SVG Venue Production Seminar: Event-Presentation Philosophies, On-Ice Projection Take Center Stage at MSG

With a moniker like the World’s Most Famous Arena and a home like New York City, Madison Square Garden will always be a draw, no matter the event. But that doesn’t mean the event-presentation teams for the New York Rangers, Knicks, and Liberty are content to rest on their laurels. Quite the opposite, in fact: all three teams continually look for new and innovative ways to entertain and engage fans and keep them coming back game after game.

On Tuesday, the three teams discussed their event-presentation strategies during SVG’s Venue Production Seminar at Madison Square Garden. More than 30 industry professionals attended the intimate event to see a special demonstration of the Garden’s on-ice projection, go behind the scenes in the recently renovated GardenVision video-control room, and learn how the Rangers, Knicks, and Liberty compete for entertainment dollars in the media capital of the world.

MSG showed off its impressive on-ice projection capabilities

MSG showed off its impressive on-ice–projection capabilities.

The Knicks’ event-presentation team looked to update the popular animated-race concept seen in arenas throughout the country. They recently debuted the Selfie Race, which invites fans to submit their photos for selection to be a part of the race.

“Our main philosophy is, you try and entertain the fans, [and] you’re also trying to create a home-court advantage for your team,” said Shawn Bennett, VP, event presentation, New York Knicks/New York Liberty. “That’s what we’re all here for — the team — so we try to put everything through the lens of, is it entertaining or does it help improve home-court advantage?”

As an Original Six franchise, the Rangers, currently celebrating their 90th season, benefit from decades of history in the league and in the city. But the event-presentation team knows that season-ticket holders, while certainly fans of the franchise’s history, are passionate about the current team.

“One thing that people might assume, incorrectly, is that it’s the same script for every game,” said Greg Kwizak, VP, event presentation, New York Rangers. “What we do at the beginning of the season is, we look at the entire season — the time of day, the opponents we play, the Original Six matchups — and  try to cater a lot of the program that we create for those games specific to those opponents. … Our fans are very educated and sophisticated, and I think the Ranger fans, with all the history, are really passionate. We’re this Original Six team in New York City, and so we always try to tell that story.”

MSG's Air Cam, a fan favorite element on game day that uses helium to stay afloat

MSG’s Air Cam, a fan-favorite element on game day, uses helium to stay afloat.

Attendees were taken into the bowl for a special demonstration of Madison Square Garden’s 112 moving lights, new organ, and Air Cam and a presentation of its on-ice projection. They were also invited into the GardenVision video-control room, which was renovated in 2013 as part of the Garden’s three-year top-to-bottom transformation. Throughout the day, attendees got a taste of the philosophy that guides event presentation for the three teams.

“Most of what you see around the world is that the event-presentation and game-presentation people are an arm of the marketing or ad-sales departments,” says Marc Bauman, SVP/executive producer, Creative and Technical Production Services Group, The Madison Square Garden Co. “That’s what we don’t do. Our philosophy [is to] make the experience for the fans more entertaining, more theatrical, more organic to the brand, and less a part of the marketing arm. I think we’ve been pretty successful.”

SVG’s Venue Production Seminar at Madison Square Garden is the latest in its Venue Initiative regional-event series. The Initiative serves the information, networking, and business needs of engineering, IT, and broadcast executives in sports venues — both professional and college — and provides a forum for stadium, team, league, and broadcast professionals to interact and spotlight venue best practices, technical hurdles, and trends. Previous SVG Venue Production Seminars have been held at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, FL; University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ; and Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium) in Houston.

The SVG Venue Initiative is sponsored by Bexel, Canon, Cisco, Clear-Com, Crown Castle, Daktronics, EVS, Grass Valley, KMH Audio-Video Integration, Panasonic, Quantum, Ross Video, and Sony.

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