Lisa emphasized the accessibility of advanced technology is helping many venues reopen. The combination of people’s willingness to work together and advancements in technology will help propel the sports and entertainment industry forward.
Andy Major, Vice President of Operations and Game Experience for the Buffalo Bills, described the experiences he learned from allowing fans at the team’s two home playoff games this year. Using these insights from two playoff games has made Andy very hopeful about successfully bringing fans back into the stadium for all games this fall. Andy also spoke about how important it is to use these learnings to prepare for the future.
Check back in tomorrow for the next blog recap in the “Prepping for The Return of Fans!” Summit series!