x

The latest industry news to your inbox.


I'd like to hear about marketing opportunities

    

I accept IQ Magazine's Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

MSE, Ticketmaster detail esports-centric venue

Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), owner of several sports teams, venues and enterprises, has announced plans for a new multi-purpose live-event venue.

District E Powered by Ticketmaster will span nearly 14,000 square feet and comprise an Esports competition studio and a 150-capacity venue expected to host over 200 events per year.

The venue is expected to open this autumn in the Chinatown neighbourhood of downtown Washington D.C, adjacent to Capital One Arena, home of the NHL’s Washington Capitals and NBA’s Washington Wizards.

MSE, which owns both the arena and the aforementioned sports teams, will offer District E Powered by Ticketmaster as a competition and training venue for its esports franchises, which include Wizards District Gaming and Caps Gaming.

“Given the rapid rise in the popularity of esports, we believe the time is right to build an esports-centric venue”

Additionally, the venue will establish an East Coast satellite office for global esports outfit Team Liquid and host state-of-the-art streaming pods to tap into the streaming sector.

Zach Leonsis, president of media and new enterprises at MSE, said: “We are excited to invest in this first-of-its-kind venue for esports and other immersive experiences and know it will quickly become the preferred destination for pre- and post-event attendees with one-of-a-kind programming and food and beverage offerings.

“And given the rapid rise in the popularity of esports and the growing audience for gaming in general, we believe the time is right to build an esports-centric venue that serves as a rallying point for the gaming community in the Mid-Atlantic.

“The wide-scale, international appeal of esports brands is well documented. We believe that developing deep, grassroots-level connections within our local community is the natural next step for esports as the genre develops into a major league aside other traditional sports.”

 


Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Tim Leiweke: “Climate change is the fight of our lives”

Oak View Group (OVG) co-founder and chief executive Tim Leiweke has issued a call to arms for the live entertainment industry to take action on climate change.

“Climate change is without a doubt the fight of this generation’s lives,” he tells IQ. “At OVG, we believe that we, along with the whole live entertainment industry, have a unique opportunity to inspire others to take action on this era-defining issue,” adding that sustainability is one of OVG’s core values.

The global sports and entertainment company, along with ecommerce giant Amazon, is a few months out from opening the world’s first carbon neutral venue, Climate Pledge Arena (CPA) in Seattle.

“It hasn’t been easy, but I’m proud and excited that CPA will become the world’s first certified carbon neutral arena when it opens later this year. It’s also going to lead the way with commitments to zero waste from events and using recycled rainwater to service the NHL ice-rink,” explains Leiweke.

OVG and Amazon have set their sights on the 18,100-seat arena becoming ‘the most progressive, responsible, and sustainable arena in the world’ – a commitment underpinned by four goals.

The first goal is to maintain CPA’s carbon elimination by eschewing fossil fuel consumption for daily use; generating renewable energy from onsite solar panels; reducing all carbon emission activities and offsetting those not possible – like transportation – by purchasing credible carbon offsets.

“We have a unique opportunity to inspire others to take action on this era-defining issue”

CPA will also aim to eliminate single use plastics and achieve zero waste by ‘greatly simplifying the supply chain’.

Finally, the arena, home to ice hockey team NHL Seattle, will conserve water via its ‘rain to rink’ system which will harvest water off the roof and collect into a 15,000-gallon cistern. According to OVG, the system will save 50,000 gallons annually.

Other ways the CPA will conserve water include waterless urinals and ‘ultra-efficient’ showers, significant on-site retention tanks reducing stormwater runoff and water bottle filling stations throughout the arena.

Beyond this the CPA will have an advisory committee with partners at Amazon; create transparency and public reporting on initiatives progress; host arena events that celebrate the environment and its commitment to green operations; partner with educational institutions to utilise the arena as a classroom for environmental education.

Leiweke says that OVG is taking the learnings from CPA to guide future projects: “All of our arenas in both the US and around the world, from the UBS Arena in New York to Co-op Live in Manchester, are putting sustainability at the heart of both design and operations”.

If all goes according to plan, the UBS Arena (cap. 19,000) in Belmont Park, New York, won’t be far behind CPA in achieving a carbon-neutral status.

The arena, scheduled to open in time for the 2021-2022 National Hockey League season, is projected to be 100% carbon neutral by 2024 – which will make it the first to do so on the East Coast of the US.

“Climate Pledge Arena is going to lead the way with commitments to zero waste from events”

The UBS Arena is currently being built to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction (Leed) standards.

Elsewhere, Manchester’s Co-op Live (cap. 23,500) is leading the way for environmentally sustainable arenas in the UK, both in terms of design and future commitments.

The roof alone boasts 10,500 square-metres (1.5x a football pitch) of rooftop solar panels, air source heat pumps, high spec insulation and façade designed to reduce cooling and heating requirements.

The venue’s architecture is paired with renewable energy, low carbon technologies and intelligent building controls such as LED lighting design and smart building systems to minimise energy use).

Plus, in a bid to meet Manchester City Council’s 2038 net zero carbon goal, the venue is also using 100% electric fuel.

Taking note from CPA, Co-op Live will also use 100% rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing, bathroom use and water efficient catering, and will aim to be zero waste.

The Co-op Live development is targeting Breeam (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) ‘excellent’ accreditation.

Other arenas OVG is currently developing include Moody Center, Austin; Coachella Valley Arena, Palm Springs; Savannah Arena; Cardiff Bay Arena; and Santa Guilia, Milan.

 


Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

StubHub: Brits flock to US sports in 2016

American sports are becoming increasing popular among British eventgoers (or at least those who buy on the secondary market), with three spots in StubHub’s ten top-selling events in the UK this year taken up by basketball or American football matches.

While Capital’s Summertime Ball festival at Wembley Stadium was the top-ranked event overall, National Football League (NFL) matches placed sixth and eighth, with the National Basketball Association (NBA) clash between the Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic at The O2 tenth.

Coldplay’s UK A Head Full of Dreams tour dates was ninth.

In addition to their newfound love for all things American, British buyers – in common with the world as a whole – are also increasingly mobile, with StubHub reporting an increase in ticket buying on mobile platforms – and that “users who switch to these platforms from desktop tend to buy more tickets and spend more money”.

“We’re delighted to see people experiencing events that are becoming increasingly popular for British fans, such as the NFL and NBA”

Wayne Grierson, StubHub’s UK country manager, says: “2016 has been a great year for music and sport events in the UK, with popular events such as concerts, rugby and boxing featuring in our top 10 best-selling live events list.

“At StubHub, we believe life is richer when we experience more things, so we’re delighted to see people experiencing events that are becoming increasingly popular for British fans, such as the NFL and NBA.”

The full top ten is:

  1. Capital’s Summertime Ball 2016 (music)
  2. Aviva Premiership Rugby final: Exeter Chiefs vs Saracens (rugby)
  3. Anthony Joshua vs Charles Martin (boxing)
  4. Gennady Golovkin vs Kell Brook (boxing)
  5. Anthony Joshua vs Dominic Breazeale (boxing)
  6. New York Giants vs LA Rams (NFL)
  7. Anthony Joshua vs Eric Molina (boxing)
  8. Washington Redskins at Cincinnati Bengals (NFL)
  9. Coldplay, with support from Alessia Cara, Reef and Lianne La Havas (music)
  10. Toronto Raptors vs Orlando Magic (NBA)

StubHub sold US$1.1 billion worth of tickets worldwide in the third quarter of 2016.

 


Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.