- Home
- History of Sport
- Sport Management and Sport Business
- Recreation and Leisure
- Managing Sport Facilities
Joining field expert Gil Fried for this fourth edition is Matthew Kastel, a practicing stadium manager with over 25 years of experience. Together, the authors blend extensive research and insights from the professional industry with everyday occurrences at sport facilities.
With an increased focus on in-depth, real-world examples of issues facing facility managers today, this edition takes a detailed look at different types of facilities, including stadiums, arenas, fitness centers, parks, and multiuse facilities, and it addresses the various challenges that each presents. Contributions from industry professionals provide an inside look at their facility’s unique issues and concerns, from systems and operations to maintenance and green practices.
To emphasize practical applications of the content, a new web study guide includes seven Day in the Life videos that follow the daily routine of a facility executive and offer students an inside look at real-life facility management. Additional tools further enhance learning and are accompanied by activities and assignments that guide students in applying the concepts:
- Video clips of interviews with industry professionals provide multifaceted career insights and advice.
- Gil’s Sportsplex, an in-depth sport facility case study, covers strategic planning, construction, financial analysis, and more.
- Sample blueprints highlight the construction and anatomy of a sport facility.
- A list of Internet resources for each chapter encourages further learning.
Throughout the book, examples capture the essence of being a facility manager. Opening chapter scenarios introduce industry executives and show how the material applies to daily activities. Facility Focus sidebars provide facts about facilities and strategies for facility success, while Behind the Scenes sections present unique concerns and strategies to make facility managers more successful professionals. Students will develop practical knowledge, which will prepare them to make decisions in all areas of facility management, including building design and construction, operations, marketing, legal issues, finance, and event management.
Managing Sport Facilities, Fourth Edition, teaches the foundational and application skills necessary for facility managers to respond effectively to new challenges. It is an essential resource for guiding students to success in a sport facility management career.
Note: The web study guide is included with all new print books and some ebooks. For ebook formats that don’t provide access, the web study guide is available separately.
Chapter 1. History and Future of Sport and Public Assembly Facilities
Facilities in Ancient Times
Facilities From the Middle Ages to the 1800s
Facility Management From Ancient to Modern Times
Evolution of Professional and Collegiate Facilities
Facility Focus
The Future of Sport Facilities
Trends That Will Affect Future Facilities
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 2. Facility Management
What Is Facility Management?
The Facility Manager’s Responsibilities
What One Does as a Facility Manager
Stakeholders
Managerial Functions
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 3. Management Theory
Management Theory
Management Basics
Communication
Computer-Aided Facility Management
Simple Managerial Strategies
Leadership
Outsourcing
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 4. Human Resources
Employee Types
Union Labor
Hiring
Training
Other Labor Issues
Evaluation
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Part II. Facility Development
Chapter 5. Facility Planning
Fundamentals of Planning
Planning for Existing Facilities
Planning for Future Facilities
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 6. Facility Site and Design
Site Location
Site Cost
Site Selection
Facility Design
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 7. Facility Construction
Construction Planning
Preconstruction Phase
Project Costs
Completion and Analysis
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Part III. Managing Specific Facilities
Chapter 8. Stadium Management
Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field
Stadium Operations
Operational Concerns at Oriole Park
Operational Concerns at Pratt & Whitney Stadium
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 9. Arena Management
People’s United Center at Quinnipiac University
Arena Operations
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 10. Fitness and Recreation Center Management
Beckerman Recreation Center at the University of New Haven
Fitness and Recreation Center Operations
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 11. Parks and Sportsplex Management
Connecticut Sportsplex, North Branford, Connecticut
Sportsplex Facility Operations
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 12. Multiuse High School Facility Management
Multiple Facilities at a Large Public High School in Connecticut
Multiuse High School Facilities Operations
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 13. Multiuse College Facility Management
Yale Athletic Facilities—Ingalls Rink
Multiuse College Facility Operations
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Part IV. Facility Administration
Chapter 14. Marketing and Sales
Marketing Concepts
The Marketing Process
Facility Marketing
Sales
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 15. Finance and Budgeting
Financial Concepts
Revenue and Expenses
Financial Analysis
Budgeting
New Facility Financing
Selling a Facility
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 16. Legal Responsibilities
Basic Law
Tort Law
Risk Management and Insurance
Contracts
Property Law
Constitutional Law
Government Regulations
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Part V. Event and Activity Management
Chapter 17. Developing and Implementing a Security Plan
What Is Security?
Crowd Management
Other Safety Concerns
Crisis Management
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 18. Facility Preparation for an Event
Revisiting Planning
Attracting Events
Event Preparation
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 19. Midevent Analysis
Unexpected Midevent Concerns and Their Impact
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Chapter 20. Postevent Facility Management
Postevent Analysis
Postevent Surveys
Marketing for the Future
Marketing Efforts and Costs
Postevent Logistics
Operational Analysis
Postevent Reporting and Documentation
Summary
Discussion Questions and Activities
Gil B. Fried, JD, is a professor at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. He has taught sport facility management for more than 25 years and has written numerous articles, books, and book chapters on sport facility management issues. Fried speaks throughout the United States on issues such as building and financing facilities and dealing with risk management concerns.
He was the director of risk management for OR&L Facility Management, which manages several million square feet of space. He has also worked with the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM) and developed the curriculum and materials for the IAVM’s Academy for Venue Safety and Security.
In addition to taking pictures of sport facilities to include in future versions of this text, Fried enjoys playing badminton, farming, being with his wife and kids, and traveling.
Matthew Kastel is the stadium manager of Oriole Park at Camden Yards (home of the Baltimore Orioles) for the Maryland Stadium Authority. He is a veteran of managing stadium and events and has also worked at the Houston Astrodome, Citizens Bank Park, and the Washington, D.C., Convention Center.
Kastel sits on the board of directors as president of the Stadium Managers Association, as well as the board of visitors for the Bolte School of Business at Mt. St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Additionally, he is part of the adjunct faculty at Mt. St. Mary’s and teaches stadium and event management to graduate students.
Consistency of knowledge, duty, and execution
By Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
I have found that a lack of consistency, knowledge, duty, and execution are the main reasons for customer complaints at venues. Where there is consistency, guests know what to expect no matter where they enter. Balancing customer service with safety and security has always been a question many security professionals are challenged with. Out of bad things, good may come, at least different methods might be learned. Case in point, after the 2017 Ariana Grande terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom, many venues incorporated sniffer dogs into their guest screening process, including PNC Arena. Much like after September 11, 2001, using metal detectors and wands, excluding a host of items from being brought into the venue, and other protocols were reexamined in light of new types of attacks.
What are the security elements or layers that are needed in today's environment? We try to balance safety and security with customer service; thus, a blend of elements is needed to give the appearance of easy and unintrusive security screening. In reviewing your screening approach with the idea of blending great customer service and the necessary security screening process, a three-tiered method, using defined zones, might be a way to achieve this balance. Each tier has its own purpose, but collectively they combine to create a comprehensive process.
Zone 1—Yellow (Deterrent—Hard Zone With a Soft Approach)
- Excluding the assumed hard zone elements already in place (such as rumble strips, bollards, guard posts, planters, etc.), the very first thing is the approach. You must make the guests feel welcome. If at first you go hard in engaging the guests, no matter what you do after that the guest cannot erase the negative feeling you have already instilled in their minds. In contrast, going soft with a friendly and welcoming staff is a must. Further, adding sniffer dogs as one of the first elements provides many benefits.
• Most people love animals, especially dogs and horses (I've used both).
• Detection dogs can approach guests even when it is not appropriate for staff to do so.
• Using detection dogs outside is a deterrent itself.
• You can investigate a hit (the technical term for an animal identifying a suspicious item), outside and away from the venue (see figure 17.1 for alert area screening location). This outside detection area should be away from other guests and away from the building.
• You can sweep and sterilize the building before guests arrive (you can't do that with horses).
• You can use detection dogs to patrol the parking lots while everyone is inside enjoying the event. (We had a hit on a vehicle during a concert. It was verified by another dog, but Raleigh, North Carolina, police wanted a third verification and called in their bomb dog. That dog also hit on the car…only he hit on the front and the others hit on the back.)
• You can use dogs inside during the event as well. - Staffers in the yellow zone are our eyes and ears—and our first line of defense. They check guests to see if they are meeting ticket license conditions to enter the venue; that is, if they are too imbibed, complying with rules regulations, following the dress code, being cooperative, and the like. If not, this is the place to weed out these problematic guests. It's better to deal with known situations there, rather than having to deal with them after they have created more chaos and with it, liability concerns.
- The yellow zone is also meant to soften guests for the upcoming red zone. At the next step, staffers have already established rapport with fans. In addition, staffers have shown guests that the facility takes safety and well-being seriously.
Zone 2—Red (Preadmission Screening, Secondary Wanding, and Admission)
- The red zone, hardline physical security, can be thought of as the security screening and customer service area, as opposed to the customer service and security screening areas, which are identified in the yellow and blue zones.
- The red zone is a hotbed and should be staffed by veterans who understand the tricks and deceptions, including taping items under and to the backs of arms and between legs, guests possessing and using multiple items with the hope that once they are found, then the screening process will stop. Again, this is the area where inconsistency of knowledge, duty, and execution is the most troublesome. One last concern in zone 2 is properly communicating policies and procedures so everyone is on the same page.
• First, you must determine if your policies are clear and concise or whether they are they open to interpretation. Many venues leave their policies vague in an attempt to give staff room for commonsense judgment and room to give guests the benefit of the doubt, thus, customer service.
• The good news is there is a way to achieve both. With hardline policies the staff can be thorough, with an option to refer issues to a higher authority who will make the decision. The person with the higher authority should be empowered to use good commonsense judgment. This approach gives the frontline staff an option and the guests will feel better about their treatment.
Zone 3—Blue Zone (Third Zone Screening With Soft Zone Touch)
- The blue zone provides another opportunity to observe guests after they have gone through the inspection process. Often, once guests and potential bad guys have completed the initial screening step, observing them in this setting may reveal a greater intent or inappropriate behavior. For example, are they actively looking for their seats or are they surveying the venue, are they alone, are they steady on their feet, are they clinging to something that seems fragile or being careful to keep steady? The key to this zone is being observant and taking action when necessary by alerting other security personnel to this behavior.
- Observing fan demeanor, asking questions, and watching their actions are all a part of the process for a holistic safety and security screening process. Thus, a facility manager cannot forget about zone 3, the blue zone in their planning.
Figure 17.1 The three zones to help protect a facility.
Diagram courtesy of Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
Policies and Procedures
While the aforementioned are critical action steps, it is important to remember that a facility manager must first develop solid policies and procedures in consultation with the facility's general counsel. Policies and procedures provide guidelines to everyone entering and using a property, they relay to guests what they can and cannot do. Managers should develop safety policies and procedures with this end in mind—knowledgeable guests are happier guests, which means repeat business. Policies and procedures (Ps and Ps) can also help eliminate or reduce lawsuits and reduce opportunistic claims. Ps and Ps empower staff and help them to be consistent in executing their duties through being proactive versus reactive. Types of safety Ps and Ps include
- facility and ground use;
- a promoter's guide,
- guest rules and regulations, and
- staff policies, rules, and regulations.
As an example, facility and ground use policies might include such subjects as these:
- Loitering
- Homeless persons
- Early arrivals
- Soliciting or distribution
- Playing—ball or horseback
- Skating
- Swimming
- Hunting and fishing
- Hired automobiles
- Scalping
- Demonstrations
- Vehicle idling
- Air space and drones
- Advertisement
- Student drives
- Tailgating rules
- Food and other vendors
The promoters' guide might include the following:
- Equipment
- Approval of contracts
- Cancellation clause
- Insurance
- Compliance
- License and permits
- Indemnity
- Box office and admissions control
- Objectionable persons
- Opening hours
- Refunds of ticket revenue
- Announcements
- Agreements to quit premises
- Left-behind articles
- Nonassignments
- Rights to cancel the event, open doors
- Rental
- Storage space and time limit
- Box office access
- Deposits
- Armed guards
- Fire safety and OSHA
- Local ordinances
- Union regulations
- Contracted services
- VIP and reserved parking
- ADA
- Restrictions
- Use of premises
- Event description
- License fee
- Tickets—rights, manifest, and costs
- Terms and conditions
- Rights to set staffing levels
- Force majeure
- Marketing rights
These are just examples, but it is important to develop well-defined policies and effectively communicate these Ps and Ps so there are no questions about them from your guests, promoters, staff, and others coming to the venue. If a manager needs to take action to protect life and property, then creating plans will guide all future safety practices.
Properly trained employees are key to a successful facility
Proper training of employees is key to the successful operation of a sport facility, and it can be tricky given the varied job types and the diversified skill set among employees. Certain training for some jobs in a sport facility is required by either state or federal law. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency that holds employers accountable for providing a workplace free from serious recognized hazards, has many training rules in place that employers must follow (U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2018). For example, it has several training requirements for heavy equipment operators, such as forklift drivers who move product at sport facilities, and if the sport facility uses propane to cook in the kitchens, food service workers need to be trained on the proper storage of propane.
Many employee trainings can be done universally and apply to all employees. Trainings that fit this category would include the following:
- Sexual harassment and diversity training. Teaching employees to properly interact with one another applies to all employees and can be taught as a group no matter what the employees' work type or job responsibilities.
- Generic safety training. What are employees to do in case of a bomb threat, extreme weather or active shooter? If the sport facility is to be evacuated, what are the employees' roles in getting customers out, and where do they evacuate to? How can work site accidents be prevented? What steps are to be taken if a customer or employee gets hurt while in the sport facility? It is crucial that all employees receive this type of training.
- Customer service training. Because sport facilities are public buildings, all employees will interact with the public. Because of this, sport facility employees have to have minimum basic customer service skills, so they are treating guests properly and guests receive uniform customer service no matter what employee they interact with.
Some training is job specific and does not apply to all. Managers often are required to go to leadership training, while nonmanagers may not be required to participate in such trainings. Positions like plumber or electrician may have certain trainings and certificates that only apply to their trades.
Training can be a costly investment but one that will pay dividends if done well. Some of the benefits training provides include lower turnover, higher employee morale, better customer service, lower workplace injuries, and sharpened job skills.
Human Resources Scenario
What If: Allegation of Sexual Harassment
There are two types of sexual harassment. Quid Pro Quo harassment occurs when a superior demands sexual favors to obtain, keep, or be promoted into a job. Hostile work environment harassment occurs when a person at work makes unwanted sexual comments, jokes, or other actions that make the work environment so difficult that the employee being harassed cannot do his or her job. What if you are a sport facility manager and a part-time female concessions worker comes to you with an allegation that her male supervisor has been sexually harassing her by making lewd comments about her physical appearance in front of her coworkers. How would you handle this?
Answer
As a manager, when an allegation of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, or violence is brought to your attention, you must treat it with a sense of immediacy and importance and not prejudge the situation based on who is bringing forth the allegation.
The first step the facility manager should take is to contact the human resources department immediately. Remember, a claim of sexual harassment has legal implications, and a manager should not try to handle or resolve the situation on his own. By doing so he can misstep and make the situation far worse by unintentionally doing or saying the wrong thing. Human resources is best suited to give guidance on how to manage the situation and to conduct an investigation into the allegation.
In a situation like this, the human resources department would conduct an investigation by speaking separately to both the accused and the accuser and then verify the information both parties have given them, by conducting private interviews with potential witnesses and reviewing the facility's security footage to see if it captured anything that could help corroborate what happened.
As the sport facility manager, human resources may ask you to help with the investigation by lining up witnesses, helping to secure old video footage, and adding background, such as if you are aware of the manager in question having issues with female employees in the past.
One of the important caveats to remember about a situation like this is both parties deserve the right of privacy in the matter, and you should not be discussing the ongoing investigation with anyone other than human resources.
Once the human resources department has made a conclusion on the matter, as sport facility manager, you may be brought back into the situation to help with or conduct the termination or discipline of the party in question, if warranted. At that point it is still important to defer to expertise of human resources on the matter, so you feel confident that you are handling it in both a legal and responsible way.
Other Labor Issues
Labor issues are always evolving, and managers need to be aware of both cultural and legal changes that affect how managers interact with their employees. Some of the current issues that managers must be aware of include both the living wage and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Living Wage
A living wage, by definition, means a wage high enough to maintain a normal standard of living. Many sport facility managers and owners are increasingly under pressure to pay more than minimum wage, because some contend a minimum wage is not enough for an employee to live on.
Increasingly, many municipalities are instituting living wage laws that mandate hourly wages higher than the United States' and individual states' minimum wage. It is important that sport facility managers are mindful of this, so they do not violate local and state wage laws.
The Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act was passed by Congress and became law in 1993. FMLA allows employees to take unpaid but protected leave for the employee's medical issues, or those of their specified family members. According to the Department of Labor, FMLA allows employees to take time off for an extended period for the following reasons (U. S. Department of Labor, 2018a)
- Illness
- Caring for a qualifying sick family member
- The birth or adoption of a child
- Military caregiving or other emergencies related to a family member's active duty service
Sport facility managers need to be aware of FMLA because it is an employee right, and they cannot retaliate against an eligible employee who uses FMLA time.
Workers' Rights
Sport facility managers also need to be aware of workers' general rights in the workplace. Some of these rights include (U.S. Department of Labor 2018b)
- To be trained in a language that the employee understands
- To be provided with the necessary safety equipment
- To report injury or illness
- To voice concerns over unsafe working conditions without fear of retaliation
Evaluation
The employment process starts with hiring the right employees and training them. Personnel management does not end there. Employees need to be evaluated, and if they do well, they should be given the opportunity to advance when such opportunities are available. In contrast, if an employee is not doing well and the deficiencies cannot be corrected (whether he does not have the skills to do the job effectively, refuses to change his behavior, violated a major policy or procedure, or violated the law), he would need to be reprimanded or terminated. During this process, the manager earns her stripes by vigilantly monitoring employees and giving appropriate feedback (the progressive disciplinary process in action). One of the keys for a facility manager is to resolve workplace conflicts, as highlighted by the “Resolving Conflict” sidebar.
Resolving Conflict
Matthew Kastel, Stadium Manager, Oriole Park
I have had the opportunity of being a manager in several sport facilities across many different regions of the United States. One of the truisms that is universal for managing employees no matter where you are or what you do is that when two or more employees are working together, the potential for conflict is there. Because humans are unique individuals, there is no one perfect answer for how to resolve disagreements among employees. That being said, I found the following techniques helpful in keeping conflict to a minimum.
- It starts with hiring. Each organization has its own unique culture. When hiring employees, it is helpful to hire employees that have a personality that fits the organization's culture. For example, a place like Disney World hires happy and helpful people for customer service work. Hiring someone outside that mold could lead to tension among the workers on how best to do the job.
- Give clear instructions. Most employee conflicts and disagreements begin over something small, like a group of workers having different ideas on how to get a task done. As manager, if you give clear instructions on work assignments, it reduces the possibility of employees having an argument on who is doing what, because you have already made that information clear.
- You need to be the adult in the room. When two employees are squabbling, it is important as a manager that you step in and make clear that this is a workplace, and this type of behavior is not tolerated at work. Once you settle the situation down, speak to each employee individually, and if a resolution is simple, get both employees together and tell them how you are resolving the issue. If the conflict is something serious, be sure to bring it to human resources to get their input and advice. Personalities sometimes do not match up, so there may not be a resolution to each conflict. In cases like this, it is important to impress upon employees that they do not have to like each other, but they need to work like they do.
- It is all about the team. As a manager, it is crucial to stress to employees that work is a team endeavor, and that all employees are in this together. This helps send a strong philosophical message to the workforce that they need to leave their petty personal grievances behind when they are at work.
- Be honest. Often conflict arises when there is a great deal of stress on the job, such as when there is a tight deadline, and everyone is on edge. On days like this, I am honest with my workers, acknowledging the elephant in the room. I tell the workers that we all know that the next few days are going to be rough, but if we work hard and take a deep breath every now and again, we will get through the situation fine. When the deadline passes and the mission has been accomplished, be sure to thank the workers. Sometimes this acknowledgment, both before and after the deadline, allows the workers to understand that management knows and appreciates what they are going through.
- Be firm. As boss there are situations you cannot tolerate when employees are having a conflict. Two examples of this are if, during a disagreement, an employee swears or threatens physical violence. As manager, you must step in right away and report the incident to human resources. Doing so may prevent workplace violence or employees' perception that they are working in an unsafe work environment.
- Have fun. Instead of focusing on the negative, which can turn into a cancer through a workplace, focus on the positive and the fun times. Many employees enjoy work and those they work with, so you have to accentuate the positive and remind employees of the good times when things are tough.
- Don't allow bullying. A toxic work environment can exist if people in the workplace are abusive. Calling people names, withholding opportunities, or just being mean are issues that often happen in a workplace. Of course, a manager should not engage in such conduct and should always try to prevent playing favorites. Just as important, a manager needs to know the temperament of her employees and workplace culture. When abuse or bullying is identified, a great manager finds a solution. A poor manager allows it to continue while hoping it will go away.
- Know when to praise or reprimand. A great manager knows he has to thank employees when they do a good job. Just showing up is not doing a good job. An inattentive employee during a changeover can injure others and cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage in a second. That is why it is so important to immediately acknowledge great work and immediately discuss poor performance. The failure to properly praise or reprimand can lead to significant conflict.
Understand management of multiuse college facilities
This chapter explores what is involved in managing multiuse college facilities. The concepts apply to more than just college facilities, but we felt a college example would best demonstrate the concepts. Multiuse college athletic facilities can include a wide variety of different facilities and as such the college is like a high school with multiple facilities. A college, though, might have anything from a handful of fields, a gym, and a fitness center to possibly several dozen facilities, including practice fields, field houses, stadiums, arenas, golf courses, and rowing houses. It all depends on size. The larger the university, the more athletic facilities it normally has. As an example, Yale University has the following athletic facilities: Brady Squash Center, The Course at Yale, Coxe Cage, Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, Cuyler Field/Dwyer Track, DeWitt Family Stadium, Frank Field, Gales Ferry, Gilder Boathouse, golf course, Ingalls Rink, Payne Whitney Gym (the largest gym in the world), Johnson Field, McNay Family Sailing Center, an outdoor education center, Ray Tompkins House, Reese Stadium, Smilow Field Center, Carm Cozza Complex, Yale Bowl, Kenney Center, and Yale Field (Official website, n.d.). Not every large college will have so many fields, but Yale is a good example of the diverse number of facilities that could be the responsibility of a facility manager.
Yale Athletic Facilities—Ingalls Rink
Jeremy Makins
Background
Mr. Makins has a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a master of business administration degree in marketing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Mr. Makins has had a long and distinguished career in sport marketing and facility management. That journey includes the following:
- Yale University. Director of ticket operations; associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations; senior associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations
- University of Illinois at Chicago. Volunteer graduate assistant; coordinator of ticket sales and outreach
- Chicago Bulls. Game-day sales
- Chicago Rush. Game-day hospitality
- Chicago Steel. Game-day operations
Industry Mentor
I did not take a traditional path to enter the sport administration field. I gained most of my industry-specific knowledge as on the job training, and my first supervisor, Scott Garrett, did an incredible job of teaching, training, and advising. I could not have asked for a better mentor, and he helped set me on my current path. I can directly connect a lot of my current philosophy to what Scott taught me.
At Yale, our deputy athletic director, Wayne Dean, has been an incredible mentor. He has taught me practical skills while always serving as my go-to guide when looking for advice or help. He is incredibly well respected in the collegiate hockey world, and I am very fortunate to be able to work with him.
For better or worse, I was not given a lot of advance training when I took on these job responsibilities. That meant it was a steep initial learning curve, but it also allowed me to introduce an outsider's perspective, which has proven to be successful.
My Facility
Our on-campus rink, Ingalls Rink, serves as the home to the Yale men's and women's hockey programs. A small group of staff members works together to service all operational needs. I am responsible for day-to-day scheduling, revenue generation, and oversight of our varsity hockey events. One other staff person handles most of the day-to-day building operations and maintenance needs. Finally, one other staff person focuses on the expenses, capital projects, and overall responsibility of the venue.
Ingalls Rink is an architecturally important venue, and on a daily basis we are focusing on regular building operations and also serving as hosts to tour groups and general public visitors who just want to see it. We had a major renovation about 10 years ago that helped keep the building viable for current usage needs. That renovation added new spaces that can be used for our men's and women's hockey teams (new locker rooms, strength and conditioning, coaches' offices, team rooms, etc.) while also upgrading many of the mechanical systems. Recently, we added light-emitting diode (LED) lighting over the ice surface.
As a part of Yale University, we work closely with the central university facilities office to ensure that Ingalls Rink continues to be one of the most beautiful and significant hockey rinks in the country.
Ingalls Rink, often called the whale, is an iconic sport facility.
Working at My Facility
Being a part of the team that services our incredible student-athletes is very fulfilling. There is immense satisfaction at the end of a big win, especially if played in front of a sellout crowd. Our university president refers to it as BIRG—basking in reflected glory. We have some challenges that can make my job more challenging. Being an iconic facility minimizes the things we can do with the outside of the facility. We also have coaches who want their athletes to have access to work out and train in the enclosed gym at any time. Thus, we had to issue swipe cards to hockey players so they can come in at any time to train. That can raise security issues, such as lights being left on or a door being left ajar. These issues might not be unique just to my facility, but the politics around our campus and the issues that might arise between the university, students, coaches, and the public requires careful navigation.
A Day in the Life of a Facility Manager
Ingalls Rink is open during the university's academic season—essentially from September through the end of March. However, that doesn't mean that we only focus on the rink during those months.
I spend the majority of my summer (May to August) planning and preparing the upcoming year's schedule. This means regular e-mails, phone calls, and meetings to set up the coming year. By the time August rolls around, 90% of the rink's schedule is finalized for the year. After agreeing to a tentative schedule, I interface between our users and a team at Yale that consists of risk management, the general counsel's office, and the tax and bond office to review and approve the facility use agreements (FUAs). It's my job to prepare the FUAs so that the internal Yale team can quickly review and approve them.
During the academic year, I have a number of administrative duties not related to rink operations, so my time is not exclusively spent at the rink. On a daily basis, however, I maintain regular correspondence with our lead operations staff person—we discuss any number of things, although the conversations typically focus on rink schedule, staffing schedule, custodial schedule, weather forecast, and event preparation and logistics.
Our big event days include men's and women's varsity games. For a weekday game played at 7:00 p.m., I will typically be in my main office (not located at the rink) at 9:00 a.m. That time is spent collaborating with other athletic department personnel and preparing for the weekend's events (since we are a collegiate athletic department, we are preparing for all of our events—not just hockey). I will typically be on-site at the rink 4 hours before game time.
I have a routine and checklist so that I can set up the building for the game (tables, stanchions, scanners, laptops, ticket printers, etc.). Most of our game-day staff arrive between 1-1/2 and 2 hours before the game, so I need to make sure I'm ready to greet them and give them game-specific information. Once the game-day staff are prepared, they'll get into position and be ready for us to open our doors to the public.
During an event, I am typically walking the rink. For me, that means that I am constantly scanning the crowd, checking in with game-day staff, talking with security and police, walking outside to check on parking operations, handling customer service issues, and managing crowd control. If things are going well, I may get to spend a couple minutes in the third period to watch the end of the game!
Our typical game lasts about 2 hours and 15 minutes, so by 9:15 p.m., the teams should be off the ice. Some nights, we have other events scheduled to go on after the varsity game, but typically we don't schedule anything afterwards. My postgame routine includes breaking down the tables, signage, laptops, scanners, and other items that were set up a couple hours before the game. I ensure that fans safely leave the venue, the visiting team gets to its bus, and that the postgame cleaning crew gets started; and then I do a final check of the building to see if any immediate damage was incurred. On an average night, I usually leave the rink around 10:30 p.m.
Consistency of knowledge, duty, and execution
By Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
I have found that a lack of consistency, knowledge, duty, and execution are the main reasons for customer complaints at venues. Where there is consistency, guests know what to expect no matter where they enter. Balancing customer service with safety and security has always been a question many security professionals are challenged with. Out of bad things, good may come, at least different methods might be learned. Case in point, after the 2017 Ariana Grande terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom, many venues incorporated sniffer dogs into their guest screening process, including PNC Arena. Much like after September 11, 2001, using metal detectors and wands, excluding a host of items from being brought into the venue, and other protocols were reexamined in light of new types of attacks.
What are the security elements or layers that are needed in today's environment? We try to balance safety and security with customer service; thus, a blend of elements is needed to give the appearance of easy and unintrusive security screening. In reviewing your screening approach with the idea of blending great customer service and the necessary security screening process, a three-tiered method, using defined zones, might be a way to achieve this balance. Each tier has its own purpose, but collectively they combine to create a comprehensive process.
Zone 1—Yellow (Deterrent—Hard Zone With a Soft Approach)
- Excluding the assumed hard zone elements already in place (such as rumble strips, bollards, guard posts, planters, etc.), the very first thing is the approach. You must make the guests feel welcome. If at first you go hard in engaging the guests, no matter what you do after that the guest cannot erase the negative feeling you have already instilled in their minds. In contrast, going soft with a friendly and welcoming staff is a must. Further, adding sniffer dogs as one of the first elements provides many benefits.
• Most people love animals, especially dogs and horses (I've used both).
• Detection dogs can approach guests even when it is not appropriate for staff to do so.
• Using detection dogs outside is a deterrent itself.
• You can investigate a hit (the technical term for an animal identifying a suspicious item), outside and away from the venue (see figure 17.1 for alert area screening location). This outside detection area should be away from other guests and away from the building.
• You can sweep and sterilize the building before guests arrive (you can't do that with horses).
• You can use detection dogs to patrol the parking lots while everyone is inside enjoying the event. (We had a hit on a vehicle during a concert. It was verified by another dog, but Raleigh, North Carolina, police wanted a third verification and called in their bomb dog. That dog also hit on the car…only he hit on the front and the others hit on the back.)
• You can use dogs inside during the event as well. - Staffers in the yellow zone are our eyes and ears—and our first line of defense. They check guests to see if they are meeting ticket license conditions to enter the venue; that is, if they are too imbibed, complying with rules regulations, following the dress code, being cooperative, and the like. If not, this is the place to weed out these problematic guests. It's better to deal with known situations there, rather than having to deal with them after they have created more chaos and with it, liability concerns.
- The yellow zone is also meant to soften guests for the upcoming red zone. At the next step, staffers have already established rapport with fans. In addition, staffers have shown guests that the facility takes safety and well-being seriously.
Zone 2—Red (Preadmission Screening, Secondary Wanding, and Admission)
- The red zone, hardline physical security, can be thought of as the security screening and customer service area, as opposed to the customer service and security screening areas, which are identified in the yellow and blue zones.
- The red zone is a hotbed and should be staffed by veterans who understand the tricks and deceptions, including taping items under and to the backs of arms and between legs, guests possessing and using multiple items with the hope that once they are found, then the screening process will stop. Again, this is the area where inconsistency of knowledge, duty, and execution is the most troublesome. One last concern in zone 2 is properly communicating policies and procedures so everyone is on the same page.
• First, you must determine if your policies are clear and concise or whether they are they open to interpretation. Many venues leave their policies vague in an attempt to give staff room for commonsense judgment and room to give guests the benefit of the doubt, thus, customer service.
• The good news is there is a way to achieve both. With hardline policies the staff can be thorough, with an option to refer issues to a higher authority who will make the decision. The person with the higher authority should be empowered to use good commonsense judgment. This approach gives the frontline staff an option and the guests will feel better about their treatment.
Zone 3—Blue Zone (Third Zone Screening With Soft Zone Touch)
- The blue zone provides another opportunity to observe guests after they have gone through the inspection process. Often, once guests and potential bad guys have completed the initial screening step, observing them in this setting may reveal a greater intent or inappropriate behavior. For example, are they actively looking for their seats or are they surveying the venue, are they alone, are they steady on their feet, are they clinging to something that seems fragile or being careful to keep steady? The key to this zone is being observant and taking action when necessary by alerting other security personnel to this behavior.
- Observing fan demeanor, asking questions, and watching their actions are all a part of the process for a holistic safety and security screening process. Thus, a facility manager cannot forget about zone 3, the blue zone in their planning.
Figure 17.1 The three zones to help protect a facility.
Diagram courtesy of Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
Policies and Procedures
While the aforementioned are critical action steps, it is important to remember that a facility manager must first develop solid policies and procedures in consultation with the facility's general counsel. Policies and procedures provide guidelines to everyone entering and using a property, they relay to guests what they can and cannot do. Managers should develop safety policies and procedures with this end in mind—knowledgeable guests are happier guests, which means repeat business. Policies and procedures (Ps and Ps) can also help eliminate or reduce lawsuits and reduce opportunistic claims. Ps and Ps empower staff and help them to be consistent in executing their duties through being proactive versus reactive. Types of safety Ps and Ps include
- facility and ground use;
- a promoter's guide,
- guest rules and regulations, and
- staff policies, rules, and regulations.
As an example, facility and ground use policies might include such subjects as these:
- Loitering
- Homeless persons
- Early arrivals
- Soliciting or distribution
- Playing—ball or horseback
- Skating
- Swimming
- Hunting and fishing
- Hired automobiles
- Scalping
- Demonstrations
- Vehicle idling
- Air space and drones
- Advertisement
- Student drives
- Tailgating rules
- Food and other vendors
The promoters' guide might include the following:
- Equipment
- Approval of contracts
- Cancellation clause
- Insurance
- Compliance
- License and permits
- Indemnity
- Box office and admissions control
- Objectionable persons
- Opening hours
- Refunds of ticket revenue
- Announcements
- Agreements to quit premises
- Left-behind articles
- Nonassignments
- Rights to cancel the event, open doors
- Rental
- Storage space and time limit
- Box office access
- Deposits
- Armed guards
- Fire safety and OSHA
- Local ordinances
- Union regulations
- Contracted services
- VIP and reserved parking
- ADA
- Restrictions
- Use of premises
- Event description
- License fee
- Tickets—rights, manifest, and costs
- Terms and conditions
- Rights to set staffing levels
- Force majeure
- Marketing rights
These are just examples, but it is important to develop well-defined policies and effectively communicate these Ps and Ps so there are no questions about them from your guests, promoters, staff, and others coming to the venue. If a manager needs to take action to protect life and property, then creating plans will guide all future safety practices.
Properly trained employees are key to a successful facility
Proper training of employees is key to the successful operation of a sport facility, and it can be tricky given the varied job types and the diversified skill set among employees. Certain training for some jobs in a sport facility is required by either state or federal law. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency that holds employers accountable for providing a workplace free from serious recognized hazards, has many training rules in place that employers must follow (U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2018). For example, it has several training requirements for heavy equipment operators, such as forklift drivers who move product at sport facilities, and if the sport facility uses propane to cook in the kitchens, food service workers need to be trained on the proper storage of propane.
Many employee trainings can be done universally and apply to all employees. Trainings that fit this category would include the following:
- Sexual harassment and diversity training. Teaching employees to properly interact with one another applies to all employees and can be taught as a group no matter what the employees' work type or job responsibilities.
- Generic safety training. What are employees to do in case of a bomb threat, extreme weather or active shooter? If the sport facility is to be evacuated, what are the employees' roles in getting customers out, and where do they evacuate to? How can work site accidents be prevented? What steps are to be taken if a customer or employee gets hurt while in the sport facility? It is crucial that all employees receive this type of training.
- Customer service training. Because sport facilities are public buildings, all employees will interact with the public. Because of this, sport facility employees have to have minimum basic customer service skills, so they are treating guests properly and guests receive uniform customer service no matter what employee they interact with.
Some training is job specific and does not apply to all. Managers often are required to go to leadership training, while nonmanagers may not be required to participate in such trainings. Positions like plumber or electrician may have certain trainings and certificates that only apply to their trades.
Training can be a costly investment but one that will pay dividends if done well. Some of the benefits training provides include lower turnover, higher employee morale, better customer service, lower workplace injuries, and sharpened job skills.
Human Resources Scenario
What If: Allegation of Sexual Harassment
There are two types of sexual harassment. Quid Pro Quo harassment occurs when a superior demands sexual favors to obtain, keep, or be promoted into a job. Hostile work environment harassment occurs when a person at work makes unwanted sexual comments, jokes, or other actions that make the work environment so difficult that the employee being harassed cannot do his or her job. What if you are a sport facility manager and a part-time female concessions worker comes to you with an allegation that her male supervisor has been sexually harassing her by making lewd comments about her physical appearance in front of her coworkers. How would you handle this?
Answer
As a manager, when an allegation of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, or violence is brought to your attention, you must treat it with a sense of immediacy and importance and not prejudge the situation based on who is bringing forth the allegation.
The first step the facility manager should take is to contact the human resources department immediately. Remember, a claim of sexual harassment has legal implications, and a manager should not try to handle or resolve the situation on his own. By doing so he can misstep and make the situation far worse by unintentionally doing or saying the wrong thing. Human resources is best suited to give guidance on how to manage the situation and to conduct an investigation into the allegation.
In a situation like this, the human resources department would conduct an investigation by speaking separately to both the accused and the accuser and then verify the information both parties have given them, by conducting private interviews with potential witnesses and reviewing the facility's security footage to see if it captured anything that could help corroborate what happened.
As the sport facility manager, human resources may ask you to help with the investigation by lining up witnesses, helping to secure old video footage, and adding background, such as if you are aware of the manager in question having issues with female employees in the past.
One of the important caveats to remember about a situation like this is both parties deserve the right of privacy in the matter, and you should not be discussing the ongoing investigation with anyone other than human resources.
Once the human resources department has made a conclusion on the matter, as sport facility manager, you may be brought back into the situation to help with or conduct the termination or discipline of the party in question, if warranted. At that point it is still important to defer to expertise of human resources on the matter, so you feel confident that you are handling it in both a legal and responsible way.
Other Labor Issues
Labor issues are always evolving, and managers need to be aware of both cultural and legal changes that affect how managers interact with their employees. Some of the current issues that managers must be aware of include both the living wage and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Living Wage
A living wage, by definition, means a wage high enough to maintain a normal standard of living. Many sport facility managers and owners are increasingly under pressure to pay more than minimum wage, because some contend a minimum wage is not enough for an employee to live on.
Increasingly, many municipalities are instituting living wage laws that mandate hourly wages higher than the United States' and individual states' minimum wage. It is important that sport facility managers are mindful of this, so they do not violate local and state wage laws.
The Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act was passed by Congress and became law in 1993. FMLA allows employees to take unpaid but protected leave for the employee's medical issues, or those of their specified family members. According to the Department of Labor, FMLA allows employees to take time off for an extended period for the following reasons (U. S. Department of Labor, 2018a)
- Illness
- Caring for a qualifying sick family member
- The birth or adoption of a child
- Military caregiving or other emergencies related to a family member's active duty service
Sport facility managers need to be aware of FMLA because it is an employee right, and they cannot retaliate against an eligible employee who uses FMLA time.
Workers' Rights
Sport facility managers also need to be aware of workers' general rights in the workplace. Some of these rights include (U.S. Department of Labor 2018b)
- To be trained in a language that the employee understands
- To be provided with the necessary safety equipment
- To report injury or illness
- To voice concerns over unsafe working conditions without fear of retaliation
Evaluation
The employment process starts with hiring the right employees and training them. Personnel management does not end there. Employees need to be evaluated, and if they do well, they should be given the opportunity to advance when such opportunities are available. In contrast, if an employee is not doing well and the deficiencies cannot be corrected (whether he does not have the skills to do the job effectively, refuses to change his behavior, violated a major policy or procedure, or violated the law), he would need to be reprimanded or terminated. During this process, the manager earns her stripes by vigilantly monitoring employees and giving appropriate feedback (the progressive disciplinary process in action). One of the keys for a facility manager is to resolve workplace conflicts, as highlighted by the “Resolving Conflict” sidebar.
Resolving Conflict
Matthew Kastel, Stadium Manager, Oriole Park
I have had the opportunity of being a manager in several sport facilities across many different regions of the United States. One of the truisms that is universal for managing employees no matter where you are or what you do is that when two or more employees are working together, the potential for conflict is there. Because humans are unique individuals, there is no one perfect answer for how to resolve disagreements among employees. That being said, I found the following techniques helpful in keeping conflict to a minimum.
- It starts with hiring. Each organization has its own unique culture. When hiring employees, it is helpful to hire employees that have a personality that fits the organization's culture. For example, a place like Disney World hires happy and helpful people for customer service work. Hiring someone outside that mold could lead to tension among the workers on how best to do the job.
- Give clear instructions. Most employee conflicts and disagreements begin over something small, like a group of workers having different ideas on how to get a task done. As manager, if you give clear instructions on work assignments, it reduces the possibility of employees having an argument on who is doing what, because you have already made that information clear.
- You need to be the adult in the room. When two employees are squabbling, it is important as a manager that you step in and make clear that this is a workplace, and this type of behavior is not tolerated at work. Once you settle the situation down, speak to each employee individually, and if a resolution is simple, get both employees together and tell them how you are resolving the issue. If the conflict is something serious, be sure to bring it to human resources to get their input and advice. Personalities sometimes do not match up, so there may not be a resolution to each conflict. In cases like this, it is important to impress upon employees that they do not have to like each other, but they need to work like they do.
- It is all about the team. As a manager, it is crucial to stress to employees that work is a team endeavor, and that all employees are in this together. This helps send a strong philosophical message to the workforce that they need to leave their petty personal grievances behind when they are at work.
- Be honest. Often conflict arises when there is a great deal of stress on the job, such as when there is a tight deadline, and everyone is on edge. On days like this, I am honest with my workers, acknowledging the elephant in the room. I tell the workers that we all know that the next few days are going to be rough, but if we work hard and take a deep breath every now and again, we will get through the situation fine. When the deadline passes and the mission has been accomplished, be sure to thank the workers. Sometimes this acknowledgment, both before and after the deadline, allows the workers to understand that management knows and appreciates what they are going through.
- Be firm. As boss there are situations you cannot tolerate when employees are having a conflict. Two examples of this are if, during a disagreement, an employee swears or threatens physical violence. As manager, you must step in right away and report the incident to human resources. Doing so may prevent workplace violence or employees' perception that they are working in an unsafe work environment.
- Have fun. Instead of focusing on the negative, which can turn into a cancer through a workplace, focus on the positive and the fun times. Many employees enjoy work and those they work with, so you have to accentuate the positive and remind employees of the good times when things are tough.
- Don't allow bullying. A toxic work environment can exist if people in the workplace are abusive. Calling people names, withholding opportunities, or just being mean are issues that often happen in a workplace. Of course, a manager should not engage in such conduct and should always try to prevent playing favorites. Just as important, a manager needs to know the temperament of her employees and workplace culture. When abuse or bullying is identified, a great manager finds a solution. A poor manager allows it to continue while hoping it will go away.
- Know when to praise or reprimand. A great manager knows he has to thank employees when they do a good job. Just showing up is not doing a good job. An inattentive employee during a changeover can injure others and cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage in a second. That is why it is so important to immediately acknowledge great work and immediately discuss poor performance. The failure to properly praise or reprimand can lead to significant conflict.
Understand management of multiuse college facilities
This chapter explores what is involved in managing multiuse college facilities. The concepts apply to more than just college facilities, but we felt a college example would best demonstrate the concepts. Multiuse college athletic facilities can include a wide variety of different facilities and as such the college is like a high school with multiple facilities. A college, though, might have anything from a handful of fields, a gym, and a fitness center to possibly several dozen facilities, including practice fields, field houses, stadiums, arenas, golf courses, and rowing houses. It all depends on size. The larger the university, the more athletic facilities it normally has. As an example, Yale University has the following athletic facilities: Brady Squash Center, The Course at Yale, Coxe Cage, Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, Cuyler Field/Dwyer Track, DeWitt Family Stadium, Frank Field, Gales Ferry, Gilder Boathouse, golf course, Ingalls Rink, Payne Whitney Gym (the largest gym in the world), Johnson Field, McNay Family Sailing Center, an outdoor education center, Ray Tompkins House, Reese Stadium, Smilow Field Center, Carm Cozza Complex, Yale Bowl, Kenney Center, and Yale Field (Official website, n.d.). Not every large college will have so many fields, but Yale is a good example of the diverse number of facilities that could be the responsibility of a facility manager.
Yale Athletic Facilities—Ingalls Rink
Jeremy Makins
Background
Mr. Makins has a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a master of business administration degree in marketing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Mr. Makins has had a long and distinguished career in sport marketing and facility management. That journey includes the following:
- Yale University. Director of ticket operations; associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations; senior associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations
- University of Illinois at Chicago. Volunteer graduate assistant; coordinator of ticket sales and outreach
- Chicago Bulls. Game-day sales
- Chicago Rush. Game-day hospitality
- Chicago Steel. Game-day operations
Industry Mentor
I did not take a traditional path to enter the sport administration field. I gained most of my industry-specific knowledge as on the job training, and my first supervisor, Scott Garrett, did an incredible job of teaching, training, and advising. I could not have asked for a better mentor, and he helped set me on my current path. I can directly connect a lot of my current philosophy to what Scott taught me.
At Yale, our deputy athletic director, Wayne Dean, has been an incredible mentor. He has taught me practical skills while always serving as my go-to guide when looking for advice or help. He is incredibly well respected in the collegiate hockey world, and I am very fortunate to be able to work with him.
For better or worse, I was not given a lot of advance training when I took on these job responsibilities. That meant it was a steep initial learning curve, but it also allowed me to introduce an outsider's perspective, which has proven to be successful.
My Facility
Our on-campus rink, Ingalls Rink, serves as the home to the Yale men's and women's hockey programs. A small group of staff members works together to service all operational needs. I am responsible for day-to-day scheduling, revenue generation, and oversight of our varsity hockey events. One other staff person handles most of the day-to-day building operations and maintenance needs. Finally, one other staff person focuses on the expenses, capital projects, and overall responsibility of the venue.
Ingalls Rink is an architecturally important venue, and on a daily basis we are focusing on regular building operations and also serving as hosts to tour groups and general public visitors who just want to see it. We had a major renovation about 10 years ago that helped keep the building viable for current usage needs. That renovation added new spaces that can be used for our men's and women's hockey teams (new locker rooms, strength and conditioning, coaches' offices, team rooms, etc.) while also upgrading many of the mechanical systems. Recently, we added light-emitting diode (LED) lighting over the ice surface.
As a part of Yale University, we work closely with the central university facilities office to ensure that Ingalls Rink continues to be one of the most beautiful and significant hockey rinks in the country.
Ingalls Rink, often called the whale, is an iconic sport facility.
Working at My Facility
Being a part of the team that services our incredible student-athletes is very fulfilling. There is immense satisfaction at the end of a big win, especially if played in front of a sellout crowd. Our university president refers to it as BIRG—basking in reflected glory. We have some challenges that can make my job more challenging. Being an iconic facility minimizes the things we can do with the outside of the facility. We also have coaches who want their athletes to have access to work out and train in the enclosed gym at any time. Thus, we had to issue swipe cards to hockey players so they can come in at any time to train. That can raise security issues, such as lights being left on or a door being left ajar. These issues might not be unique just to my facility, but the politics around our campus and the issues that might arise between the university, students, coaches, and the public requires careful navigation.
A Day in the Life of a Facility Manager
Ingalls Rink is open during the university's academic season—essentially from September through the end of March. However, that doesn't mean that we only focus on the rink during those months.
I spend the majority of my summer (May to August) planning and preparing the upcoming year's schedule. This means regular e-mails, phone calls, and meetings to set up the coming year. By the time August rolls around, 90% of the rink's schedule is finalized for the year. After agreeing to a tentative schedule, I interface between our users and a team at Yale that consists of risk management, the general counsel's office, and the tax and bond office to review and approve the facility use agreements (FUAs). It's my job to prepare the FUAs so that the internal Yale team can quickly review and approve them.
During the academic year, I have a number of administrative duties not related to rink operations, so my time is not exclusively spent at the rink. On a daily basis, however, I maintain regular correspondence with our lead operations staff person—we discuss any number of things, although the conversations typically focus on rink schedule, staffing schedule, custodial schedule, weather forecast, and event preparation and logistics.
Our big event days include men's and women's varsity games. For a weekday game played at 7:00 p.m., I will typically be in my main office (not located at the rink) at 9:00 a.m. That time is spent collaborating with other athletic department personnel and preparing for the weekend's events (since we are a collegiate athletic department, we are preparing for all of our events—not just hockey). I will typically be on-site at the rink 4 hours before game time.
I have a routine and checklist so that I can set up the building for the game (tables, stanchions, scanners, laptops, ticket printers, etc.). Most of our game-day staff arrive between 1-1/2 and 2 hours before the game, so I need to make sure I'm ready to greet them and give them game-specific information. Once the game-day staff are prepared, they'll get into position and be ready for us to open our doors to the public.
During an event, I am typically walking the rink. For me, that means that I am constantly scanning the crowd, checking in with game-day staff, talking with security and police, walking outside to check on parking operations, handling customer service issues, and managing crowd control. If things are going well, I may get to spend a couple minutes in the third period to watch the end of the game!
Our typical game lasts about 2 hours and 15 minutes, so by 9:15 p.m., the teams should be off the ice. Some nights, we have other events scheduled to go on after the varsity game, but typically we don't schedule anything afterwards. My postgame routine includes breaking down the tables, signage, laptops, scanners, and other items that were set up a couple hours before the game. I ensure that fans safely leave the venue, the visiting team gets to its bus, and that the postgame cleaning crew gets started; and then I do a final check of the building to see if any immediate damage was incurred. On an average night, I usually leave the rink around 10:30 p.m.
Consistency of knowledge, duty, and execution
By Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
I have found that a lack of consistency, knowledge, duty, and execution are the main reasons for customer complaints at venues. Where there is consistency, guests know what to expect no matter where they enter. Balancing customer service with safety and security has always been a question many security professionals are challenged with. Out of bad things, good may come, at least different methods might be learned. Case in point, after the 2017 Ariana Grande terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom, many venues incorporated sniffer dogs into their guest screening process, including PNC Arena. Much like after September 11, 2001, using metal detectors and wands, excluding a host of items from being brought into the venue, and other protocols were reexamined in light of new types of attacks.
What are the security elements or layers that are needed in today's environment? We try to balance safety and security with customer service; thus, a blend of elements is needed to give the appearance of easy and unintrusive security screening. In reviewing your screening approach with the idea of blending great customer service and the necessary security screening process, a three-tiered method, using defined zones, might be a way to achieve this balance. Each tier has its own purpose, but collectively they combine to create a comprehensive process.
Zone 1—Yellow (Deterrent—Hard Zone With a Soft Approach)
- Excluding the assumed hard zone elements already in place (such as rumble strips, bollards, guard posts, planters, etc.), the very first thing is the approach. You must make the guests feel welcome. If at first you go hard in engaging the guests, no matter what you do after that the guest cannot erase the negative feeling you have already instilled in their minds. In contrast, going soft with a friendly and welcoming staff is a must. Further, adding sniffer dogs as one of the first elements provides many benefits.
• Most people love animals, especially dogs and horses (I've used both).
• Detection dogs can approach guests even when it is not appropriate for staff to do so.
• Using detection dogs outside is a deterrent itself.
• You can investigate a hit (the technical term for an animal identifying a suspicious item), outside and away from the venue (see figure 17.1 for alert area screening location). This outside detection area should be away from other guests and away from the building.
• You can sweep and sterilize the building before guests arrive (you can't do that with horses).
• You can use detection dogs to patrol the parking lots while everyone is inside enjoying the event. (We had a hit on a vehicle during a concert. It was verified by another dog, but Raleigh, North Carolina, police wanted a third verification and called in their bomb dog. That dog also hit on the car…only he hit on the front and the others hit on the back.)
• You can use dogs inside during the event as well. - Staffers in the yellow zone are our eyes and ears—and our first line of defense. They check guests to see if they are meeting ticket license conditions to enter the venue; that is, if they are too imbibed, complying with rules regulations, following the dress code, being cooperative, and the like. If not, this is the place to weed out these problematic guests. It's better to deal with known situations there, rather than having to deal with them after they have created more chaos and with it, liability concerns.
- The yellow zone is also meant to soften guests for the upcoming red zone. At the next step, staffers have already established rapport with fans. In addition, staffers have shown guests that the facility takes safety and well-being seriously.
Zone 2—Red (Preadmission Screening, Secondary Wanding, and Admission)
- The red zone, hardline physical security, can be thought of as the security screening and customer service area, as opposed to the customer service and security screening areas, which are identified in the yellow and blue zones.
- The red zone is a hotbed and should be staffed by veterans who understand the tricks and deceptions, including taping items under and to the backs of arms and between legs, guests possessing and using multiple items with the hope that once they are found, then the screening process will stop. Again, this is the area where inconsistency of knowledge, duty, and execution is the most troublesome. One last concern in zone 2 is properly communicating policies and procedures so everyone is on the same page.
• First, you must determine if your policies are clear and concise or whether they are they open to interpretation. Many venues leave their policies vague in an attempt to give staff room for commonsense judgment and room to give guests the benefit of the doubt, thus, customer service.
• The good news is there is a way to achieve both. With hardline policies the staff can be thorough, with an option to refer issues to a higher authority who will make the decision. The person with the higher authority should be empowered to use good commonsense judgment. This approach gives the frontline staff an option and the guests will feel better about their treatment.
Zone 3—Blue Zone (Third Zone Screening With Soft Zone Touch)
- The blue zone provides another opportunity to observe guests after they have gone through the inspection process. Often, once guests and potential bad guys have completed the initial screening step, observing them in this setting may reveal a greater intent or inappropriate behavior. For example, are they actively looking for their seats or are they surveying the venue, are they alone, are they steady on their feet, are they clinging to something that seems fragile or being careful to keep steady? The key to this zone is being observant and taking action when necessary by alerting other security personnel to this behavior.
- Observing fan demeanor, asking questions, and watching their actions are all a part of the process for a holistic safety and security screening process. Thus, a facility manager cannot forget about zone 3, the blue zone in their planning.
Figure 17.1 The three zones to help protect a facility.
Diagram courtesy of Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
Policies and Procedures
While the aforementioned are critical action steps, it is important to remember that a facility manager must first develop solid policies and procedures in consultation with the facility's general counsel. Policies and procedures provide guidelines to everyone entering and using a property, they relay to guests what they can and cannot do. Managers should develop safety policies and procedures with this end in mind—knowledgeable guests are happier guests, which means repeat business. Policies and procedures (Ps and Ps) can also help eliminate or reduce lawsuits and reduce opportunistic claims. Ps and Ps empower staff and help them to be consistent in executing their duties through being proactive versus reactive. Types of safety Ps and Ps include
- facility and ground use;
- a promoter's guide,
- guest rules and regulations, and
- staff policies, rules, and regulations.
As an example, facility and ground use policies might include such subjects as these:
- Loitering
- Homeless persons
- Early arrivals
- Soliciting or distribution
- Playing—ball or horseback
- Skating
- Swimming
- Hunting and fishing
- Hired automobiles
- Scalping
- Demonstrations
- Vehicle idling
- Air space and drones
- Advertisement
- Student drives
- Tailgating rules
- Food and other vendors
The promoters' guide might include the following:
- Equipment
- Approval of contracts
- Cancellation clause
- Insurance
- Compliance
- License and permits
- Indemnity
- Box office and admissions control
- Objectionable persons
- Opening hours
- Refunds of ticket revenue
- Announcements
- Agreements to quit premises
- Left-behind articles
- Nonassignments
- Rights to cancel the event, open doors
- Rental
- Storage space and time limit
- Box office access
- Deposits
- Armed guards
- Fire safety and OSHA
- Local ordinances
- Union regulations
- Contracted services
- VIP and reserved parking
- ADA
- Restrictions
- Use of premises
- Event description
- License fee
- Tickets—rights, manifest, and costs
- Terms and conditions
- Rights to set staffing levels
- Force majeure
- Marketing rights
These are just examples, but it is important to develop well-defined policies and effectively communicate these Ps and Ps so there are no questions about them from your guests, promoters, staff, and others coming to the venue. If a manager needs to take action to protect life and property, then creating plans will guide all future safety practices.
Properly trained employees are key to a successful facility
Proper training of employees is key to the successful operation of a sport facility, and it can be tricky given the varied job types and the diversified skill set among employees. Certain training for some jobs in a sport facility is required by either state or federal law. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency that holds employers accountable for providing a workplace free from serious recognized hazards, has many training rules in place that employers must follow (U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2018). For example, it has several training requirements for heavy equipment operators, such as forklift drivers who move product at sport facilities, and if the sport facility uses propane to cook in the kitchens, food service workers need to be trained on the proper storage of propane.
Many employee trainings can be done universally and apply to all employees. Trainings that fit this category would include the following:
- Sexual harassment and diversity training. Teaching employees to properly interact with one another applies to all employees and can be taught as a group no matter what the employees' work type or job responsibilities.
- Generic safety training. What are employees to do in case of a bomb threat, extreme weather or active shooter? If the sport facility is to be evacuated, what are the employees' roles in getting customers out, and where do they evacuate to? How can work site accidents be prevented? What steps are to be taken if a customer or employee gets hurt while in the sport facility? It is crucial that all employees receive this type of training.
- Customer service training. Because sport facilities are public buildings, all employees will interact with the public. Because of this, sport facility employees have to have minimum basic customer service skills, so they are treating guests properly and guests receive uniform customer service no matter what employee they interact with.
Some training is job specific and does not apply to all. Managers often are required to go to leadership training, while nonmanagers may not be required to participate in such trainings. Positions like plumber or electrician may have certain trainings and certificates that only apply to their trades.
Training can be a costly investment but one that will pay dividends if done well. Some of the benefits training provides include lower turnover, higher employee morale, better customer service, lower workplace injuries, and sharpened job skills.
Human Resources Scenario
What If: Allegation of Sexual Harassment
There are two types of sexual harassment. Quid Pro Quo harassment occurs when a superior demands sexual favors to obtain, keep, or be promoted into a job. Hostile work environment harassment occurs when a person at work makes unwanted sexual comments, jokes, or other actions that make the work environment so difficult that the employee being harassed cannot do his or her job. What if you are a sport facility manager and a part-time female concessions worker comes to you with an allegation that her male supervisor has been sexually harassing her by making lewd comments about her physical appearance in front of her coworkers. How would you handle this?
Answer
As a manager, when an allegation of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, or violence is brought to your attention, you must treat it with a sense of immediacy and importance and not prejudge the situation based on who is bringing forth the allegation.
The first step the facility manager should take is to contact the human resources department immediately. Remember, a claim of sexual harassment has legal implications, and a manager should not try to handle or resolve the situation on his own. By doing so he can misstep and make the situation far worse by unintentionally doing or saying the wrong thing. Human resources is best suited to give guidance on how to manage the situation and to conduct an investigation into the allegation.
In a situation like this, the human resources department would conduct an investigation by speaking separately to both the accused and the accuser and then verify the information both parties have given them, by conducting private interviews with potential witnesses and reviewing the facility's security footage to see if it captured anything that could help corroborate what happened.
As the sport facility manager, human resources may ask you to help with the investigation by lining up witnesses, helping to secure old video footage, and adding background, such as if you are aware of the manager in question having issues with female employees in the past.
One of the important caveats to remember about a situation like this is both parties deserve the right of privacy in the matter, and you should not be discussing the ongoing investigation with anyone other than human resources.
Once the human resources department has made a conclusion on the matter, as sport facility manager, you may be brought back into the situation to help with or conduct the termination or discipline of the party in question, if warranted. At that point it is still important to defer to expertise of human resources on the matter, so you feel confident that you are handling it in both a legal and responsible way.
Other Labor Issues
Labor issues are always evolving, and managers need to be aware of both cultural and legal changes that affect how managers interact with their employees. Some of the current issues that managers must be aware of include both the living wage and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Living Wage
A living wage, by definition, means a wage high enough to maintain a normal standard of living. Many sport facility managers and owners are increasingly under pressure to pay more than minimum wage, because some contend a minimum wage is not enough for an employee to live on.
Increasingly, many municipalities are instituting living wage laws that mandate hourly wages higher than the United States' and individual states' minimum wage. It is important that sport facility managers are mindful of this, so they do not violate local and state wage laws.
The Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act was passed by Congress and became law in 1993. FMLA allows employees to take unpaid but protected leave for the employee's medical issues, or those of their specified family members. According to the Department of Labor, FMLA allows employees to take time off for an extended period for the following reasons (U. S. Department of Labor, 2018a)
- Illness
- Caring for a qualifying sick family member
- The birth or adoption of a child
- Military caregiving or other emergencies related to a family member's active duty service
Sport facility managers need to be aware of FMLA because it is an employee right, and they cannot retaliate against an eligible employee who uses FMLA time.
Workers' Rights
Sport facility managers also need to be aware of workers' general rights in the workplace. Some of these rights include (U.S. Department of Labor 2018b)
- To be trained in a language that the employee understands
- To be provided with the necessary safety equipment
- To report injury or illness
- To voice concerns over unsafe working conditions without fear of retaliation
Evaluation
The employment process starts with hiring the right employees and training them. Personnel management does not end there. Employees need to be evaluated, and if they do well, they should be given the opportunity to advance when such opportunities are available. In contrast, if an employee is not doing well and the deficiencies cannot be corrected (whether he does not have the skills to do the job effectively, refuses to change his behavior, violated a major policy or procedure, or violated the law), he would need to be reprimanded or terminated. During this process, the manager earns her stripes by vigilantly monitoring employees and giving appropriate feedback (the progressive disciplinary process in action). One of the keys for a facility manager is to resolve workplace conflicts, as highlighted by the “Resolving Conflict” sidebar.
Resolving Conflict
Matthew Kastel, Stadium Manager, Oriole Park
I have had the opportunity of being a manager in several sport facilities across many different regions of the United States. One of the truisms that is universal for managing employees no matter where you are or what you do is that when two or more employees are working together, the potential for conflict is there. Because humans are unique individuals, there is no one perfect answer for how to resolve disagreements among employees. That being said, I found the following techniques helpful in keeping conflict to a minimum.
- It starts with hiring. Each organization has its own unique culture. When hiring employees, it is helpful to hire employees that have a personality that fits the organization's culture. For example, a place like Disney World hires happy and helpful people for customer service work. Hiring someone outside that mold could lead to tension among the workers on how best to do the job.
- Give clear instructions. Most employee conflicts and disagreements begin over something small, like a group of workers having different ideas on how to get a task done. As manager, if you give clear instructions on work assignments, it reduces the possibility of employees having an argument on who is doing what, because you have already made that information clear.
- You need to be the adult in the room. When two employees are squabbling, it is important as a manager that you step in and make clear that this is a workplace, and this type of behavior is not tolerated at work. Once you settle the situation down, speak to each employee individually, and if a resolution is simple, get both employees together and tell them how you are resolving the issue. If the conflict is something serious, be sure to bring it to human resources to get their input and advice. Personalities sometimes do not match up, so there may not be a resolution to each conflict. In cases like this, it is important to impress upon employees that they do not have to like each other, but they need to work like they do.
- It is all about the team. As a manager, it is crucial to stress to employees that work is a team endeavor, and that all employees are in this together. This helps send a strong philosophical message to the workforce that they need to leave their petty personal grievances behind when they are at work.
- Be honest. Often conflict arises when there is a great deal of stress on the job, such as when there is a tight deadline, and everyone is on edge. On days like this, I am honest with my workers, acknowledging the elephant in the room. I tell the workers that we all know that the next few days are going to be rough, but if we work hard and take a deep breath every now and again, we will get through the situation fine. When the deadline passes and the mission has been accomplished, be sure to thank the workers. Sometimes this acknowledgment, both before and after the deadline, allows the workers to understand that management knows and appreciates what they are going through.
- Be firm. As boss there are situations you cannot tolerate when employees are having a conflict. Two examples of this are if, during a disagreement, an employee swears or threatens physical violence. As manager, you must step in right away and report the incident to human resources. Doing so may prevent workplace violence or employees' perception that they are working in an unsafe work environment.
- Have fun. Instead of focusing on the negative, which can turn into a cancer through a workplace, focus on the positive and the fun times. Many employees enjoy work and those they work with, so you have to accentuate the positive and remind employees of the good times when things are tough.
- Don't allow bullying. A toxic work environment can exist if people in the workplace are abusive. Calling people names, withholding opportunities, or just being mean are issues that often happen in a workplace. Of course, a manager should not engage in such conduct and should always try to prevent playing favorites. Just as important, a manager needs to know the temperament of her employees and workplace culture. When abuse or bullying is identified, a great manager finds a solution. A poor manager allows it to continue while hoping it will go away.
- Know when to praise or reprimand. A great manager knows he has to thank employees when they do a good job. Just showing up is not doing a good job. An inattentive employee during a changeover can injure others and cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage in a second. That is why it is so important to immediately acknowledge great work and immediately discuss poor performance. The failure to properly praise or reprimand can lead to significant conflict.
Understand management of multiuse college facilities
This chapter explores what is involved in managing multiuse college facilities. The concepts apply to more than just college facilities, but we felt a college example would best demonstrate the concepts. Multiuse college athletic facilities can include a wide variety of different facilities and as such the college is like a high school with multiple facilities. A college, though, might have anything from a handful of fields, a gym, and a fitness center to possibly several dozen facilities, including practice fields, field houses, stadiums, arenas, golf courses, and rowing houses. It all depends on size. The larger the university, the more athletic facilities it normally has. As an example, Yale University has the following athletic facilities: Brady Squash Center, The Course at Yale, Coxe Cage, Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, Cuyler Field/Dwyer Track, DeWitt Family Stadium, Frank Field, Gales Ferry, Gilder Boathouse, golf course, Ingalls Rink, Payne Whitney Gym (the largest gym in the world), Johnson Field, McNay Family Sailing Center, an outdoor education center, Ray Tompkins House, Reese Stadium, Smilow Field Center, Carm Cozza Complex, Yale Bowl, Kenney Center, and Yale Field (Official website, n.d.). Not every large college will have so many fields, but Yale is a good example of the diverse number of facilities that could be the responsibility of a facility manager.
Yale Athletic Facilities—Ingalls Rink
Jeremy Makins
Background
Mr. Makins has a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a master of business administration degree in marketing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Mr. Makins has had a long and distinguished career in sport marketing and facility management. That journey includes the following:
- Yale University. Director of ticket operations; associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations; senior associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations
- University of Illinois at Chicago. Volunteer graduate assistant; coordinator of ticket sales and outreach
- Chicago Bulls. Game-day sales
- Chicago Rush. Game-day hospitality
- Chicago Steel. Game-day operations
Industry Mentor
I did not take a traditional path to enter the sport administration field. I gained most of my industry-specific knowledge as on the job training, and my first supervisor, Scott Garrett, did an incredible job of teaching, training, and advising. I could not have asked for a better mentor, and he helped set me on my current path. I can directly connect a lot of my current philosophy to what Scott taught me.
At Yale, our deputy athletic director, Wayne Dean, has been an incredible mentor. He has taught me practical skills while always serving as my go-to guide when looking for advice or help. He is incredibly well respected in the collegiate hockey world, and I am very fortunate to be able to work with him.
For better or worse, I was not given a lot of advance training when I took on these job responsibilities. That meant it was a steep initial learning curve, but it also allowed me to introduce an outsider's perspective, which has proven to be successful.
My Facility
Our on-campus rink, Ingalls Rink, serves as the home to the Yale men's and women's hockey programs. A small group of staff members works together to service all operational needs. I am responsible for day-to-day scheduling, revenue generation, and oversight of our varsity hockey events. One other staff person handles most of the day-to-day building operations and maintenance needs. Finally, one other staff person focuses on the expenses, capital projects, and overall responsibility of the venue.
Ingalls Rink is an architecturally important venue, and on a daily basis we are focusing on regular building operations and also serving as hosts to tour groups and general public visitors who just want to see it. We had a major renovation about 10 years ago that helped keep the building viable for current usage needs. That renovation added new spaces that can be used for our men's and women's hockey teams (new locker rooms, strength and conditioning, coaches' offices, team rooms, etc.) while also upgrading many of the mechanical systems. Recently, we added light-emitting diode (LED) lighting over the ice surface.
As a part of Yale University, we work closely with the central university facilities office to ensure that Ingalls Rink continues to be one of the most beautiful and significant hockey rinks in the country.
Ingalls Rink, often called the whale, is an iconic sport facility.
Working at My Facility
Being a part of the team that services our incredible student-athletes is very fulfilling. There is immense satisfaction at the end of a big win, especially if played in front of a sellout crowd. Our university president refers to it as BIRG—basking in reflected glory. We have some challenges that can make my job more challenging. Being an iconic facility minimizes the things we can do with the outside of the facility. We also have coaches who want their athletes to have access to work out and train in the enclosed gym at any time. Thus, we had to issue swipe cards to hockey players so they can come in at any time to train. That can raise security issues, such as lights being left on or a door being left ajar. These issues might not be unique just to my facility, but the politics around our campus and the issues that might arise between the university, students, coaches, and the public requires careful navigation.
A Day in the Life of a Facility Manager
Ingalls Rink is open during the university's academic season—essentially from September through the end of March. However, that doesn't mean that we only focus on the rink during those months.
I spend the majority of my summer (May to August) planning and preparing the upcoming year's schedule. This means regular e-mails, phone calls, and meetings to set up the coming year. By the time August rolls around, 90% of the rink's schedule is finalized for the year. After agreeing to a tentative schedule, I interface between our users and a team at Yale that consists of risk management, the general counsel's office, and the tax and bond office to review and approve the facility use agreements (FUAs). It's my job to prepare the FUAs so that the internal Yale team can quickly review and approve them.
During the academic year, I have a number of administrative duties not related to rink operations, so my time is not exclusively spent at the rink. On a daily basis, however, I maintain regular correspondence with our lead operations staff person—we discuss any number of things, although the conversations typically focus on rink schedule, staffing schedule, custodial schedule, weather forecast, and event preparation and logistics.
Our big event days include men's and women's varsity games. For a weekday game played at 7:00 p.m., I will typically be in my main office (not located at the rink) at 9:00 a.m. That time is spent collaborating with other athletic department personnel and preparing for the weekend's events (since we are a collegiate athletic department, we are preparing for all of our events—not just hockey). I will typically be on-site at the rink 4 hours before game time.
I have a routine and checklist so that I can set up the building for the game (tables, stanchions, scanners, laptops, ticket printers, etc.). Most of our game-day staff arrive between 1-1/2 and 2 hours before the game, so I need to make sure I'm ready to greet them and give them game-specific information. Once the game-day staff are prepared, they'll get into position and be ready for us to open our doors to the public.
During an event, I am typically walking the rink. For me, that means that I am constantly scanning the crowd, checking in with game-day staff, talking with security and police, walking outside to check on parking operations, handling customer service issues, and managing crowd control. If things are going well, I may get to spend a couple minutes in the third period to watch the end of the game!
Our typical game lasts about 2 hours and 15 minutes, so by 9:15 p.m., the teams should be off the ice. Some nights, we have other events scheduled to go on after the varsity game, but typically we don't schedule anything afterwards. My postgame routine includes breaking down the tables, signage, laptops, scanners, and other items that were set up a couple hours before the game. I ensure that fans safely leave the venue, the visiting team gets to its bus, and that the postgame cleaning crew gets started; and then I do a final check of the building to see if any immediate damage was incurred. On an average night, I usually leave the rink around 10:30 p.m.
Consistency of knowledge, duty, and execution
By Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
I have found that a lack of consistency, knowledge, duty, and execution are the main reasons for customer complaints at venues. Where there is consistency, guests know what to expect no matter where they enter. Balancing customer service with safety and security has always been a question many security professionals are challenged with. Out of bad things, good may come, at least different methods might be learned. Case in point, after the 2017 Ariana Grande terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom, many venues incorporated sniffer dogs into their guest screening process, including PNC Arena. Much like after September 11, 2001, using metal detectors and wands, excluding a host of items from being brought into the venue, and other protocols were reexamined in light of new types of attacks.
What are the security elements or layers that are needed in today's environment? We try to balance safety and security with customer service; thus, a blend of elements is needed to give the appearance of easy and unintrusive security screening. In reviewing your screening approach with the idea of blending great customer service and the necessary security screening process, a three-tiered method, using defined zones, might be a way to achieve this balance. Each tier has its own purpose, but collectively they combine to create a comprehensive process.
Zone 1—Yellow (Deterrent—Hard Zone With a Soft Approach)
- Excluding the assumed hard zone elements already in place (such as rumble strips, bollards, guard posts, planters, etc.), the very first thing is the approach. You must make the guests feel welcome. If at first you go hard in engaging the guests, no matter what you do after that the guest cannot erase the negative feeling you have already instilled in their minds. In contrast, going soft with a friendly and welcoming staff is a must. Further, adding sniffer dogs as one of the first elements provides many benefits.
• Most people love animals, especially dogs and horses (I've used both).
• Detection dogs can approach guests even when it is not appropriate for staff to do so.
• Using detection dogs outside is a deterrent itself.
• You can investigate a hit (the technical term for an animal identifying a suspicious item), outside and away from the venue (see figure 17.1 for alert area screening location). This outside detection area should be away from other guests and away from the building.
• You can sweep and sterilize the building before guests arrive (you can't do that with horses).
• You can use detection dogs to patrol the parking lots while everyone is inside enjoying the event. (We had a hit on a vehicle during a concert. It was verified by another dog, but Raleigh, North Carolina, police wanted a third verification and called in their bomb dog. That dog also hit on the car…only he hit on the front and the others hit on the back.)
• You can use dogs inside during the event as well. - Staffers in the yellow zone are our eyes and ears—and our first line of defense. They check guests to see if they are meeting ticket license conditions to enter the venue; that is, if they are too imbibed, complying with rules regulations, following the dress code, being cooperative, and the like. If not, this is the place to weed out these problematic guests. It's better to deal with known situations there, rather than having to deal with them after they have created more chaos and with it, liability concerns.
- The yellow zone is also meant to soften guests for the upcoming red zone. At the next step, staffers have already established rapport with fans. In addition, staffers have shown guests that the facility takes safety and well-being seriously.
Zone 2—Red (Preadmission Screening, Secondary Wanding, and Admission)
- The red zone, hardline physical security, can be thought of as the security screening and customer service area, as opposed to the customer service and security screening areas, which are identified in the yellow and blue zones.
- The red zone is a hotbed and should be staffed by veterans who understand the tricks and deceptions, including taping items under and to the backs of arms and between legs, guests possessing and using multiple items with the hope that once they are found, then the screening process will stop. Again, this is the area where inconsistency of knowledge, duty, and execution is the most troublesome. One last concern in zone 2 is properly communicating policies and procedures so everyone is on the same page.
• First, you must determine if your policies are clear and concise or whether they are they open to interpretation. Many venues leave their policies vague in an attempt to give staff room for commonsense judgment and room to give guests the benefit of the doubt, thus, customer service.
• The good news is there is a way to achieve both. With hardline policies the staff can be thorough, with an option to refer issues to a higher authority who will make the decision. The person with the higher authority should be empowered to use good commonsense judgment. This approach gives the frontline staff an option and the guests will feel better about their treatment.
Zone 3—Blue Zone (Third Zone Screening With Soft Zone Touch)
- The blue zone provides another opportunity to observe guests after they have gone through the inspection process. Often, once guests and potential bad guys have completed the initial screening step, observing them in this setting may reveal a greater intent or inappropriate behavior. For example, are they actively looking for their seats or are they surveying the venue, are they alone, are they steady on their feet, are they clinging to something that seems fragile or being careful to keep steady? The key to this zone is being observant and taking action when necessary by alerting other security personnel to this behavior.
- Observing fan demeanor, asking questions, and watching their actions are all a part of the process for a holistic safety and security screening process. Thus, a facility manager cannot forget about zone 3, the blue zone in their planning.
Figure 17.1 The three zones to help protect a facility.
Diagram courtesy of Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
Policies and Procedures
While the aforementioned are critical action steps, it is important to remember that a facility manager must first develop solid policies and procedures in consultation with the facility's general counsel. Policies and procedures provide guidelines to everyone entering and using a property, they relay to guests what they can and cannot do. Managers should develop safety policies and procedures with this end in mind—knowledgeable guests are happier guests, which means repeat business. Policies and procedures (Ps and Ps) can also help eliminate or reduce lawsuits and reduce opportunistic claims. Ps and Ps empower staff and help them to be consistent in executing their duties through being proactive versus reactive. Types of safety Ps and Ps include
- facility and ground use;
- a promoter's guide,
- guest rules and regulations, and
- staff policies, rules, and regulations.
As an example, facility and ground use policies might include such subjects as these:
- Loitering
- Homeless persons
- Early arrivals
- Soliciting or distribution
- Playing—ball or horseback
- Skating
- Swimming
- Hunting and fishing
- Hired automobiles
- Scalping
- Demonstrations
- Vehicle idling
- Air space and drones
- Advertisement
- Student drives
- Tailgating rules
- Food and other vendors
The promoters' guide might include the following:
- Equipment
- Approval of contracts
- Cancellation clause
- Insurance
- Compliance
- License and permits
- Indemnity
- Box office and admissions control
- Objectionable persons
- Opening hours
- Refunds of ticket revenue
- Announcements
- Agreements to quit premises
- Left-behind articles
- Nonassignments
- Rights to cancel the event, open doors
- Rental
- Storage space and time limit
- Box office access
- Deposits
- Armed guards
- Fire safety and OSHA
- Local ordinances
- Union regulations
- Contracted services
- VIP and reserved parking
- ADA
- Restrictions
- Use of premises
- Event description
- License fee
- Tickets—rights, manifest, and costs
- Terms and conditions
- Rights to set staffing levels
- Force majeure
- Marketing rights
These are just examples, but it is important to develop well-defined policies and effectively communicate these Ps and Ps so there are no questions about them from your guests, promoters, staff, and others coming to the venue. If a manager needs to take action to protect life and property, then creating plans will guide all future safety practices.
Properly trained employees are key to a successful facility
Proper training of employees is key to the successful operation of a sport facility, and it can be tricky given the varied job types and the diversified skill set among employees. Certain training for some jobs in a sport facility is required by either state or federal law. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency that holds employers accountable for providing a workplace free from serious recognized hazards, has many training rules in place that employers must follow (U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2018). For example, it has several training requirements for heavy equipment operators, such as forklift drivers who move product at sport facilities, and if the sport facility uses propane to cook in the kitchens, food service workers need to be trained on the proper storage of propane.
Many employee trainings can be done universally and apply to all employees. Trainings that fit this category would include the following:
- Sexual harassment and diversity training. Teaching employees to properly interact with one another applies to all employees and can be taught as a group no matter what the employees' work type or job responsibilities.
- Generic safety training. What are employees to do in case of a bomb threat, extreme weather or active shooter? If the sport facility is to be evacuated, what are the employees' roles in getting customers out, and where do they evacuate to? How can work site accidents be prevented? What steps are to be taken if a customer or employee gets hurt while in the sport facility? It is crucial that all employees receive this type of training.
- Customer service training. Because sport facilities are public buildings, all employees will interact with the public. Because of this, sport facility employees have to have minimum basic customer service skills, so they are treating guests properly and guests receive uniform customer service no matter what employee they interact with.
Some training is job specific and does not apply to all. Managers often are required to go to leadership training, while nonmanagers may not be required to participate in such trainings. Positions like plumber or electrician may have certain trainings and certificates that only apply to their trades.
Training can be a costly investment but one that will pay dividends if done well. Some of the benefits training provides include lower turnover, higher employee morale, better customer service, lower workplace injuries, and sharpened job skills.
Human Resources Scenario
What If: Allegation of Sexual Harassment
There are two types of sexual harassment. Quid Pro Quo harassment occurs when a superior demands sexual favors to obtain, keep, or be promoted into a job. Hostile work environment harassment occurs when a person at work makes unwanted sexual comments, jokes, or other actions that make the work environment so difficult that the employee being harassed cannot do his or her job. What if you are a sport facility manager and a part-time female concessions worker comes to you with an allegation that her male supervisor has been sexually harassing her by making lewd comments about her physical appearance in front of her coworkers. How would you handle this?
Answer
As a manager, when an allegation of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, or violence is brought to your attention, you must treat it with a sense of immediacy and importance and not prejudge the situation based on who is bringing forth the allegation.
The first step the facility manager should take is to contact the human resources department immediately. Remember, a claim of sexual harassment has legal implications, and a manager should not try to handle or resolve the situation on his own. By doing so he can misstep and make the situation far worse by unintentionally doing or saying the wrong thing. Human resources is best suited to give guidance on how to manage the situation and to conduct an investigation into the allegation.
In a situation like this, the human resources department would conduct an investigation by speaking separately to both the accused and the accuser and then verify the information both parties have given them, by conducting private interviews with potential witnesses and reviewing the facility's security footage to see if it captured anything that could help corroborate what happened.
As the sport facility manager, human resources may ask you to help with the investigation by lining up witnesses, helping to secure old video footage, and adding background, such as if you are aware of the manager in question having issues with female employees in the past.
One of the important caveats to remember about a situation like this is both parties deserve the right of privacy in the matter, and you should not be discussing the ongoing investigation with anyone other than human resources.
Once the human resources department has made a conclusion on the matter, as sport facility manager, you may be brought back into the situation to help with or conduct the termination or discipline of the party in question, if warranted. At that point it is still important to defer to expertise of human resources on the matter, so you feel confident that you are handling it in both a legal and responsible way.
Other Labor Issues
Labor issues are always evolving, and managers need to be aware of both cultural and legal changes that affect how managers interact with their employees. Some of the current issues that managers must be aware of include both the living wage and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Living Wage
A living wage, by definition, means a wage high enough to maintain a normal standard of living. Many sport facility managers and owners are increasingly under pressure to pay more than minimum wage, because some contend a minimum wage is not enough for an employee to live on.
Increasingly, many municipalities are instituting living wage laws that mandate hourly wages higher than the United States' and individual states' minimum wage. It is important that sport facility managers are mindful of this, so they do not violate local and state wage laws.
The Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act was passed by Congress and became law in 1993. FMLA allows employees to take unpaid but protected leave for the employee's medical issues, or those of their specified family members. According to the Department of Labor, FMLA allows employees to take time off for an extended period for the following reasons (U. S. Department of Labor, 2018a)
- Illness
- Caring for a qualifying sick family member
- The birth or adoption of a child
- Military caregiving or other emergencies related to a family member's active duty service
Sport facility managers need to be aware of FMLA because it is an employee right, and they cannot retaliate against an eligible employee who uses FMLA time.
Workers' Rights
Sport facility managers also need to be aware of workers' general rights in the workplace. Some of these rights include (U.S. Department of Labor 2018b)
- To be trained in a language that the employee understands
- To be provided with the necessary safety equipment
- To report injury or illness
- To voice concerns over unsafe working conditions without fear of retaliation
Evaluation
The employment process starts with hiring the right employees and training them. Personnel management does not end there. Employees need to be evaluated, and if they do well, they should be given the opportunity to advance when such opportunities are available. In contrast, if an employee is not doing well and the deficiencies cannot be corrected (whether he does not have the skills to do the job effectively, refuses to change his behavior, violated a major policy or procedure, or violated the law), he would need to be reprimanded or terminated. During this process, the manager earns her stripes by vigilantly monitoring employees and giving appropriate feedback (the progressive disciplinary process in action). One of the keys for a facility manager is to resolve workplace conflicts, as highlighted by the “Resolving Conflict” sidebar.
Resolving Conflict
Matthew Kastel, Stadium Manager, Oriole Park
I have had the opportunity of being a manager in several sport facilities across many different regions of the United States. One of the truisms that is universal for managing employees no matter where you are or what you do is that when two or more employees are working together, the potential for conflict is there. Because humans are unique individuals, there is no one perfect answer for how to resolve disagreements among employees. That being said, I found the following techniques helpful in keeping conflict to a minimum.
- It starts with hiring. Each organization has its own unique culture. When hiring employees, it is helpful to hire employees that have a personality that fits the organization's culture. For example, a place like Disney World hires happy and helpful people for customer service work. Hiring someone outside that mold could lead to tension among the workers on how best to do the job.
- Give clear instructions. Most employee conflicts and disagreements begin over something small, like a group of workers having different ideas on how to get a task done. As manager, if you give clear instructions on work assignments, it reduces the possibility of employees having an argument on who is doing what, because you have already made that information clear.
- You need to be the adult in the room. When two employees are squabbling, it is important as a manager that you step in and make clear that this is a workplace, and this type of behavior is not tolerated at work. Once you settle the situation down, speak to each employee individually, and if a resolution is simple, get both employees together and tell them how you are resolving the issue. If the conflict is something serious, be sure to bring it to human resources to get their input and advice. Personalities sometimes do not match up, so there may not be a resolution to each conflict. In cases like this, it is important to impress upon employees that they do not have to like each other, but they need to work like they do.
- It is all about the team. As a manager, it is crucial to stress to employees that work is a team endeavor, and that all employees are in this together. This helps send a strong philosophical message to the workforce that they need to leave their petty personal grievances behind when they are at work.
- Be honest. Often conflict arises when there is a great deal of stress on the job, such as when there is a tight deadline, and everyone is on edge. On days like this, I am honest with my workers, acknowledging the elephant in the room. I tell the workers that we all know that the next few days are going to be rough, but if we work hard and take a deep breath every now and again, we will get through the situation fine. When the deadline passes and the mission has been accomplished, be sure to thank the workers. Sometimes this acknowledgment, both before and after the deadline, allows the workers to understand that management knows and appreciates what they are going through.
- Be firm. As boss there are situations you cannot tolerate when employees are having a conflict. Two examples of this are if, during a disagreement, an employee swears or threatens physical violence. As manager, you must step in right away and report the incident to human resources. Doing so may prevent workplace violence or employees' perception that they are working in an unsafe work environment.
- Have fun. Instead of focusing on the negative, which can turn into a cancer through a workplace, focus on the positive and the fun times. Many employees enjoy work and those they work with, so you have to accentuate the positive and remind employees of the good times when things are tough.
- Don't allow bullying. A toxic work environment can exist if people in the workplace are abusive. Calling people names, withholding opportunities, or just being mean are issues that often happen in a workplace. Of course, a manager should not engage in such conduct and should always try to prevent playing favorites. Just as important, a manager needs to know the temperament of her employees and workplace culture. When abuse or bullying is identified, a great manager finds a solution. A poor manager allows it to continue while hoping it will go away.
- Know when to praise or reprimand. A great manager knows he has to thank employees when they do a good job. Just showing up is not doing a good job. An inattentive employee during a changeover can injure others and cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage in a second. That is why it is so important to immediately acknowledge great work and immediately discuss poor performance. The failure to properly praise or reprimand can lead to significant conflict.
Understand management of multiuse college facilities
This chapter explores what is involved in managing multiuse college facilities. The concepts apply to more than just college facilities, but we felt a college example would best demonstrate the concepts. Multiuse college athletic facilities can include a wide variety of different facilities and as such the college is like a high school with multiple facilities. A college, though, might have anything from a handful of fields, a gym, and a fitness center to possibly several dozen facilities, including practice fields, field houses, stadiums, arenas, golf courses, and rowing houses. It all depends on size. The larger the university, the more athletic facilities it normally has. As an example, Yale University has the following athletic facilities: Brady Squash Center, The Course at Yale, Coxe Cage, Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, Cuyler Field/Dwyer Track, DeWitt Family Stadium, Frank Field, Gales Ferry, Gilder Boathouse, golf course, Ingalls Rink, Payne Whitney Gym (the largest gym in the world), Johnson Field, McNay Family Sailing Center, an outdoor education center, Ray Tompkins House, Reese Stadium, Smilow Field Center, Carm Cozza Complex, Yale Bowl, Kenney Center, and Yale Field (Official website, n.d.). Not every large college will have so many fields, but Yale is a good example of the diverse number of facilities that could be the responsibility of a facility manager.
Yale Athletic Facilities—Ingalls Rink
Jeremy Makins
Background
Mr. Makins has a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a master of business administration degree in marketing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Mr. Makins has had a long and distinguished career in sport marketing and facility management. That journey includes the following:
- Yale University. Director of ticket operations; associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations; senior associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations
- University of Illinois at Chicago. Volunteer graduate assistant; coordinator of ticket sales and outreach
- Chicago Bulls. Game-day sales
- Chicago Rush. Game-day hospitality
- Chicago Steel. Game-day operations
Industry Mentor
I did not take a traditional path to enter the sport administration field. I gained most of my industry-specific knowledge as on the job training, and my first supervisor, Scott Garrett, did an incredible job of teaching, training, and advising. I could not have asked for a better mentor, and he helped set me on my current path. I can directly connect a lot of my current philosophy to what Scott taught me.
At Yale, our deputy athletic director, Wayne Dean, has been an incredible mentor. He has taught me practical skills while always serving as my go-to guide when looking for advice or help. He is incredibly well respected in the collegiate hockey world, and I am very fortunate to be able to work with him.
For better or worse, I was not given a lot of advance training when I took on these job responsibilities. That meant it was a steep initial learning curve, but it also allowed me to introduce an outsider's perspective, which has proven to be successful.
My Facility
Our on-campus rink, Ingalls Rink, serves as the home to the Yale men's and women's hockey programs. A small group of staff members works together to service all operational needs. I am responsible for day-to-day scheduling, revenue generation, and oversight of our varsity hockey events. One other staff person handles most of the day-to-day building operations and maintenance needs. Finally, one other staff person focuses on the expenses, capital projects, and overall responsibility of the venue.
Ingalls Rink is an architecturally important venue, and on a daily basis we are focusing on regular building operations and also serving as hosts to tour groups and general public visitors who just want to see it. We had a major renovation about 10 years ago that helped keep the building viable for current usage needs. That renovation added new spaces that can be used for our men's and women's hockey teams (new locker rooms, strength and conditioning, coaches' offices, team rooms, etc.) while also upgrading many of the mechanical systems. Recently, we added light-emitting diode (LED) lighting over the ice surface.
As a part of Yale University, we work closely with the central university facilities office to ensure that Ingalls Rink continues to be one of the most beautiful and significant hockey rinks in the country.
Ingalls Rink, often called the whale, is an iconic sport facility.
Working at My Facility
Being a part of the team that services our incredible student-athletes is very fulfilling. There is immense satisfaction at the end of a big win, especially if played in front of a sellout crowd. Our university president refers to it as BIRG—basking in reflected glory. We have some challenges that can make my job more challenging. Being an iconic facility minimizes the things we can do with the outside of the facility. We also have coaches who want their athletes to have access to work out and train in the enclosed gym at any time. Thus, we had to issue swipe cards to hockey players so they can come in at any time to train. That can raise security issues, such as lights being left on or a door being left ajar. These issues might not be unique just to my facility, but the politics around our campus and the issues that might arise between the university, students, coaches, and the public requires careful navigation.
A Day in the Life of a Facility Manager
Ingalls Rink is open during the university's academic season—essentially from September through the end of March. However, that doesn't mean that we only focus on the rink during those months.
I spend the majority of my summer (May to August) planning and preparing the upcoming year's schedule. This means regular e-mails, phone calls, and meetings to set up the coming year. By the time August rolls around, 90% of the rink's schedule is finalized for the year. After agreeing to a tentative schedule, I interface between our users and a team at Yale that consists of risk management, the general counsel's office, and the tax and bond office to review and approve the facility use agreements (FUAs). It's my job to prepare the FUAs so that the internal Yale team can quickly review and approve them.
During the academic year, I have a number of administrative duties not related to rink operations, so my time is not exclusively spent at the rink. On a daily basis, however, I maintain regular correspondence with our lead operations staff person—we discuss any number of things, although the conversations typically focus on rink schedule, staffing schedule, custodial schedule, weather forecast, and event preparation and logistics.
Our big event days include men's and women's varsity games. For a weekday game played at 7:00 p.m., I will typically be in my main office (not located at the rink) at 9:00 a.m. That time is spent collaborating with other athletic department personnel and preparing for the weekend's events (since we are a collegiate athletic department, we are preparing for all of our events—not just hockey). I will typically be on-site at the rink 4 hours before game time.
I have a routine and checklist so that I can set up the building for the game (tables, stanchions, scanners, laptops, ticket printers, etc.). Most of our game-day staff arrive between 1-1/2 and 2 hours before the game, so I need to make sure I'm ready to greet them and give them game-specific information. Once the game-day staff are prepared, they'll get into position and be ready for us to open our doors to the public.
During an event, I am typically walking the rink. For me, that means that I am constantly scanning the crowd, checking in with game-day staff, talking with security and police, walking outside to check on parking operations, handling customer service issues, and managing crowd control. If things are going well, I may get to spend a couple minutes in the third period to watch the end of the game!
Our typical game lasts about 2 hours and 15 minutes, so by 9:15 p.m., the teams should be off the ice. Some nights, we have other events scheduled to go on after the varsity game, but typically we don't schedule anything afterwards. My postgame routine includes breaking down the tables, signage, laptops, scanners, and other items that were set up a couple hours before the game. I ensure that fans safely leave the venue, the visiting team gets to its bus, and that the postgame cleaning crew gets started; and then I do a final check of the building to see if any immediate damage was incurred. On an average night, I usually leave the rink around 10:30 p.m.
Consistency of knowledge, duty, and execution
By Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
I have found that a lack of consistency, knowledge, duty, and execution are the main reasons for customer complaints at venues. Where there is consistency, guests know what to expect no matter where they enter. Balancing customer service with safety and security has always been a question many security professionals are challenged with. Out of bad things, good may come, at least different methods might be learned. Case in point, after the 2017 Ariana Grande terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom, many venues incorporated sniffer dogs into their guest screening process, including PNC Arena. Much like after September 11, 2001, using metal detectors and wands, excluding a host of items from being brought into the venue, and other protocols were reexamined in light of new types of attacks.
What are the security elements or layers that are needed in today's environment? We try to balance safety and security with customer service; thus, a blend of elements is needed to give the appearance of easy and unintrusive security screening. In reviewing your screening approach with the idea of blending great customer service and the necessary security screening process, a three-tiered method, using defined zones, might be a way to achieve this balance. Each tier has its own purpose, but collectively they combine to create a comprehensive process.
Zone 1—Yellow (Deterrent—Hard Zone With a Soft Approach)
- Excluding the assumed hard zone elements already in place (such as rumble strips, bollards, guard posts, planters, etc.), the very first thing is the approach. You must make the guests feel welcome. If at first you go hard in engaging the guests, no matter what you do after that the guest cannot erase the negative feeling you have already instilled in their minds. In contrast, going soft with a friendly and welcoming staff is a must. Further, adding sniffer dogs as one of the first elements provides many benefits.
• Most people love animals, especially dogs and horses (I've used both).
• Detection dogs can approach guests even when it is not appropriate for staff to do so.
• Using detection dogs outside is a deterrent itself.
• You can investigate a hit (the technical term for an animal identifying a suspicious item), outside and away from the venue (see figure 17.1 for alert area screening location). This outside detection area should be away from other guests and away from the building.
• You can sweep and sterilize the building before guests arrive (you can't do that with horses).
• You can use detection dogs to patrol the parking lots while everyone is inside enjoying the event. (We had a hit on a vehicle during a concert. It was verified by another dog, but Raleigh, North Carolina, police wanted a third verification and called in their bomb dog. That dog also hit on the car…only he hit on the front and the others hit on the back.)
• You can use dogs inside during the event as well. - Staffers in the yellow zone are our eyes and ears—and our first line of defense. They check guests to see if they are meeting ticket license conditions to enter the venue; that is, if they are too imbibed, complying with rules regulations, following the dress code, being cooperative, and the like. If not, this is the place to weed out these problematic guests. It's better to deal with known situations there, rather than having to deal with them after they have created more chaos and with it, liability concerns.
- The yellow zone is also meant to soften guests for the upcoming red zone. At the next step, staffers have already established rapport with fans. In addition, staffers have shown guests that the facility takes safety and well-being seriously.
Zone 2—Red (Preadmission Screening, Secondary Wanding, and Admission)
- The red zone, hardline physical security, can be thought of as the security screening and customer service area, as opposed to the customer service and security screening areas, which are identified in the yellow and blue zones.
- The red zone is a hotbed and should be staffed by veterans who understand the tricks and deceptions, including taping items under and to the backs of arms and between legs, guests possessing and using multiple items with the hope that once they are found, then the screening process will stop. Again, this is the area where inconsistency of knowledge, duty, and execution is the most troublesome. One last concern in zone 2 is properly communicating policies and procedures so everyone is on the same page.
• First, you must determine if your policies are clear and concise or whether they are they open to interpretation. Many venues leave their policies vague in an attempt to give staff room for commonsense judgment and room to give guests the benefit of the doubt, thus, customer service.
• The good news is there is a way to achieve both. With hardline policies the staff can be thorough, with an option to refer issues to a higher authority who will make the decision. The person with the higher authority should be empowered to use good commonsense judgment. This approach gives the frontline staff an option and the guests will feel better about their treatment.
Zone 3—Blue Zone (Third Zone Screening With Soft Zone Touch)
- The blue zone provides another opportunity to observe guests after they have gone through the inspection process. Often, once guests and potential bad guys have completed the initial screening step, observing them in this setting may reveal a greater intent or inappropriate behavior. For example, are they actively looking for their seats or are they surveying the venue, are they alone, are they steady on their feet, are they clinging to something that seems fragile or being careful to keep steady? The key to this zone is being observant and taking action when necessary by alerting other security personnel to this behavior.
- Observing fan demeanor, asking questions, and watching their actions are all a part of the process for a holistic safety and security screening process. Thus, a facility manager cannot forget about zone 3, the blue zone in their planning.
Figure 17.1 The three zones to help protect a facility.
Diagram courtesy of Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
Policies and Procedures
While the aforementioned are critical action steps, it is important to remember that a facility manager must first develop solid policies and procedures in consultation with the facility's general counsel. Policies and procedures provide guidelines to everyone entering and using a property, they relay to guests what they can and cannot do. Managers should develop safety policies and procedures with this end in mind—knowledgeable guests are happier guests, which means repeat business. Policies and procedures (Ps and Ps) can also help eliminate or reduce lawsuits and reduce opportunistic claims. Ps and Ps empower staff and help them to be consistent in executing their duties through being proactive versus reactive. Types of safety Ps and Ps include
- facility and ground use;
- a promoter's guide,
- guest rules and regulations, and
- staff policies, rules, and regulations.
As an example, facility and ground use policies might include such subjects as these:
- Loitering
- Homeless persons
- Early arrivals
- Soliciting or distribution
- Playing—ball or horseback
- Skating
- Swimming
- Hunting and fishing
- Hired automobiles
- Scalping
- Demonstrations
- Vehicle idling
- Air space and drones
- Advertisement
- Student drives
- Tailgating rules
- Food and other vendors
The promoters' guide might include the following:
- Equipment
- Approval of contracts
- Cancellation clause
- Insurance
- Compliance
- License and permits
- Indemnity
- Box office and admissions control
- Objectionable persons
- Opening hours
- Refunds of ticket revenue
- Announcements
- Agreements to quit premises
- Left-behind articles
- Nonassignments
- Rights to cancel the event, open doors
- Rental
- Storage space and time limit
- Box office access
- Deposits
- Armed guards
- Fire safety and OSHA
- Local ordinances
- Union regulations
- Contracted services
- VIP and reserved parking
- ADA
- Restrictions
- Use of premises
- Event description
- License fee
- Tickets—rights, manifest, and costs
- Terms and conditions
- Rights to set staffing levels
- Force majeure
- Marketing rights
These are just examples, but it is important to develop well-defined policies and effectively communicate these Ps and Ps so there are no questions about them from your guests, promoters, staff, and others coming to the venue. If a manager needs to take action to protect life and property, then creating plans will guide all future safety practices.
Properly trained employees are key to a successful facility
Proper training of employees is key to the successful operation of a sport facility, and it can be tricky given the varied job types and the diversified skill set among employees. Certain training for some jobs in a sport facility is required by either state or federal law. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency that holds employers accountable for providing a workplace free from serious recognized hazards, has many training rules in place that employers must follow (U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2018). For example, it has several training requirements for heavy equipment operators, such as forklift drivers who move product at sport facilities, and if the sport facility uses propane to cook in the kitchens, food service workers need to be trained on the proper storage of propane.
Many employee trainings can be done universally and apply to all employees. Trainings that fit this category would include the following:
- Sexual harassment and diversity training. Teaching employees to properly interact with one another applies to all employees and can be taught as a group no matter what the employees' work type or job responsibilities.
- Generic safety training. What are employees to do in case of a bomb threat, extreme weather or active shooter? If the sport facility is to be evacuated, what are the employees' roles in getting customers out, and where do they evacuate to? How can work site accidents be prevented? What steps are to be taken if a customer or employee gets hurt while in the sport facility? It is crucial that all employees receive this type of training.
- Customer service training. Because sport facilities are public buildings, all employees will interact with the public. Because of this, sport facility employees have to have minimum basic customer service skills, so they are treating guests properly and guests receive uniform customer service no matter what employee they interact with.
Some training is job specific and does not apply to all. Managers often are required to go to leadership training, while nonmanagers may not be required to participate in such trainings. Positions like plumber or electrician may have certain trainings and certificates that only apply to their trades.
Training can be a costly investment but one that will pay dividends if done well. Some of the benefits training provides include lower turnover, higher employee morale, better customer service, lower workplace injuries, and sharpened job skills.
Human Resources Scenario
What If: Allegation of Sexual Harassment
There are two types of sexual harassment. Quid Pro Quo harassment occurs when a superior demands sexual favors to obtain, keep, or be promoted into a job. Hostile work environment harassment occurs when a person at work makes unwanted sexual comments, jokes, or other actions that make the work environment so difficult that the employee being harassed cannot do his or her job. What if you are a sport facility manager and a part-time female concessions worker comes to you with an allegation that her male supervisor has been sexually harassing her by making lewd comments about her physical appearance in front of her coworkers. How would you handle this?
Answer
As a manager, when an allegation of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, or violence is brought to your attention, you must treat it with a sense of immediacy and importance and not prejudge the situation based on who is bringing forth the allegation.
The first step the facility manager should take is to contact the human resources department immediately. Remember, a claim of sexual harassment has legal implications, and a manager should not try to handle or resolve the situation on his own. By doing so he can misstep and make the situation far worse by unintentionally doing or saying the wrong thing. Human resources is best suited to give guidance on how to manage the situation and to conduct an investigation into the allegation.
In a situation like this, the human resources department would conduct an investigation by speaking separately to both the accused and the accuser and then verify the information both parties have given them, by conducting private interviews with potential witnesses and reviewing the facility's security footage to see if it captured anything that could help corroborate what happened.
As the sport facility manager, human resources may ask you to help with the investigation by lining up witnesses, helping to secure old video footage, and adding background, such as if you are aware of the manager in question having issues with female employees in the past.
One of the important caveats to remember about a situation like this is both parties deserve the right of privacy in the matter, and you should not be discussing the ongoing investigation with anyone other than human resources.
Once the human resources department has made a conclusion on the matter, as sport facility manager, you may be brought back into the situation to help with or conduct the termination or discipline of the party in question, if warranted. At that point it is still important to defer to expertise of human resources on the matter, so you feel confident that you are handling it in both a legal and responsible way.
Other Labor Issues
Labor issues are always evolving, and managers need to be aware of both cultural and legal changes that affect how managers interact with their employees. Some of the current issues that managers must be aware of include both the living wage and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Living Wage
A living wage, by definition, means a wage high enough to maintain a normal standard of living. Many sport facility managers and owners are increasingly under pressure to pay more than minimum wage, because some contend a minimum wage is not enough for an employee to live on.
Increasingly, many municipalities are instituting living wage laws that mandate hourly wages higher than the United States' and individual states' minimum wage. It is important that sport facility managers are mindful of this, so they do not violate local and state wage laws.
The Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act was passed by Congress and became law in 1993. FMLA allows employees to take unpaid but protected leave for the employee's medical issues, or those of their specified family members. According to the Department of Labor, FMLA allows employees to take time off for an extended period for the following reasons (U. S. Department of Labor, 2018a)
- Illness
- Caring for a qualifying sick family member
- The birth or adoption of a child
- Military caregiving or other emergencies related to a family member's active duty service
Sport facility managers need to be aware of FMLA because it is an employee right, and they cannot retaliate against an eligible employee who uses FMLA time.
Workers' Rights
Sport facility managers also need to be aware of workers' general rights in the workplace. Some of these rights include (U.S. Department of Labor 2018b)
- To be trained in a language that the employee understands
- To be provided with the necessary safety equipment
- To report injury or illness
- To voice concerns over unsafe working conditions without fear of retaliation
Evaluation
The employment process starts with hiring the right employees and training them. Personnel management does not end there. Employees need to be evaluated, and if they do well, they should be given the opportunity to advance when such opportunities are available. In contrast, if an employee is not doing well and the deficiencies cannot be corrected (whether he does not have the skills to do the job effectively, refuses to change his behavior, violated a major policy or procedure, or violated the law), he would need to be reprimanded or terminated. During this process, the manager earns her stripes by vigilantly monitoring employees and giving appropriate feedback (the progressive disciplinary process in action). One of the keys for a facility manager is to resolve workplace conflicts, as highlighted by the “Resolving Conflict” sidebar.
Resolving Conflict
Matthew Kastel, Stadium Manager, Oriole Park
I have had the opportunity of being a manager in several sport facilities across many different regions of the United States. One of the truisms that is universal for managing employees no matter where you are or what you do is that when two or more employees are working together, the potential for conflict is there. Because humans are unique individuals, there is no one perfect answer for how to resolve disagreements among employees. That being said, I found the following techniques helpful in keeping conflict to a minimum.
- It starts with hiring. Each organization has its own unique culture. When hiring employees, it is helpful to hire employees that have a personality that fits the organization's culture. For example, a place like Disney World hires happy and helpful people for customer service work. Hiring someone outside that mold could lead to tension among the workers on how best to do the job.
- Give clear instructions. Most employee conflicts and disagreements begin over something small, like a group of workers having different ideas on how to get a task done. As manager, if you give clear instructions on work assignments, it reduces the possibility of employees having an argument on who is doing what, because you have already made that information clear.
- You need to be the adult in the room. When two employees are squabbling, it is important as a manager that you step in and make clear that this is a workplace, and this type of behavior is not tolerated at work. Once you settle the situation down, speak to each employee individually, and if a resolution is simple, get both employees together and tell them how you are resolving the issue. If the conflict is something serious, be sure to bring it to human resources to get their input and advice. Personalities sometimes do not match up, so there may not be a resolution to each conflict. In cases like this, it is important to impress upon employees that they do not have to like each other, but they need to work like they do.
- It is all about the team. As a manager, it is crucial to stress to employees that work is a team endeavor, and that all employees are in this together. This helps send a strong philosophical message to the workforce that they need to leave their petty personal grievances behind when they are at work.
- Be honest. Often conflict arises when there is a great deal of stress on the job, such as when there is a tight deadline, and everyone is on edge. On days like this, I am honest with my workers, acknowledging the elephant in the room. I tell the workers that we all know that the next few days are going to be rough, but if we work hard and take a deep breath every now and again, we will get through the situation fine. When the deadline passes and the mission has been accomplished, be sure to thank the workers. Sometimes this acknowledgment, both before and after the deadline, allows the workers to understand that management knows and appreciates what they are going through.
- Be firm. As boss there are situations you cannot tolerate when employees are having a conflict. Two examples of this are if, during a disagreement, an employee swears or threatens physical violence. As manager, you must step in right away and report the incident to human resources. Doing so may prevent workplace violence or employees' perception that they are working in an unsafe work environment.
- Have fun. Instead of focusing on the negative, which can turn into a cancer through a workplace, focus on the positive and the fun times. Many employees enjoy work and those they work with, so you have to accentuate the positive and remind employees of the good times when things are tough.
- Don't allow bullying. A toxic work environment can exist if people in the workplace are abusive. Calling people names, withholding opportunities, or just being mean are issues that often happen in a workplace. Of course, a manager should not engage in such conduct and should always try to prevent playing favorites. Just as important, a manager needs to know the temperament of her employees and workplace culture. When abuse or bullying is identified, a great manager finds a solution. A poor manager allows it to continue while hoping it will go away.
- Know when to praise or reprimand. A great manager knows he has to thank employees when they do a good job. Just showing up is not doing a good job. An inattentive employee during a changeover can injure others and cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage in a second. That is why it is so important to immediately acknowledge great work and immediately discuss poor performance. The failure to properly praise or reprimand can lead to significant conflict.
Understand management of multiuse college facilities
This chapter explores what is involved in managing multiuse college facilities. The concepts apply to more than just college facilities, but we felt a college example would best demonstrate the concepts. Multiuse college athletic facilities can include a wide variety of different facilities and as such the college is like a high school with multiple facilities. A college, though, might have anything from a handful of fields, a gym, and a fitness center to possibly several dozen facilities, including practice fields, field houses, stadiums, arenas, golf courses, and rowing houses. It all depends on size. The larger the university, the more athletic facilities it normally has. As an example, Yale University has the following athletic facilities: Brady Squash Center, The Course at Yale, Coxe Cage, Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, Cuyler Field/Dwyer Track, DeWitt Family Stadium, Frank Field, Gales Ferry, Gilder Boathouse, golf course, Ingalls Rink, Payne Whitney Gym (the largest gym in the world), Johnson Field, McNay Family Sailing Center, an outdoor education center, Ray Tompkins House, Reese Stadium, Smilow Field Center, Carm Cozza Complex, Yale Bowl, Kenney Center, and Yale Field (Official website, n.d.). Not every large college will have so many fields, but Yale is a good example of the diverse number of facilities that could be the responsibility of a facility manager.
Yale Athletic Facilities—Ingalls Rink
Jeremy Makins
Background
Mr. Makins has a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a master of business administration degree in marketing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Mr. Makins has had a long and distinguished career in sport marketing and facility management. That journey includes the following:
- Yale University. Director of ticket operations; associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations; senior associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations
- University of Illinois at Chicago. Volunteer graduate assistant; coordinator of ticket sales and outreach
- Chicago Bulls. Game-day sales
- Chicago Rush. Game-day hospitality
- Chicago Steel. Game-day operations
Industry Mentor
I did not take a traditional path to enter the sport administration field. I gained most of my industry-specific knowledge as on the job training, and my first supervisor, Scott Garrett, did an incredible job of teaching, training, and advising. I could not have asked for a better mentor, and he helped set me on my current path. I can directly connect a lot of my current philosophy to what Scott taught me.
At Yale, our deputy athletic director, Wayne Dean, has been an incredible mentor. He has taught me practical skills while always serving as my go-to guide when looking for advice or help. He is incredibly well respected in the collegiate hockey world, and I am very fortunate to be able to work with him.
For better or worse, I was not given a lot of advance training when I took on these job responsibilities. That meant it was a steep initial learning curve, but it also allowed me to introduce an outsider's perspective, which has proven to be successful.
My Facility
Our on-campus rink, Ingalls Rink, serves as the home to the Yale men's and women's hockey programs. A small group of staff members works together to service all operational needs. I am responsible for day-to-day scheduling, revenue generation, and oversight of our varsity hockey events. One other staff person handles most of the day-to-day building operations and maintenance needs. Finally, one other staff person focuses on the expenses, capital projects, and overall responsibility of the venue.
Ingalls Rink is an architecturally important venue, and on a daily basis we are focusing on regular building operations and also serving as hosts to tour groups and general public visitors who just want to see it. We had a major renovation about 10 years ago that helped keep the building viable for current usage needs. That renovation added new spaces that can be used for our men's and women's hockey teams (new locker rooms, strength and conditioning, coaches' offices, team rooms, etc.) while also upgrading many of the mechanical systems. Recently, we added light-emitting diode (LED) lighting over the ice surface.
As a part of Yale University, we work closely with the central university facilities office to ensure that Ingalls Rink continues to be one of the most beautiful and significant hockey rinks in the country.
Ingalls Rink, often called the whale, is an iconic sport facility.
Working at My Facility
Being a part of the team that services our incredible student-athletes is very fulfilling. There is immense satisfaction at the end of a big win, especially if played in front of a sellout crowd. Our university president refers to it as BIRG—basking in reflected glory. We have some challenges that can make my job more challenging. Being an iconic facility minimizes the things we can do with the outside of the facility. We also have coaches who want their athletes to have access to work out and train in the enclosed gym at any time. Thus, we had to issue swipe cards to hockey players so they can come in at any time to train. That can raise security issues, such as lights being left on or a door being left ajar. These issues might not be unique just to my facility, but the politics around our campus and the issues that might arise between the university, students, coaches, and the public requires careful navigation.
A Day in the Life of a Facility Manager
Ingalls Rink is open during the university's academic season—essentially from September through the end of March. However, that doesn't mean that we only focus on the rink during those months.
I spend the majority of my summer (May to August) planning and preparing the upcoming year's schedule. This means regular e-mails, phone calls, and meetings to set up the coming year. By the time August rolls around, 90% of the rink's schedule is finalized for the year. After agreeing to a tentative schedule, I interface between our users and a team at Yale that consists of risk management, the general counsel's office, and the tax and bond office to review and approve the facility use agreements (FUAs). It's my job to prepare the FUAs so that the internal Yale team can quickly review and approve them.
During the academic year, I have a number of administrative duties not related to rink operations, so my time is not exclusively spent at the rink. On a daily basis, however, I maintain regular correspondence with our lead operations staff person—we discuss any number of things, although the conversations typically focus on rink schedule, staffing schedule, custodial schedule, weather forecast, and event preparation and logistics.
Our big event days include men's and women's varsity games. For a weekday game played at 7:00 p.m., I will typically be in my main office (not located at the rink) at 9:00 a.m. That time is spent collaborating with other athletic department personnel and preparing for the weekend's events (since we are a collegiate athletic department, we are preparing for all of our events—not just hockey). I will typically be on-site at the rink 4 hours before game time.
I have a routine and checklist so that I can set up the building for the game (tables, stanchions, scanners, laptops, ticket printers, etc.). Most of our game-day staff arrive between 1-1/2 and 2 hours before the game, so I need to make sure I'm ready to greet them and give them game-specific information. Once the game-day staff are prepared, they'll get into position and be ready for us to open our doors to the public.
During an event, I am typically walking the rink. For me, that means that I am constantly scanning the crowd, checking in with game-day staff, talking with security and police, walking outside to check on parking operations, handling customer service issues, and managing crowd control. If things are going well, I may get to spend a couple minutes in the third period to watch the end of the game!
Our typical game lasts about 2 hours and 15 minutes, so by 9:15 p.m., the teams should be off the ice. Some nights, we have other events scheduled to go on after the varsity game, but typically we don't schedule anything afterwards. My postgame routine includes breaking down the tables, signage, laptops, scanners, and other items that were set up a couple hours before the game. I ensure that fans safely leave the venue, the visiting team gets to its bus, and that the postgame cleaning crew gets started; and then I do a final check of the building to see if any immediate damage was incurred. On an average night, I usually leave the rink around 10:30 p.m.
Consistency of knowledge, duty, and execution
By Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
I have found that a lack of consistency, knowledge, duty, and execution are the main reasons for customer complaints at venues. Where there is consistency, guests know what to expect no matter where they enter. Balancing customer service with safety and security has always been a question many security professionals are challenged with. Out of bad things, good may come, at least different methods might be learned. Case in point, after the 2017 Ariana Grande terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom, many venues incorporated sniffer dogs into their guest screening process, including PNC Arena. Much like after September 11, 2001, using metal detectors and wands, excluding a host of items from being brought into the venue, and other protocols were reexamined in light of new types of attacks.
What are the security elements or layers that are needed in today's environment? We try to balance safety and security with customer service; thus, a blend of elements is needed to give the appearance of easy and unintrusive security screening. In reviewing your screening approach with the idea of blending great customer service and the necessary security screening process, a three-tiered method, using defined zones, might be a way to achieve this balance. Each tier has its own purpose, but collectively they combine to create a comprehensive process.
Zone 1—Yellow (Deterrent—Hard Zone With a Soft Approach)
- Excluding the assumed hard zone elements already in place (such as rumble strips, bollards, guard posts, planters, etc.), the very first thing is the approach. You must make the guests feel welcome. If at first you go hard in engaging the guests, no matter what you do after that the guest cannot erase the negative feeling you have already instilled in their minds. In contrast, going soft with a friendly and welcoming staff is a must. Further, adding sniffer dogs as one of the first elements provides many benefits.
• Most people love animals, especially dogs and horses (I've used both).
• Detection dogs can approach guests even when it is not appropriate for staff to do so.
• Using detection dogs outside is a deterrent itself.
• You can investigate a hit (the technical term for an animal identifying a suspicious item), outside and away from the venue (see figure 17.1 for alert area screening location). This outside detection area should be away from other guests and away from the building.
• You can sweep and sterilize the building before guests arrive (you can't do that with horses).
• You can use detection dogs to patrol the parking lots while everyone is inside enjoying the event. (We had a hit on a vehicle during a concert. It was verified by another dog, but Raleigh, North Carolina, police wanted a third verification and called in their bomb dog. That dog also hit on the car…only he hit on the front and the others hit on the back.)
• You can use dogs inside during the event as well. - Staffers in the yellow zone are our eyes and ears—and our first line of defense. They check guests to see if they are meeting ticket license conditions to enter the venue; that is, if they are too imbibed, complying with rules regulations, following the dress code, being cooperative, and the like. If not, this is the place to weed out these problematic guests. It's better to deal with known situations there, rather than having to deal with them after they have created more chaos and with it, liability concerns.
- The yellow zone is also meant to soften guests for the upcoming red zone. At the next step, staffers have already established rapport with fans. In addition, staffers have shown guests that the facility takes safety and well-being seriously.
Zone 2—Red (Preadmission Screening, Secondary Wanding, and Admission)
- The red zone, hardline physical security, can be thought of as the security screening and customer service area, as opposed to the customer service and security screening areas, which are identified in the yellow and blue zones.
- The red zone is a hotbed and should be staffed by veterans who understand the tricks and deceptions, including taping items under and to the backs of arms and between legs, guests possessing and using multiple items with the hope that once they are found, then the screening process will stop. Again, this is the area where inconsistency of knowledge, duty, and execution is the most troublesome. One last concern in zone 2 is properly communicating policies and procedures so everyone is on the same page.
• First, you must determine if your policies are clear and concise or whether they are they open to interpretation. Many venues leave their policies vague in an attempt to give staff room for commonsense judgment and room to give guests the benefit of the doubt, thus, customer service.
• The good news is there is a way to achieve both. With hardline policies the staff can be thorough, with an option to refer issues to a higher authority who will make the decision. The person with the higher authority should be empowered to use good commonsense judgment. This approach gives the frontline staff an option and the guests will feel better about their treatment.
Zone 3—Blue Zone (Third Zone Screening With Soft Zone Touch)
- The blue zone provides another opportunity to observe guests after they have gone through the inspection process. Often, once guests and potential bad guys have completed the initial screening step, observing them in this setting may reveal a greater intent or inappropriate behavior. For example, are they actively looking for their seats or are they surveying the venue, are they alone, are they steady on their feet, are they clinging to something that seems fragile or being careful to keep steady? The key to this zone is being observant and taking action when necessary by alerting other security personnel to this behavior.
- Observing fan demeanor, asking questions, and watching their actions are all a part of the process for a holistic safety and security screening process. Thus, a facility manager cannot forget about zone 3, the blue zone in their planning.
Figure 17.1 The three zones to help protect a facility.
Diagram courtesy of Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
Policies and Procedures
While the aforementioned are critical action steps, it is important to remember that a facility manager must first develop solid policies and procedures in consultation with the facility's general counsel. Policies and procedures provide guidelines to everyone entering and using a property, they relay to guests what they can and cannot do. Managers should develop safety policies and procedures with this end in mind—knowledgeable guests are happier guests, which means repeat business. Policies and procedures (Ps and Ps) can also help eliminate or reduce lawsuits and reduce opportunistic claims. Ps and Ps empower staff and help them to be consistent in executing their duties through being proactive versus reactive. Types of safety Ps and Ps include
- facility and ground use;
- a promoter's guide,
- guest rules and regulations, and
- staff policies, rules, and regulations.
As an example, facility and ground use policies might include such subjects as these:
- Loitering
- Homeless persons
- Early arrivals
- Soliciting or distribution
- Playing—ball or horseback
- Skating
- Swimming
- Hunting and fishing
- Hired automobiles
- Scalping
- Demonstrations
- Vehicle idling
- Air space and drones
- Advertisement
- Student drives
- Tailgating rules
- Food and other vendors
The promoters' guide might include the following:
- Equipment
- Approval of contracts
- Cancellation clause
- Insurance
- Compliance
- License and permits
- Indemnity
- Box office and admissions control
- Objectionable persons
- Opening hours
- Refunds of ticket revenue
- Announcements
- Agreements to quit premises
- Left-behind articles
- Nonassignments
- Rights to cancel the event, open doors
- Rental
- Storage space and time limit
- Box office access
- Deposits
- Armed guards
- Fire safety and OSHA
- Local ordinances
- Union regulations
- Contracted services
- VIP and reserved parking
- ADA
- Restrictions
- Use of premises
- Event description
- License fee
- Tickets—rights, manifest, and costs
- Terms and conditions
- Rights to set staffing levels
- Force majeure
- Marketing rights
These are just examples, but it is important to develop well-defined policies and effectively communicate these Ps and Ps so there are no questions about them from your guests, promoters, staff, and others coming to the venue. If a manager needs to take action to protect life and property, then creating plans will guide all future safety practices.
Properly trained employees are key to a successful facility
Proper training of employees is key to the successful operation of a sport facility, and it can be tricky given the varied job types and the diversified skill set among employees. Certain training for some jobs in a sport facility is required by either state or federal law. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency that holds employers accountable for providing a workplace free from serious recognized hazards, has many training rules in place that employers must follow (U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2018). For example, it has several training requirements for heavy equipment operators, such as forklift drivers who move product at sport facilities, and if the sport facility uses propane to cook in the kitchens, food service workers need to be trained on the proper storage of propane.
Many employee trainings can be done universally and apply to all employees. Trainings that fit this category would include the following:
- Sexual harassment and diversity training. Teaching employees to properly interact with one another applies to all employees and can be taught as a group no matter what the employees' work type or job responsibilities.
- Generic safety training. What are employees to do in case of a bomb threat, extreme weather or active shooter? If the sport facility is to be evacuated, what are the employees' roles in getting customers out, and where do they evacuate to? How can work site accidents be prevented? What steps are to be taken if a customer or employee gets hurt while in the sport facility? It is crucial that all employees receive this type of training.
- Customer service training. Because sport facilities are public buildings, all employees will interact with the public. Because of this, sport facility employees have to have minimum basic customer service skills, so they are treating guests properly and guests receive uniform customer service no matter what employee they interact with.
Some training is job specific and does not apply to all. Managers often are required to go to leadership training, while nonmanagers may not be required to participate in such trainings. Positions like plumber or electrician may have certain trainings and certificates that only apply to their trades.
Training can be a costly investment but one that will pay dividends if done well. Some of the benefits training provides include lower turnover, higher employee morale, better customer service, lower workplace injuries, and sharpened job skills.
Human Resources Scenario
What If: Allegation of Sexual Harassment
There are two types of sexual harassment. Quid Pro Quo harassment occurs when a superior demands sexual favors to obtain, keep, or be promoted into a job. Hostile work environment harassment occurs when a person at work makes unwanted sexual comments, jokes, or other actions that make the work environment so difficult that the employee being harassed cannot do his or her job. What if you are a sport facility manager and a part-time female concessions worker comes to you with an allegation that her male supervisor has been sexually harassing her by making lewd comments about her physical appearance in front of her coworkers. How would you handle this?
Answer
As a manager, when an allegation of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, or violence is brought to your attention, you must treat it with a sense of immediacy and importance and not prejudge the situation based on who is bringing forth the allegation.
The first step the facility manager should take is to contact the human resources department immediately. Remember, a claim of sexual harassment has legal implications, and a manager should not try to handle or resolve the situation on his own. By doing so he can misstep and make the situation far worse by unintentionally doing or saying the wrong thing. Human resources is best suited to give guidance on how to manage the situation and to conduct an investigation into the allegation.
In a situation like this, the human resources department would conduct an investigation by speaking separately to both the accused and the accuser and then verify the information both parties have given them, by conducting private interviews with potential witnesses and reviewing the facility's security footage to see if it captured anything that could help corroborate what happened.
As the sport facility manager, human resources may ask you to help with the investigation by lining up witnesses, helping to secure old video footage, and adding background, such as if you are aware of the manager in question having issues with female employees in the past.
One of the important caveats to remember about a situation like this is both parties deserve the right of privacy in the matter, and you should not be discussing the ongoing investigation with anyone other than human resources.
Once the human resources department has made a conclusion on the matter, as sport facility manager, you may be brought back into the situation to help with or conduct the termination or discipline of the party in question, if warranted. At that point it is still important to defer to expertise of human resources on the matter, so you feel confident that you are handling it in both a legal and responsible way.
Other Labor Issues
Labor issues are always evolving, and managers need to be aware of both cultural and legal changes that affect how managers interact with their employees. Some of the current issues that managers must be aware of include both the living wage and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Living Wage
A living wage, by definition, means a wage high enough to maintain a normal standard of living. Many sport facility managers and owners are increasingly under pressure to pay more than minimum wage, because some contend a minimum wage is not enough for an employee to live on.
Increasingly, many municipalities are instituting living wage laws that mandate hourly wages higher than the United States' and individual states' minimum wage. It is important that sport facility managers are mindful of this, so they do not violate local and state wage laws.
The Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act was passed by Congress and became law in 1993. FMLA allows employees to take unpaid but protected leave for the employee's medical issues, or those of their specified family members. According to the Department of Labor, FMLA allows employees to take time off for an extended period for the following reasons (U. S. Department of Labor, 2018a)
- Illness
- Caring for a qualifying sick family member
- The birth or adoption of a child
- Military caregiving or other emergencies related to a family member's active duty service
Sport facility managers need to be aware of FMLA because it is an employee right, and they cannot retaliate against an eligible employee who uses FMLA time.
Workers' Rights
Sport facility managers also need to be aware of workers' general rights in the workplace. Some of these rights include (U.S. Department of Labor 2018b)
- To be trained in a language that the employee understands
- To be provided with the necessary safety equipment
- To report injury or illness
- To voice concerns over unsafe working conditions without fear of retaliation
Evaluation
The employment process starts with hiring the right employees and training them. Personnel management does not end there. Employees need to be evaluated, and if they do well, they should be given the opportunity to advance when such opportunities are available. In contrast, if an employee is not doing well and the deficiencies cannot be corrected (whether he does not have the skills to do the job effectively, refuses to change his behavior, violated a major policy or procedure, or violated the law), he would need to be reprimanded or terminated. During this process, the manager earns her stripes by vigilantly monitoring employees and giving appropriate feedback (the progressive disciplinary process in action). One of the keys for a facility manager is to resolve workplace conflicts, as highlighted by the “Resolving Conflict” sidebar.
Resolving Conflict
Matthew Kastel, Stadium Manager, Oriole Park
I have had the opportunity of being a manager in several sport facilities across many different regions of the United States. One of the truisms that is universal for managing employees no matter where you are or what you do is that when two or more employees are working together, the potential for conflict is there. Because humans are unique individuals, there is no one perfect answer for how to resolve disagreements among employees. That being said, I found the following techniques helpful in keeping conflict to a minimum.
- It starts with hiring. Each organization has its own unique culture. When hiring employees, it is helpful to hire employees that have a personality that fits the organization's culture. For example, a place like Disney World hires happy and helpful people for customer service work. Hiring someone outside that mold could lead to tension among the workers on how best to do the job.
- Give clear instructions. Most employee conflicts and disagreements begin over something small, like a group of workers having different ideas on how to get a task done. As manager, if you give clear instructions on work assignments, it reduces the possibility of employees having an argument on who is doing what, because you have already made that information clear.
- You need to be the adult in the room. When two employees are squabbling, it is important as a manager that you step in and make clear that this is a workplace, and this type of behavior is not tolerated at work. Once you settle the situation down, speak to each employee individually, and if a resolution is simple, get both employees together and tell them how you are resolving the issue. If the conflict is something serious, be sure to bring it to human resources to get their input and advice. Personalities sometimes do not match up, so there may not be a resolution to each conflict. In cases like this, it is important to impress upon employees that they do not have to like each other, but they need to work like they do.
- It is all about the team. As a manager, it is crucial to stress to employees that work is a team endeavor, and that all employees are in this together. This helps send a strong philosophical message to the workforce that they need to leave their petty personal grievances behind when they are at work.
- Be honest. Often conflict arises when there is a great deal of stress on the job, such as when there is a tight deadline, and everyone is on edge. On days like this, I am honest with my workers, acknowledging the elephant in the room. I tell the workers that we all know that the next few days are going to be rough, but if we work hard and take a deep breath every now and again, we will get through the situation fine. When the deadline passes and the mission has been accomplished, be sure to thank the workers. Sometimes this acknowledgment, both before and after the deadline, allows the workers to understand that management knows and appreciates what they are going through.
- Be firm. As boss there are situations you cannot tolerate when employees are having a conflict. Two examples of this are if, during a disagreement, an employee swears or threatens physical violence. As manager, you must step in right away and report the incident to human resources. Doing so may prevent workplace violence or employees' perception that they are working in an unsafe work environment.
- Have fun. Instead of focusing on the negative, which can turn into a cancer through a workplace, focus on the positive and the fun times. Many employees enjoy work and those they work with, so you have to accentuate the positive and remind employees of the good times when things are tough.
- Don't allow bullying. A toxic work environment can exist if people in the workplace are abusive. Calling people names, withholding opportunities, or just being mean are issues that often happen in a workplace. Of course, a manager should not engage in such conduct and should always try to prevent playing favorites. Just as important, a manager needs to know the temperament of her employees and workplace culture. When abuse or bullying is identified, a great manager finds a solution. A poor manager allows it to continue while hoping it will go away.
- Know when to praise or reprimand. A great manager knows he has to thank employees when they do a good job. Just showing up is not doing a good job. An inattentive employee during a changeover can injure others and cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage in a second. That is why it is so important to immediately acknowledge great work and immediately discuss poor performance. The failure to properly praise or reprimand can lead to significant conflict.
Understand management of multiuse college facilities
This chapter explores what is involved in managing multiuse college facilities. The concepts apply to more than just college facilities, but we felt a college example would best demonstrate the concepts. Multiuse college athletic facilities can include a wide variety of different facilities and as such the college is like a high school with multiple facilities. A college, though, might have anything from a handful of fields, a gym, and a fitness center to possibly several dozen facilities, including practice fields, field houses, stadiums, arenas, golf courses, and rowing houses. It all depends on size. The larger the university, the more athletic facilities it normally has. As an example, Yale University has the following athletic facilities: Brady Squash Center, The Course at Yale, Coxe Cage, Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, Cuyler Field/Dwyer Track, DeWitt Family Stadium, Frank Field, Gales Ferry, Gilder Boathouse, golf course, Ingalls Rink, Payne Whitney Gym (the largest gym in the world), Johnson Field, McNay Family Sailing Center, an outdoor education center, Ray Tompkins House, Reese Stadium, Smilow Field Center, Carm Cozza Complex, Yale Bowl, Kenney Center, and Yale Field (Official website, n.d.). Not every large college will have so many fields, but Yale is a good example of the diverse number of facilities that could be the responsibility of a facility manager.
Yale Athletic Facilities—Ingalls Rink
Jeremy Makins
Background
Mr. Makins has a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a master of business administration degree in marketing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Mr. Makins has had a long and distinguished career in sport marketing and facility management. That journey includes the following:
- Yale University. Director of ticket operations; associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations; senior associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations
- University of Illinois at Chicago. Volunteer graduate assistant; coordinator of ticket sales and outreach
- Chicago Bulls. Game-day sales
- Chicago Rush. Game-day hospitality
- Chicago Steel. Game-day operations
Industry Mentor
I did not take a traditional path to enter the sport administration field. I gained most of my industry-specific knowledge as on the job training, and my first supervisor, Scott Garrett, did an incredible job of teaching, training, and advising. I could not have asked for a better mentor, and he helped set me on my current path. I can directly connect a lot of my current philosophy to what Scott taught me.
At Yale, our deputy athletic director, Wayne Dean, has been an incredible mentor. He has taught me practical skills while always serving as my go-to guide when looking for advice or help. He is incredibly well respected in the collegiate hockey world, and I am very fortunate to be able to work with him.
For better or worse, I was not given a lot of advance training when I took on these job responsibilities. That meant it was a steep initial learning curve, but it also allowed me to introduce an outsider's perspective, which has proven to be successful.
My Facility
Our on-campus rink, Ingalls Rink, serves as the home to the Yale men's and women's hockey programs. A small group of staff members works together to service all operational needs. I am responsible for day-to-day scheduling, revenue generation, and oversight of our varsity hockey events. One other staff person handles most of the day-to-day building operations and maintenance needs. Finally, one other staff person focuses on the expenses, capital projects, and overall responsibility of the venue.
Ingalls Rink is an architecturally important venue, and on a daily basis we are focusing on regular building operations and also serving as hosts to tour groups and general public visitors who just want to see it. We had a major renovation about 10 years ago that helped keep the building viable for current usage needs. That renovation added new spaces that can be used for our men's and women's hockey teams (new locker rooms, strength and conditioning, coaches' offices, team rooms, etc.) while also upgrading many of the mechanical systems. Recently, we added light-emitting diode (LED) lighting over the ice surface.
As a part of Yale University, we work closely with the central university facilities office to ensure that Ingalls Rink continues to be one of the most beautiful and significant hockey rinks in the country.
Ingalls Rink, often called the whale, is an iconic sport facility.
Working at My Facility
Being a part of the team that services our incredible student-athletes is very fulfilling. There is immense satisfaction at the end of a big win, especially if played in front of a sellout crowd. Our university president refers to it as BIRG—basking in reflected glory. We have some challenges that can make my job more challenging. Being an iconic facility minimizes the things we can do with the outside of the facility. We also have coaches who want their athletes to have access to work out and train in the enclosed gym at any time. Thus, we had to issue swipe cards to hockey players so they can come in at any time to train. That can raise security issues, such as lights being left on or a door being left ajar. These issues might not be unique just to my facility, but the politics around our campus and the issues that might arise between the university, students, coaches, and the public requires careful navigation.
A Day in the Life of a Facility Manager
Ingalls Rink is open during the university's academic season—essentially from September through the end of March. However, that doesn't mean that we only focus on the rink during those months.
I spend the majority of my summer (May to August) planning and preparing the upcoming year's schedule. This means regular e-mails, phone calls, and meetings to set up the coming year. By the time August rolls around, 90% of the rink's schedule is finalized for the year. After agreeing to a tentative schedule, I interface between our users and a team at Yale that consists of risk management, the general counsel's office, and the tax and bond office to review and approve the facility use agreements (FUAs). It's my job to prepare the FUAs so that the internal Yale team can quickly review and approve them.
During the academic year, I have a number of administrative duties not related to rink operations, so my time is not exclusively spent at the rink. On a daily basis, however, I maintain regular correspondence with our lead operations staff person—we discuss any number of things, although the conversations typically focus on rink schedule, staffing schedule, custodial schedule, weather forecast, and event preparation and logistics.
Our big event days include men's and women's varsity games. For a weekday game played at 7:00 p.m., I will typically be in my main office (not located at the rink) at 9:00 a.m. That time is spent collaborating with other athletic department personnel and preparing for the weekend's events (since we are a collegiate athletic department, we are preparing for all of our events—not just hockey). I will typically be on-site at the rink 4 hours before game time.
I have a routine and checklist so that I can set up the building for the game (tables, stanchions, scanners, laptops, ticket printers, etc.). Most of our game-day staff arrive between 1-1/2 and 2 hours before the game, so I need to make sure I'm ready to greet them and give them game-specific information. Once the game-day staff are prepared, they'll get into position and be ready for us to open our doors to the public.
During an event, I am typically walking the rink. For me, that means that I am constantly scanning the crowd, checking in with game-day staff, talking with security and police, walking outside to check on parking operations, handling customer service issues, and managing crowd control. If things are going well, I may get to spend a couple minutes in the third period to watch the end of the game!
Our typical game lasts about 2 hours and 15 minutes, so by 9:15 p.m., the teams should be off the ice. Some nights, we have other events scheduled to go on after the varsity game, but typically we don't schedule anything afterwards. My postgame routine includes breaking down the tables, signage, laptops, scanners, and other items that were set up a couple hours before the game. I ensure that fans safely leave the venue, the visiting team gets to its bus, and that the postgame cleaning crew gets started; and then I do a final check of the building to see if any immediate damage was incurred. On an average night, I usually leave the rink around 10:30 p.m.
Consistency of knowledge, duty, and execution
By Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
I have found that a lack of consistency, knowledge, duty, and execution are the main reasons for customer complaints at venues. Where there is consistency, guests know what to expect no matter where they enter. Balancing customer service with safety and security has always been a question many security professionals are challenged with. Out of bad things, good may come, at least different methods might be learned. Case in point, after the 2017 Ariana Grande terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom, many venues incorporated sniffer dogs into their guest screening process, including PNC Arena. Much like after September 11, 2001, using metal detectors and wands, excluding a host of items from being brought into the venue, and other protocols were reexamined in light of new types of attacks.
What are the security elements or layers that are needed in today's environment? We try to balance safety and security with customer service; thus, a blend of elements is needed to give the appearance of easy and unintrusive security screening. In reviewing your screening approach with the idea of blending great customer service and the necessary security screening process, a three-tiered method, using defined zones, might be a way to achieve this balance. Each tier has its own purpose, but collectively they combine to create a comprehensive process.
Zone 1—Yellow (Deterrent—Hard Zone With a Soft Approach)
- Excluding the assumed hard zone elements already in place (such as rumble strips, bollards, guard posts, planters, etc.), the very first thing is the approach. You must make the guests feel welcome. If at first you go hard in engaging the guests, no matter what you do after that the guest cannot erase the negative feeling you have already instilled in their minds. In contrast, going soft with a friendly and welcoming staff is a must. Further, adding sniffer dogs as one of the first elements provides many benefits.
• Most people love animals, especially dogs and horses (I've used both).
• Detection dogs can approach guests even when it is not appropriate for staff to do so.
• Using detection dogs outside is a deterrent itself.
• You can investigate a hit (the technical term for an animal identifying a suspicious item), outside and away from the venue (see figure 17.1 for alert area screening location). This outside detection area should be away from other guests and away from the building.
• You can sweep and sterilize the building before guests arrive (you can't do that with horses).
• You can use detection dogs to patrol the parking lots while everyone is inside enjoying the event. (We had a hit on a vehicle during a concert. It was verified by another dog, but Raleigh, North Carolina, police wanted a third verification and called in their bomb dog. That dog also hit on the car…only he hit on the front and the others hit on the back.)
• You can use dogs inside during the event as well. - Staffers in the yellow zone are our eyes and ears—and our first line of defense. They check guests to see if they are meeting ticket license conditions to enter the venue; that is, if they are too imbibed, complying with rules regulations, following the dress code, being cooperative, and the like. If not, this is the place to weed out these problematic guests. It's better to deal with known situations there, rather than having to deal with them after they have created more chaos and with it, liability concerns.
- The yellow zone is also meant to soften guests for the upcoming red zone. At the next step, staffers have already established rapport with fans. In addition, staffers have shown guests that the facility takes safety and well-being seriously.
Zone 2—Red (Preadmission Screening, Secondary Wanding, and Admission)
- The red zone, hardline physical security, can be thought of as the security screening and customer service area, as opposed to the customer service and security screening areas, which are identified in the yellow and blue zones.
- The red zone is a hotbed and should be staffed by veterans who understand the tricks and deceptions, including taping items under and to the backs of arms and between legs, guests possessing and using multiple items with the hope that once they are found, then the screening process will stop. Again, this is the area where inconsistency of knowledge, duty, and execution is the most troublesome. One last concern in zone 2 is properly communicating policies and procedures so everyone is on the same page.
• First, you must determine if your policies are clear and concise or whether they are they open to interpretation. Many venues leave their policies vague in an attempt to give staff room for commonsense judgment and room to give guests the benefit of the doubt, thus, customer service.
• The good news is there is a way to achieve both. With hardline policies the staff can be thorough, with an option to refer issues to a higher authority who will make the decision. The person with the higher authority should be empowered to use good commonsense judgment. This approach gives the frontline staff an option and the guests will feel better about their treatment.
Zone 3—Blue Zone (Third Zone Screening With Soft Zone Touch)
- The blue zone provides another opportunity to observe guests after they have gone through the inspection process. Often, once guests and potential bad guys have completed the initial screening step, observing them in this setting may reveal a greater intent or inappropriate behavior. For example, are they actively looking for their seats or are they surveying the venue, are they alone, are they steady on their feet, are they clinging to something that seems fragile or being careful to keep steady? The key to this zone is being observant and taking action when necessary by alerting other security personnel to this behavior.
- Observing fan demeanor, asking questions, and watching their actions are all a part of the process for a holistic safety and security screening process. Thus, a facility manager cannot forget about zone 3, the blue zone in their planning.
Figure 17.1 The three zones to help protect a facility.
Diagram courtesy of Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
Policies and Procedures
While the aforementioned are critical action steps, it is important to remember that a facility manager must first develop solid policies and procedures in consultation with the facility's general counsel. Policies and procedures provide guidelines to everyone entering and using a property, they relay to guests what they can and cannot do. Managers should develop safety policies and procedures with this end in mind—knowledgeable guests are happier guests, which means repeat business. Policies and procedures (Ps and Ps) can also help eliminate or reduce lawsuits and reduce opportunistic claims. Ps and Ps empower staff and help them to be consistent in executing their duties through being proactive versus reactive. Types of safety Ps and Ps include
- facility and ground use;
- a promoter's guide,
- guest rules and regulations, and
- staff policies, rules, and regulations.
As an example, facility and ground use policies might include such subjects as these:
- Loitering
- Homeless persons
- Early arrivals
- Soliciting or distribution
- Playing—ball or horseback
- Skating
- Swimming
- Hunting and fishing
- Hired automobiles
- Scalping
- Demonstrations
- Vehicle idling
- Air space and drones
- Advertisement
- Student drives
- Tailgating rules
- Food and other vendors
The promoters' guide might include the following:
- Equipment
- Approval of contracts
- Cancellation clause
- Insurance
- Compliance
- License and permits
- Indemnity
- Box office and admissions control
- Objectionable persons
- Opening hours
- Refunds of ticket revenue
- Announcements
- Agreements to quit premises
- Left-behind articles
- Nonassignments
- Rights to cancel the event, open doors
- Rental
- Storage space and time limit
- Box office access
- Deposits
- Armed guards
- Fire safety and OSHA
- Local ordinances
- Union regulations
- Contracted services
- VIP and reserved parking
- ADA
- Restrictions
- Use of premises
- Event description
- License fee
- Tickets—rights, manifest, and costs
- Terms and conditions
- Rights to set staffing levels
- Force majeure
- Marketing rights
These are just examples, but it is important to develop well-defined policies and effectively communicate these Ps and Ps so there are no questions about them from your guests, promoters, staff, and others coming to the venue. If a manager needs to take action to protect life and property, then creating plans will guide all future safety practices.
Properly trained employees are key to a successful facility
Proper training of employees is key to the successful operation of a sport facility, and it can be tricky given the varied job types and the diversified skill set among employees. Certain training for some jobs in a sport facility is required by either state or federal law. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency that holds employers accountable for providing a workplace free from serious recognized hazards, has many training rules in place that employers must follow (U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2018). For example, it has several training requirements for heavy equipment operators, such as forklift drivers who move product at sport facilities, and if the sport facility uses propane to cook in the kitchens, food service workers need to be trained on the proper storage of propane.
Many employee trainings can be done universally and apply to all employees. Trainings that fit this category would include the following:
- Sexual harassment and diversity training. Teaching employees to properly interact with one another applies to all employees and can be taught as a group no matter what the employees' work type or job responsibilities.
- Generic safety training. What are employees to do in case of a bomb threat, extreme weather or active shooter? If the sport facility is to be evacuated, what are the employees' roles in getting customers out, and where do they evacuate to? How can work site accidents be prevented? What steps are to be taken if a customer or employee gets hurt while in the sport facility? It is crucial that all employees receive this type of training.
- Customer service training. Because sport facilities are public buildings, all employees will interact with the public. Because of this, sport facility employees have to have minimum basic customer service skills, so they are treating guests properly and guests receive uniform customer service no matter what employee they interact with.
Some training is job specific and does not apply to all. Managers often are required to go to leadership training, while nonmanagers may not be required to participate in such trainings. Positions like plumber or electrician may have certain trainings and certificates that only apply to their trades.
Training can be a costly investment but one that will pay dividends if done well. Some of the benefits training provides include lower turnover, higher employee morale, better customer service, lower workplace injuries, and sharpened job skills.
Human Resources Scenario
What If: Allegation of Sexual Harassment
There are two types of sexual harassment. Quid Pro Quo harassment occurs when a superior demands sexual favors to obtain, keep, or be promoted into a job. Hostile work environment harassment occurs when a person at work makes unwanted sexual comments, jokes, or other actions that make the work environment so difficult that the employee being harassed cannot do his or her job. What if you are a sport facility manager and a part-time female concessions worker comes to you with an allegation that her male supervisor has been sexually harassing her by making lewd comments about her physical appearance in front of her coworkers. How would you handle this?
Answer
As a manager, when an allegation of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, or violence is brought to your attention, you must treat it with a sense of immediacy and importance and not prejudge the situation based on who is bringing forth the allegation.
The first step the facility manager should take is to contact the human resources department immediately. Remember, a claim of sexual harassment has legal implications, and a manager should not try to handle or resolve the situation on his own. By doing so he can misstep and make the situation far worse by unintentionally doing or saying the wrong thing. Human resources is best suited to give guidance on how to manage the situation and to conduct an investigation into the allegation.
In a situation like this, the human resources department would conduct an investigation by speaking separately to both the accused and the accuser and then verify the information both parties have given them, by conducting private interviews with potential witnesses and reviewing the facility's security footage to see if it captured anything that could help corroborate what happened.
As the sport facility manager, human resources may ask you to help with the investigation by lining up witnesses, helping to secure old video footage, and adding background, such as if you are aware of the manager in question having issues with female employees in the past.
One of the important caveats to remember about a situation like this is both parties deserve the right of privacy in the matter, and you should not be discussing the ongoing investigation with anyone other than human resources.
Once the human resources department has made a conclusion on the matter, as sport facility manager, you may be brought back into the situation to help with or conduct the termination or discipline of the party in question, if warranted. At that point it is still important to defer to expertise of human resources on the matter, so you feel confident that you are handling it in both a legal and responsible way.
Other Labor Issues
Labor issues are always evolving, and managers need to be aware of both cultural and legal changes that affect how managers interact with their employees. Some of the current issues that managers must be aware of include both the living wage and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Living Wage
A living wage, by definition, means a wage high enough to maintain a normal standard of living. Many sport facility managers and owners are increasingly under pressure to pay more than minimum wage, because some contend a minimum wage is not enough for an employee to live on.
Increasingly, many municipalities are instituting living wage laws that mandate hourly wages higher than the United States' and individual states' minimum wage. It is important that sport facility managers are mindful of this, so they do not violate local and state wage laws.
The Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act was passed by Congress and became law in 1993. FMLA allows employees to take unpaid but protected leave for the employee's medical issues, or those of their specified family members. According to the Department of Labor, FMLA allows employees to take time off for an extended period for the following reasons (U. S. Department of Labor, 2018a)
- Illness
- Caring for a qualifying sick family member
- The birth or adoption of a child
- Military caregiving or other emergencies related to a family member's active duty service
Sport facility managers need to be aware of FMLA because it is an employee right, and they cannot retaliate against an eligible employee who uses FMLA time.
Workers' Rights
Sport facility managers also need to be aware of workers' general rights in the workplace. Some of these rights include (U.S. Department of Labor 2018b)
- To be trained in a language that the employee understands
- To be provided with the necessary safety equipment
- To report injury or illness
- To voice concerns over unsafe working conditions without fear of retaliation
Evaluation
The employment process starts with hiring the right employees and training them. Personnel management does not end there. Employees need to be evaluated, and if they do well, they should be given the opportunity to advance when such opportunities are available. In contrast, if an employee is not doing well and the deficiencies cannot be corrected (whether he does not have the skills to do the job effectively, refuses to change his behavior, violated a major policy or procedure, or violated the law), he would need to be reprimanded or terminated. During this process, the manager earns her stripes by vigilantly monitoring employees and giving appropriate feedback (the progressive disciplinary process in action). One of the keys for a facility manager is to resolve workplace conflicts, as highlighted by the “Resolving Conflict” sidebar.
Resolving Conflict
Matthew Kastel, Stadium Manager, Oriole Park
I have had the opportunity of being a manager in several sport facilities across many different regions of the United States. One of the truisms that is universal for managing employees no matter where you are or what you do is that when two or more employees are working together, the potential for conflict is there. Because humans are unique individuals, there is no one perfect answer for how to resolve disagreements among employees. That being said, I found the following techniques helpful in keeping conflict to a minimum.
- It starts with hiring. Each organization has its own unique culture. When hiring employees, it is helpful to hire employees that have a personality that fits the organization's culture. For example, a place like Disney World hires happy and helpful people for customer service work. Hiring someone outside that mold could lead to tension among the workers on how best to do the job.
- Give clear instructions. Most employee conflicts and disagreements begin over something small, like a group of workers having different ideas on how to get a task done. As manager, if you give clear instructions on work assignments, it reduces the possibility of employees having an argument on who is doing what, because you have already made that information clear.
- You need to be the adult in the room. When two employees are squabbling, it is important as a manager that you step in and make clear that this is a workplace, and this type of behavior is not tolerated at work. Once you settle the situation down, speak to each employee individually, and if a resolution is simple, get both employees together and tell them how you are resolving the issue. If the conflict is something serious, be sure to bring it to human resources to get their input and advice. Personalities sometimes do not match up, so there may not be a resolution to each conflict. In cases like this, it is important to impress upon employees that they do not have to like each other, but they need to work like they do.
- It is all about the team. As a manager, it is crucial to stress to employees that work is a team endeavor, and that all employees are in this together. This helps send a strong philosophical message to the workforce that they need to leave their petty personal grievances behind when they are at work.
- Be honest. Often conflict arises when there is a great deal of stress on the job, such as when there is a tight deadline, and everyone is on edge. On days like this, I am honest with my workers, acknowledging the elephant in the room. I tell the workers that we all know that the next few days are going to be rough, but if we work hard and take a deep breath every now and again, we will get through the situation fine. When the deadline passes and the mission has been accomplished, be sure to thank the workers. Sometimes this acknowledgment, both before and after the deadline, allows the workers to understand that management knows and appreciates what they are going through.
- Be firm. As boss there are situations you cannot tolerate when employees are having a conflict. Two examples of this are if, during a disagreement, an employee swears or threatens physical violence. As manager, you must step in right away and report the incident to human resources. Doing so may prevent workplace violence or employees' perception that they are working in an unsafe work environment.
- Have fun. Instead of focusing on the negative, which can turn into a cancer through a workplace, focus on the positive and the fun times. Many employees enjoy work and those they work with, so you have to accentuate the positive and remind employees of the good times when things are tough.
- Don't allow bullying. A toxic work environment can exist if people in the workplace are abusive. Calling people names, withholding opportunities, or just being mean are issues that often happen in a workplace. Of course, a manager should not engage in such conduct and should always try to prevent playing favorites. Just as important, a manager needs to know the temperament of her employees and workplace culture. When abuse or bullying is identified, a great manager finds a solution. A poor manager allows it to continue while hoping it will go away.
- Know when to praise or reprimand. A great manager knows he has to thank employees when they do a good job. Just showing up is not doing a good job. An inattentive employee during a changeover can injure others and cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage in a second. That is why it is so important to immediately acknowledge great work and immediately discuss poor performance. The failure to properly praise or reprimand can lead to significant conflict.
Understand management of multiuse college facilities
This chapter explores what is involved in managing multiuse college facilities. The concepts apply to more than just college facilities, but we felt a college example would best demonstrate the concepts. Multiuse college athletic facilities can include a wide variety of different facilities and as such the college is like a high school with multiple facilities. A college, though, might have anything from a handful of fields, a gym, and a fitness center to possibly several dozen facilities, including practice fields, field houses, stadiums, arenas, golf courses, and rowing houses. It all depends on size. The larger the university, the more athletic facilities it normally has. As an example, Yale University has the following athletic facilities: Brady Squash Center, The Course at Yale, Coxe Cage, Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, Cuyler Field/Dwyer Track, DeWitt Family Stadium, Frank Field, Gales Ferry, Gilder Boathouse, golf course, Ingalls Rink, Payne Whitney Gym (the largest gym in the world), Johnson Field, McNay Family Sailing Center, an outdoor education center, Ray Tompkins House, Reese Stadium, Smilow Field Center, Carm Cozza Complex, Yale Bowl, Kenney Center, and Yale Field (Official website, n.d.). Not every large college will have so many fields, but Yale is a good example of the diverse number of facilities that could be the responsibility of a facility manager.
Yale Athletic Facilities—Ingalls Rink
Jeremy Makins
Background
Mr. Makins has a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a master of business administration degree in marketing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Mr. Makins has had a long and distinguished career in sport marketing and facility management. That journey includes the following:
- Yale University. Director of ticket operations; associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations; senior associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations
- University of Illinois at Chicago. Volunteer graduate assistant; coordinator of ticket sales and outreach
- Chicago Bulls. Game-day sales
- Chicago Rush. Game-day hospitality
- Chicago Steel. Game-day operations
Industry Mentor
I did not take a traditional path to enter the sport administration field. I gained most of my industry-specific knowledge as on the job training, and my first supervisor, Scott Garrett, did an incredible job of teaching, training, and advising. I could not have asked for a better mentor, and he helped set me on my current path. I can directly connect a lot of my current philosophy to what Scott taught me.
At Yale, our deputy athletic director, Wayne Dean, has been an incredible mentor. He has taught me practical skills while always serving as my go-to guide when looking for advice or help. He is incredibly well respected in the collegiate hockey world, and I am very fortunate to be able to work with him.
For better or worse, I was not given a lot of advance training when I took on these job responsibilities. That meant it was a steep initial learning curve, but it also allowed me to introduce an outsider's perspective, which has proven to be successful.
My Facility
Our on-campus rink, Ingalls Rink, serves as the home to the Yale men's and women's hockey programs. A small group of staff members works together to service all operational needs. I am responsible for day-to-day scheduling, revenue generation, and oversight of our varsity hockey events. One other staff person handles most of the day-to-day building operations and maintenance needs. Finally, one other staff person focuses on the expenses, capital projects, and overall responsibility of the venue.
Ingalls Rink is an architecturally important venue, and on a daily basis we are focusing on regular building operations and also serving as hosts to tour groups and general public visitors who just want to see it. We had a major renovation about 10 years ago that helped keep the building viable for current usage needs. That renovation added new spaces that can be used for our men's and women's hockey teams (new locker rooms, strength and conditioning, coaches' offices, team rooms, etc.) while also upgrading many of the mechanical systems. Recently, we added light-emitting diode (LED) lighting over the ice surface.
As a part of Yale University, we work closely with the central university facilities office to ensure that Ingalls Rink continues to be one of the most beautiful and significant hockey rinks in the country.
Ingalls Rink, often called the whale, is an iconic sport facility.
Working at My Facility
Being a part of the team that services our incredible student-athletes is very fulfilling. There is immense satisfaction at the end of a big win, especially if played in front of a sellout crowd. Our university president refers to it as BIRG—basking in reflected glory. We have some challenges that can make my job more challenging. Being an iconic facility minimizes the things we can do with the outside of the facility. We also have coaches who want their athletes to have access to work out and train in the enclosed gym at any time. Thus, we had to issue swipe cards to hockey players so they can come in at any time to train. That can raise security issues, such as lights being left on or a door being left ajar. These issues might not be unique just to my facility, but the politics around our campus and the issues that might arise between the university, students, coaches, and the public requires careful navigation.
A Day in the Life of a Facility Manager
Ingalls Rink is open during the university's academic season—essentially from September through the end of March. However, that doesn't mean that we only focus on the rink during those months.
I spend the majority of my summer (May to August) planning and preparing the upcoming year's schedule. This means regular e-mails, phone calls, and meetings to set up the coming year. By the time August rolls around, 90% of the rink's schedule is finalized for the year. After agreeing to a tentative schedule, I interface between our users and a team at Yale that consists of risk management, the general counsel's office, and the tax and bond office to review and approve the facility use agreements (FUAs). It's my job to prepare the FUAs so that the internal Yale team can quickly review and approve them.
During the academic year, I have a number of administrative duties not related to rink operations, so my time is not exclusively spent at the rink. On a daily basis, however, I maintain regular correspondence with our lead operations staff person—we discuss any number of things, although the conversations typically focus on rink schedule, staffing schedule, custodial schedule, weather forecast, and event preparation and logistics.
Our big event days include men's and women's varsity games. For a weekday game played at 7:00 p.m., I will typically be in my main office (not located at the rink) at 9:00 a.m. That time is spent collaborating with other athletic department personnel and preparing for the weekend's events (since we are a collegiate athletic department, we are preparing for all of our events—not just hockey). I will typically be on-site at the rink 4 hours before game time.
I have a routine and checklist so that I can set up the building for the game (tables, stanchions, scanners, laptops, ticket printers, etc.). Most of our game-day staff arrive between 1-1/2 and 2 hours before the game, so I need to make sure I'm ready to greet them and give them game-specific information. Once the game-day staff are prepared, they'll get into position and be ready for us to open our doors to the public.
During an event, I am typically walking the rink. For me, that means that I am constantly scanning the crowd, checking in with game-day staff, talking with security and police, walking outside to check on parking operations, handling customer service issues, and managing crowd control. If things are going well, I may get to spend a couple minutes in the third period to watch the end of the game!
Our typical game lasts about 2 hours and 15 minutes, so by 9:15 p.m., the teams should be off the ice. Some nights, we have other events scheduled to go on after the varsity game, but typically we don't schedule anything afterwards. My postgame routine includes breaking down the tables, signage, laptops, scanners, and other items that were set up a couple hours before the game. I ensure that fans safely leave the venue, the visiting team gets to its bus, and that the postgame cleaning crew gets started; and then I do a final check of the building to see if any immediate damage was incurred. On an average night, I usually leave the rink around 10:30 p.m.
Consistency of knowledge, duty, and execution
By Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
I have found that a lack of consistency, knowledge, duty, and execution are the main reasons for customer complaints at venues. Where there is consistency, guests know what to expect no matter where they enter. Balancing customer service with safety and security has always been a question many security professionals are challenged with. Out of bad things, good may come, at least different methods might be learned. Case in point, after the 2017 Ariana Grande terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom, many venues incorporated sniffer dogs into their guest screening process, including PNC Arena. Much like after September 11, 2001, using metal detectors and wands, excluding a host of items from being brought into the venue, and other protocols were reexamined in light of new types of attacks.
What are the security elements or layers that are needed in today's environment? We try to balance safety and security with customer service; thus, a blend of elements is needed to give the appearance of easy and unintrusive security screening. In reviewing your screening approach with the idea of blending great customer service and the necessary security screening process, a three-tiered method, using defined zones, might be a way to achieve this balance. Each tier has its own purpose, but collectively they combine to create a comprehensive process.
Zone 1—Yellow (Deterrent—Hard Zone With a Soft Approach)
- Excluding the assumed hard zone elements already in place (such as rumble strips, bollards, guard posts, planters, etc.), the very first thing is the approach. You must make the guests feel welcome. If at first you go hard in engaging the guests, no matter what you do after that the guest cannot erase the negative feeling you have already instilled in their minds. In contrast, going soft with a friendly and welcoming staff is a must. Further, adding sniffer dogs as one of the first elements provides many benefits.
• Most people love animals, especially dogs and horses (I've used both).
• Detection dogs can approach guests even when it is not appropriate for staff to do so.
• Using detection dogs outside is a deterrent itself.
• You can investigate a hit (the technical term for an animal identifying a suspicious item), outside and away from the venue (see figure 17.1 for alert area screening location). This outside detection area should be away from other guests and away from the building.
• You can sweep and sterilize the building before guests arrive (you can't do that with horses).
• You can use detection dogs to patrol the parking lots while everyone is inside enjoying the event. (We had a hit on a vehicle during a concert. It was verified by another dog, but Raleigh, North Carolina, police wanted a third verification and called in their bomb dog. That dog also hit on the car…only he hit on the front and the others hit on the back.)
• You can use dogs inside during the event as well. - Staffers in the yellow zone are our eyes and ears—and our first line of defense. They check guests to see if they are meeting ticket license conditions to enter the venue; that is, if they are too imbibed, complying with rules regulations, following the dress code, being cooperative, and the like. If not, this is the place to weed out these problematic guests. It's better to deal with known situations there, rather than having to deal with them after they have created more chaos and with it, liability concerns.
- The yellow zone is also meant to soften guests for the upcoming red zone. At the next step, staffers have already established rapport with fans. In addition, staffers have shown guests that the facility takes safety and well-being seriously.
Zone 2—Red (Preadmission Screening, Secondary Wanding, and Admission)
- The red zone, hardline physical security, can be thought of as the security screening and customer service area, as opposed to the customer service and security screening areas, which are identified in the yellow and blue zones.
- The red zone is a hotbed and should be staffed by veterans who understand the tricks and deceptions, including taping items under and to the backs of arms and between legs, guests possessing and using multiple items with the hope that once they are found, then the screening process will stop. Again, this is the area where inconsistency of knowledge, duty, and execution is the most troublesome. One last concern in zone 2 is properly communicating policies and procedures so everyone is on the same page.
• First, you must determine if your policies are clear and concise or whether they are they open to interpretation. Many venues leave their policies vague in an attempt to give staff room for commonsense judgment and room to give guests the benefit of the doubt, thus, customer service.
• The good news is there is a way to achieve both. With hardline policies the staff can be thorough, with an option to refer issues to a higher authority who will make the decision. The person with the higher authority should be empowered to use good commonsense judgment. This approach gives the frontline staff an option and the guests will feel better about their treatment.
Zone 3—Blue Zone (Third Zone Screening With Soft Zone Touch)
- The blue zone provides another opportunity to observe guests after they have gone through the inspection process. Often, once guests and potential bad guys have completed the initial screening step, observing them in this setting may reveal a greater intent or inappropriate behavior. For example, are they actively looking for their seats or are they surveying the venue, are they alone, are they steady on their feet, are they clinging to something that seems fragile or being careful to keep steady? The key to this zone is being observant and taking action when necessary by alerting other security personnel to this behavior.
- Observing fan demeanor, asking questions, and watching their actions are all a part of the process for a holistic safety and security screening process. Thus, a facility manager cannot forget about zone 3, the blue zone in their planning.
Figure 17.1 The three zones to help protect a facility.
Diagram courtesy of Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
Policies and Procedures
While the aforementioned are critical action steps, it is important to remember that a facility manager must first develop solid policies and procedures in consultation with the facility's general counsel. Policies and procedures provide guidelines to everyone entering and using a property, they relay to guests what they can and cannot do. Managers should develop safety policies and procedures with this end in mind—knowledgeable guests are happier guests, which means repeat business. Policies and procedures (Ps and Ps) can also help eliminate or reduce lawsuits and reduce opportunistic claims. Ps and Ps empower staff and help them to be consistent in executing their duties through being proactive versus reactive. Types of safety Ps and Ps include
- facility and ground use;
- a promoter's guide,
- guest rules and regulations, and
- staff policies, rules, and regulations.
As an example, facility and ground use policies might include such subjects as these:
- Loitering
- Homeless persons
- Early arrivals
- Soliciting or distribution
- Playing—ball or horseback
- Skating
- Swimming
- Hunting and fishing
- Hired automobiles
- Scalping
- Demonstrations
- Vehicle idling
- Air space and drones
- Advertisement
- Student drives
- Tailgating rules
- Food and other vendors
The promoters' guide might include the following:
- Equipment
- Approval of contracts
- Cancellation clause
- Insurance
- Compliance
- License and permits
- Indemnity
- Box office and admissions control
- Objectionable persons
- Opening hours
- Refunds of ticket revenue
- Announcements
- Agreements to quit premises
- Left-behind articles
- Nonassignments
- Rights to cancel the event, open doors
- Rental
- Storage space and time limit
- Box office access
- Deposits
- Armed guards
- Fire safety and OSHA
- Local ordinances
- Union regulations
- Contracted services
- VIP and reserved parking
- ADA
- Restrictions
- Use of premises
- Event description
- License fee
- Tickets—rights, manifest, and costs
- Terms and conditions
- Rights to set staffing levels
- Force majeure
- Marketing rights
These are just examples, but it is important to develop well-defined policies and effectively communicate these Ps and Ps so there are no questions about them from your guests, promoters, staff, and others coming to the venue. If a manager needs to take action to protect life and property, then creating plans will guide all future safety practices.
Properly trained employees are key to a successful facility
Proper training of employees is key to the successful operation of a sport facility, and it can be tricky given the varied job types and the diversified skill set among employees. Certain training for some jobs in a sport facility is required by either state or federal law. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency that holds employers accountable for providing a workplace free from serious recognized hazards, has many training rules in place that employers must follow (U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2018). For example, it has several training requirements for heavy equipment operators, such as forklift drivers who move product at sport facilities, and if the sport facility uses propane to cook in the kitchens, food service workers need to be trained on the proper storage of propane.
Many employee trainings can be done universally and apply to all employees. Trainings that fit this category would include the following:
- Sexual harassment and diversity training. Teaching employees to properly interact with one another applies to all employees and can be taught as a group no matter what the employees' work type or job responsibilities.
- Generic safety training. What are employees to do in case of a bomb threat, extreme weather or active shooter? If the sport facility is to be evacuated, what are the employees' roles in getting customers out, and where do they evacuate to? How can work site accidents be prevented? What steps are to be taken if a customer or employee gets hurt while in the sport facility? It is crucial that all employees receive this type of training.
- Customer service training. Because sport facilities are public buildings, all employees will interact with the public. Because of this, sport facility employees have to have minimum basic customer service skills, so they are treating guests properly and guests receive uniform customer service no matter what employee they interact with.
Some training is job specific and does not apply to all. Managers often are required to go to leadership training, while nonmanagers may not be required to participate in such trainings. Positions like plumber or electrician may have certain trainings and certificates that only apply to their trades.
Training can be a costly investment but one that will pay dividends if done well. Some of the benefits training provides include lower turnover, higher employee morale, better customer service, lower workplace injuries, and sharpened job skills.
Human Resources Scenario
What If: Allegation of Sexual Harassment
There are two types of sexual harassment. Quid Pro Quo harassment occurs when a superior demands sexual favors to obtain, keep, or be promoted into a job. Hostile work environment harassment occurs when a person at work makes unwanted sexual comments, jokes, or other actions that make the work environment so difficult that the employee being harassed cannot do his or her job. What if you are a sport facility manager and a part-time female concessions worker comes to you with an allegation that her male supervisor has been sexually harassing her by making lewd comments about her physical appearance in front of her coworkers. How would you handle this?
Answer
As a manager, when an allegation of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, or violence is brought to your attention, you must treat it with a sense of immediacy and importance and not prejudge the situation based on who is bringing forth the allegation.
The first step the facility manager should take is to contact the human resources department immediately. Remember, a claim of sexual harassment has legal implications, and a manager should not try to handle or resolve the situation on his own. By doing so he can misstep and make the situation far worse by unintentionally doing or saying the wrong thing. Human resources is best suited to give guidance on how to manage the situation and to conduct an investigation into the allegation.
In a situation like this, the human resources department would conduct an investigation by speaking separately to both the accused and the accuser and then verify the information both parties have given them, by conducting private interviews with potential witnesses and reviewing the facility's security footage to see if it captured anything that could help corroborate what happened.
As the sport facility manager, human resources may ask you to help with the investigation by lining up witnesses, helping to secure old video footage, and adding background, such as if you are aware of the manager in question having issues with female employees in the past.
One of the important caveats to remember about a situation like this is both parties deserve the right of privacy in the matter, and you should not be discussing the ongoing investigation with anyone other than human resources.
Once the human resources department has made a conclusion on the matter, as sport facility manager, you may be brought back into the situation to help with or conduct the termination or discipline of the party in question, if warranted. At that point it is still important to defer to expertise of human resources on the matter, so you feel confident that you are handling it in both a legal and responsible way.
Other Labor Issues
Labor issues are always evolving, and managers need to be aware of both cultural and legal changes that affect how managers interact with their employees. Some of the current issues that managers must be aware of include both the living wage and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Living Wage
A living wage, by definition, means a wage high enough to maintain a normal standard of living. Many sport facility managers and owners are increasingly under pressure to pay more than minimum wage, because some contend a minimum wage is not enough for an employee to live on.
Increasingly, many municipalities are instituting living wage laws that mandate hourly wages higher than the United States' and individual states' minimum wage. It is important that sport facility managers are mindful of this, so they do not violate local and state wage laws.
The Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act was passed by Congress and became law in 1993. FMLA allows employees to take unpaid but protected leave for the employee's medical issues, or those of their specified family members. According to the Department of Labor, FMLA allows employees to take time off for an extended period for the following reasons (U. S. Department of Labor, 2018a)
- Illness
- Caring for a qualifying sick family member
- The birth or adoption of a child
- Military caregiving or other emergencies related to a family member's active duty service
Sport facility managers need to be aware of FMLA because it is an employee right, and they cannot retaliate against an eligible employee who uses FMLA time.
Workers' Rights
Sport facility managers also need to be aware of workers' general rights in the workplace. Some of these rights include (U.S. Department of Labor 2018b)
- To be trained in a language that the employee understands
- To be provided with the necessary safety equipment
- To report injury or illness
- To voice concerns over unsafe working conditions without fear of retaliation
Evaluation
The employment process starts with hiring the right employees and training them. Personnel management does not end there. Employees need to be evaluated, and if they do well, they should be given the opportunity to advance when such opportunities are available. In contrast, if an employee is not doing well and the deficiencies cannot be corrected (whether he does not have the skills to do the job effectively, refuses to change his behavior, violated a major policy or procedure, or violated the law), he would need to be reprimanded or terminated. During this process, the manager earns her stripes by vigilantly monitoring employees and giving appropriate feedback (the progressive disciplinary process in action). One of the keys for a facility manager is to resolve workplace conflicts, as highlighted by the “Resolving Conflict” sidebar.
Resolving Conflict
Matthew Kastel, Stadium Manager, Oriole Park
I have had the opportunity of being a manager in several sport facilities across many different regions of the United States. One of the truisms that is universal for managing employees no matter where you are or what you do is that when two or more employees are working together, the potential for conflict is there. Because humans are unique individuals, there is no one perfect answer for how to resolve disagreements among employees. That being said, I found the following techniques helpful in keeping conflict to a minimum.
- It starts with hiring. Each organization has its own unique culture. When hiring employees, it is helpful to hire employees that have a personality that fits the organization's culture. For example, a place like Disney World hires happy and helpful people for customer service work. Hiring someone outside that mold could lead to tension among the workers on how best to do the job.
- Give clear instructions. Most employee conflicts and disagreements begin over something small, like a group of workers having different ideas on how to get a task done. As manager, if you give clear instructions on work assignments, it reduces the possibility of employees having an argument on who is doing what, because you have already made that information clear.
- You need to be the adult in the room. When two employees are squabbling, it is important as a manager that you step in and make clear that this is a workplace, and this type of behavior is not tolerated at work. Once you settle the situation down, speak to each employee individually, and if a resolution is simple, get both employees together and tell them how you are resolving the issue. If the conflict is something serious, be sure to bring it to human resources to get their input and advice. Personalities sometimes do not match up, so there may not be a resolution to each conflict. In cases like this, it is important to impress upon employees that they do not have to like each other, but they need to work like they do.
- It is all about the team. As a manager, it is crucial to stress to employees that work is a team endeavor, and that all employees are in this together. This helps send a strong philosophical message to the workforce that they need to leave their petty personal grievances behind when they are at work.
- Be honest. Often conflict arises when there is a great deal of stress on the job, such as when there is a tight deadline, and everyone is on edge. On days like this, I am honest with my workers, acknowledging the elephant in the room. I tell the workers that we all know that the next few days are going to be rough, but if we work hard and take a deep breath every now and again, we will get through the situation fine. When the deadline passes and the mission has been accomplished, be sure to thank the workers. Sometimes this acknowledgment, both before and after the deadline, allows the workers to understand that management knows and appreciates what they are going through.
- Be firm. As boss there are situations you cannot tolerate when employees are having a conflict. Two examples of this are if, during a disagreement, an employee swears or threatens physical violence. As manager, you must step in right away and report the incident to human resources. Doing so may prevent workplace violence or employees' perception that they are working in an unsafe work environment.
- Have fun. Instead of focusing on the negative, which can turn into a cancer through a workplace, focus on the positive and the fun times. Many employees enjoy work and those they work with, so you have to accentuate the positive and remind employees of the good times when things are tough.
- Don't allow bullying. A toxic work environment can exist if people in the workplace are abusive. Calling people names, withholding opportunities, or just being mean are issues that often happen in a workplace. Of course, a manager should not engage in such conduct and should always try to prevent playing favorites. Just as important, a manager needs to know the temperament of her employees and workplace culture. When abuse or bullying is identified, a great manager finds a solution. A poor manager allows it to continue while hoping it will go away.
- Know when to praise or reprimand. A great manager knows he has to thank employees when they do a good job. Just showing up is not doing a good job. An inattentive employee during a changeover can injure others and cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage in a second. That is why it is so important to immediately acknowledge great work and immediately discuss poor performance. The failure to properly praise or reprimand can lead to significant conflict.
Understand management of multiuse college facilities
This chapter explores what is involved in managing multiuse college facilities. The concepts apply to more than just college facilities, but we felt a college example would best demonstrate the concepts. Multiuse college athletic facilities can include a wide variety of different facilities and as such the college is like a high school with multiple facilities. A college, though, might have anything from a handful of fields, a gym, and a fitness center to possibly several dozen facilities, including practice fields, field houses, stadiums, arenas, golf courses, and rowing houses. It all depends on size. The larger the university, the more athletic facilities it normally has. As an example, Yale University has the following athletic facilities: Brady Squash Center, The Course at Yale, Coxe Cage, Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, Cuyler Field/Dwyer Track, DeWitt Family Stadium, Frank Field, Gales Ferry, Gilder Boathouse, golf course, Ingalls Rink, Payne Whitney Gym (the largest gym in the world), Johnson Field, McNay Family Sailing Center, an outdoor education center, Ray Tompkins House, Reese Stadium, Smilow Field Center, Carm Cozza Complex, Yale Bowl, Kenney Center, and Yale Field (Official website, n.d.). Not every large college will have so many fields, but Yale is a good example of the diverse number of facilities that could be the responsibility of a facility manager.
Yale Athletic Facilities—Ingalls Rink
Jeremy Makins
Background
Mr. Makins has a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a master of business administration degree in marketing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Mr. Makins has had a long and distinguished career in sport marketing and facility management. That journey includes the following:
- Yale University. Director of ticket operations; associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations; senior associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations
- University of Illinois at Chicago. Volunteer graduate assistant; coordinator of ticket sales and outreach
- Chicago Bulls. Game-day sales
- Chicago Rush. Game-day hospitality
- Chicago Steel. Game-day operations
Industry Mentor
I did not take a traditional path to enter the sport administration field. I gained most of my industry-specific knowledge as on the job training, and my first supervisor, Scott Garrett, did an incredible job of teaching, training, and advising. I could not have asked for a better mentor, and he helped set me on my current path. I can directly connect a lot of my current philosophy to what Scott taught me.
At Yale, our deputy athletic director, Wayne Dean, has been an incredible mentor. He has taught me practical skills while always serving as my go-to guide when looking for advice or help. He is incredibly well respected in the collegiate hockey world, and I am very fortunate to be able to work with him.
For better or worse, I was not given a lot of advance training when I took on these job responsibilities. That meant it was a steep initial learning curve, but it also allowed me to introduce an outsider's perspective, which has proven to be successful.
My Facility
Our on-campus rink, Ingalls Rink, serves as the home to the Yale men's and women's hockey programs. A small group of staff members works together to service all operational needs. I am responsible for day-to-day scheduling, revenue generation, and oversight of our varsity hockey events. One other staff person handles most of the day-to-day building operations and maintenance needs. Finally, one other staff person focuses on the expenses, capital projects, and overall responsibility of the venue.
Ingalls Rink is an architecturally important venue, and on a daily basis we are focusing on regular building operations and also serving as hosts to tour groups and general public visitors who just want to see it. We had a major renovation about 10 years ago that helped keep the building viable for current usage needs. That renovation added new spaces that can be used for our men's and women's hockey teams (new locker rooms, strength and conditioning, coaches' offices, team rooms, etc.) while also upgrading many of the mechanical systems. Recently, we added light-emitting diode (LED) lighting over the ice surface.
As a part of Yale University, we work closely with the central university facilities office to ensure that Ingalls Rink continues to be one of the most beautiful and significant hockey rinks in the country.
Ingalls Rink, often called the whale, is an iconic sport facility.
Working at My Facility
Being a part of the team that services our incredible student-athletes is very fulfilling. There is immense satisfaction at the end of a big win, especially if played in front of a sellout crowd. Our university president refers to it as BIRG—basking in reflected glory. We have some challenges that can make my job more challenging. Being an iconic facility minimizes the things we can do with the outside of the facility. We also have coaches who want their athletes to have access to work out and train in the enclosed gym at any time. Thus, we had to issue swipe cards to hockey players so they can come in at any time to train. That can raise security issues, such as lights being left on or a door being left ajar. These issues might not be unique just to my facility, but the politics around our campus and the issues that might arise between the university, students, coaches, and the public requires careful navigation.
A Day in the Life of a Facility Manager
Ingalls Rink is open during the university's academic season—essentially from September through the end of March. However, that doesn't mean that we only focus on the rink during those months.
I spend the majority of my summer (May to August) planning and preparing the upcoming year's schedule. This means regular e-mails, phone calls, and meetings to set up the coming year. By the time August rolls around, 90% of the rink's schedule is finalized for the year. After agreeing to a tentative schedule, I interface between our users and a team at Yale that consists of risk management, the general counsel's office, and the tax and bond office to review and approve the facility use agreements (FUAs). It's my job to prepare the FUAs so that the internal Yale team can quickly review and approve them.
During the academic year, I have a number of administrative duties not related to rink operations, so my time is not exclusively spent at the rink. On a daily basis, however, I maintain regular correspondence with our lead operations staff person—we discuss any number of things, although the conversations typically focus on rink schedule, staffing schedule, custodial schedule, weather forecast, and event preparation and logistics.
Our big event days include men's and women's varsity games. For a weekday game played at 7:00 p.m., I will typically be in my main office (not located at the rink) at 9:00 a.m. That time is spent collaborating with other athletic department personnel and preparing for the weekend's events (since we are a collegiate athletic department, we are preparing for all of our events—not just hockey). I will typically be on-site at the rink 4 hours before game time.
I have a routine and checklist so that I can set up the building for the game (tables, stanchions, scanners, laptops, ticket printers, etc.). Most of our game-day staff arrive between 1-1/2 and 2 hours before the game, so I need to make sure I'm ready to greet them and give them game-specific information. Once the game-day staff are prepared, they'll get into position and be ready for us to open our doors to the public.
During an event, I am typically walking the rink. For me, that means that I am constantly scanning the crowd, checking in with game-day staff, talking with security and police, walking outside to check on parking operations, handling customer service issues, and managing crowd control. If things are going well, I may get to spend a couple minutes in the third period to watch the end of the game!
Our typical game lasts about 2 hours and 15 minutes, so by 9:15 p.m., the teams should be off the ice. Some nights, we have other events scheduled to go on after the varsity game, but typically we don't schedule anything afterwards. My postgame routine includes breaking down the tables, signage, laptops, scanners, and other items that were set up a couple hours before the game. I ensure that fans safely leave the venue, the visiting team gets to its bus, and that the postgame cleaning crew gets started; and then I do a final check of the building to see if any immediate damage was incurred. On an average night, I usually leave the rink around 10:30 p.m.
Consistency of knowledge, duty, and execution
By Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
I have found that a lack of consistency, knowledge, duty, and execution are the main reasons for customer complaints at venues. Where there is consistency, guests know what to expect no matter where they enter. Balancing customer service with safety and security has always been a question many security professionals are challenged with. Out of bad things, good may come, at least different methods might be learned. Case in point, after the 2017 Ariana Grande terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom, many venues incorporated sniffer dogs into their guest screening process, including PNC Arena. Much like after September 11, 2001, using metal detectors and wands, excluding a host of items from being brought into the venue, and other protocols were reexamined in light of new types of attacks.
What are the security elements or layers that are needed in today's environment? We try to balance safety and security with customer service; thus, a blend of elements is needed to give the appearance of easy and unintrusive security screening. In reviewing your screening approach with the idea of blending great customer service and the necessary security screening process, a three-tiered method, using defined zones, might be a way to achieve this balance. Each tier has its own purpose, but collectively they combine to create a comprehensive process.
Zone 1—Yellow (Deterrent—Hard Zone With a Soft Approach)
- Excluding the assumed hard zone elements already in place (such as rumble strips, bollards, guard posts, planters, etc.), the very first thing is the approach. You must make the guests feel welcome. If at first you go hard in engaging the guests, no matter what you do after that the guest cannot erase the negative feeling you have already instilled in their minds. In contrast, going soft with a friendly and welcoming staff is a must. Further, adding sniffer dogs as one of the first elements provides many benefits.
• Most people love animals, especially dogs and horses (I've used both).
• Detection dogs can approach guests even when it is not appropriate for staff to do so.
• Using detection dogs outside is a deterrent itself.
• You can investigate a hit (the technical term for an animal identifying a suspicious item), outside and away from the venue (see figure 17.1 for alert area screening location). This outside detection area should be away from other guests and away from the building.
• You can sweep and sterilize the building before guests arrive (you can't do that with horses).
• You can use detection dogs to patrol the parking lots while everyone is inside enjoying the event. (We had a hit on a vehicle during a concert. It was verified by another dog, but Raleigh, North Carolina, police wanted a third verification and called in their bomb dog. That dog also hit on the car…only he hit on the front and the others hit on the back.)
• You can use dogs inside during the event as well. - Staffers in the yellow zone are our eyes and ears—and our first line of defense. They check guests to see if they are meeting ticket license conditions to enter the venue; that is, if they are too imbibed, complying with rules regulations, following the dress code, being cooperative, and the like. If not, this is the place to weed out these problematic guests. It's better to deal with known situations there, rather than having to deal with them after they have created more chaos and with it, liability concerns.
- The yellow zone is also meant to soften guests for the upcoming red zone. At the next step, staffers have already established rapport with fans. In addition, staffers have shown guests that the facility takes safety and well-being seriously.
Zone 2—Red (Preadmission Screening, Secondary Wanding, and Admission)
- The red zone, hardline physical security, can be thought of as the security screening and customer service area, as opposed to the customer service and security screening areas, which are identified in the yellow and blue zones.
- The red zone is a hotbed and should be staffed by veterans who understand the tricks and deceptions, including taping items under and to the backs of arms and between legs, guests possessing and using multiple items with the hope that once they are found, then the screening process will stop. Again, this is the area where inconsistency of knowledge, duty, and execution is the most troublesome. One last concern in zone 2 is properly communicating policies and procedures so everyone is on the same page.
• First, you must determine if your policies are clear and concise or whether they are they open to interpretation. Many venues leave their policies vague in an attempt to give staff room for commonsense judgment and room to give guests the benefit of the doubt, thus, customer service.
• The good news is there is a way to achieve both. With hardline policies the staff can be thorough, with an option to refer issues to a higher authority who will make the decision. The person with the higher authority should be empowered to use good commonsense judgment. This approach gives the frontline staff an option and the guests will feel better about their treatment.
Zone 3—Blue Zone (Third Zone Screening With Soft Zone Touch)
- The blue zone provides another opportunity to observe guests after they have gone through the inspection process. Often, once guests and potential bad guys have completed the initial screening step, observing them in this setting may reveal a greater intent or inappropriate behavior. For example, are they actively looking for their seats or are they surveying the venue, are they alone, are they steady on their feet, are they clinging to something that seems fragile or being careful to keep steady? The key to this zone is being observant and taking action when necessary by alerting other security personnel to this behavior.
- Observing fan demeanor, asking questions, and watching their actions are all a part of the process for a holistic safety and security screening process. Thus, a facility manager cannot forget about zone 3, the blue zone in their planning.
Figure 17.1 The three zones to help protect a facility.
Diagram courtesy of Larry B. Perkins, CVE, CPP, CMP
Policies and Procedures
While the aforementioned are critical action steps, it is important to remember that a facility manager must first develop solid policies and procedures in consultation with the facility's general counsel. Policies and procedures provide guidelines to everyone entering and using a property, they relay to guests what they can and cannot do. Managers should develop safety policies and procedures with this end in mind—knowledgeable guests are happier guests, which means repeat business. Policies and procedures (Ps and Ps) can also help eliminate or reduce lawsuits and reduce opportunistic claims. Ps and Ps empower staff and help them to be consistent in executing their duties through being proactive versus reactive. Types of safety Ps and Ps include
- facility and ground use;
- a promoter's guide,
- guest rules and regulations, and
- staff policies, rules, and regulations.
As an example, facility and ground use policies might include such subjects as these:
- Loitering
- Homeless persons
- Early arrivals
- Soliciting or distribution
- Playing—ball or horseback
- Skating
- Swimming
- Hunting and fishing
- Hired automobiles
- Scalping
- Demonstrations
- Vehicle idling
- Air space and drones
- Advertisement
- Student drives
- Tailgating rules
- Food and other vendors
The promoters' guide might include the following:
- Equipment
- Approval of contracts
- Cancellation clause
- Insurance
- Compliance
- License and permits
- Indemnity
- Box office and admissions control
- Objectionable persons
- Opening hours
- Refunds of ticket revenue
- Announcements
- Agreements to quit premises
- Left-behind articles
- Nonassignments
- Rights to cancel the event, open doors
- Rental
- Storage space and time limit
- Box office access
- Deposits
- Armed guards
- Fire safety and OSHA
- Local ordinances
- Union regulations
- Contracted services
- VIP and reserved parking
- ADA
- Restrictions
- Use of premises
- Event description
- License fee
- Tickets—rights, manifest, and costs
- Terms and conditions
- Rights to set staffing levels
- Force majeure
- Marketing rights
These are just examples, but it is important to develop well-defined policies and effectively communicate these Ps and Ps so there are no questions about them from your guests, promoters, staff, and others coming to the venue. If a manager needs to take action to protect life and property, then creating plans will guide all future safety practices.
Properly trained employees are key to a successful facility
Proper training of employees is key to the successful operation of a sport facility, and it can be tricky given the varied job types and the diversified skill set among employees. Certain training for some jobs in a sport facility is required by either state or federal law. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency that holds employers accountable for providing a workplace free from serious recognized hazards, has many training rules in place that employers must follow (U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2018). For example, it has several training requirements for heavy equipment operators, such as forklift drivers who move product at sport facilities, and if the sport facility uses propane to cook in the kitchens, food service workers need to be trained on the proper storage of propane.
Many employee trainings can be done universally and apply to all employees. Trainings that fit this category would include the following:
- Sexual harassment and diversity training. Teaching employees to properly interact with one another applies to all employees and can be taught as a group no matter what the employees' work type or job responsibilities.
- Generic safety training. What are employees to do in case of a bomb threat, extreme weather or active shooter? If the sport facility is to be evacuated, what are the employees' roles in getting customers out, and where do they evacuate to? How can work site accidents be prevented? What steps are to be taken if a customer or employee gets hurt while in the sport facility? It is crucial that all employees receive this type of training.
- Customer service training. Because sport facilities are public buildings, all employees will interact with the public. Because of this, sport facility employees have to have minimum basic customer service skills, so they are treating guests properly and guests receive uniform customer service no matter what employee they interact with.
Some training is job specific and does not apply to all. Managers often are required to go to leadership training, while nonmanagers may not be required to participate in such trainings. Positions like plumber or electrician may have certain trainings and certificates that only apply to their trades.
Training can be a costly investment but one that will pay dividends if done well. Some of the benefits training provides include lower turnover, higher employee morale, better customer service, lower workplace injuries, and sharpened job skills.
Human Resources Scenario
What If: Allegation of Sexual Harassment
There are two types of sexual harassment. Quid Pro Quo harassment occurs when a superior demands sexual favors to obtain, keep, or be promoted into a job. Hostile work environment harassment occurs when a person at work makes unwanted sexual comments, jokes, or other actions that make the work environment so difficult that the employee being harassed cannot do his or her job. What if you are a sport facility manager and a part-time female concessions worker comes to you with an allegation that her male supervisor has been sexually harassing her by making lewd comments about her physical appearance in front of her coworkers. How would you handle this?
Answer
As a manager, when an allegation of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, or violence is brought to your attention, you must treat it with a sense of immediacy and importance and not prejudge the situation based on who is bringing forth the allegation.
The first step the facility manager should take is to contact the human resources department immediately. Remember, a claim of sexual harassment has legal implications, and a manager should not try to handle or resolve the situation on his own. By doing so he can misstep and make the situation far worse by unintentionally doing or saying the wrong thing. Human resources is best suited to give guidance on how to manage the situation and to conduct an investigation into the allegation.
In a situation like this, the human resources department would conduct an investigation by speaking separately to both the accused and the accuser and then verify the information both parties have given them, by conducting private interviews with potential witnesses and reviewing the facility's security footage to see if it captured anything that could help corroborate what happened.
As the sport facility manager, human resources may ask you to help with the investigation by lining up witnesses, helping to secure old video footage, and adding background, such as if you are aware of the manager in question having issues with female employees in the past.
One of the important caveats to remember about a situation like this is both parties deserve the right of privacy in the matter, and you should not be discussing the ongoing investigation with anyone other than human resources.
Once the human resources department has made a conclusion on the matter, as sport facility manager, you may be brought back into the situation to help with or conduct the termination or discipline of the party in question, if warranted. At that point it is still important to defer to expertise of human resources on the matter, so you feel confident that you are handling it in both a legal and responsible way.
Other Labor Issues
Labor issues are always evolving, and managers need to be aware of both cultural and legal changes that affect how managers interact with their employees. Some of the current issues that managers must be aware of include both the living wage and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Living Wage
A living wage, by definition, means a wage high enough to maintain a normal standard of living. Many sport facility managers and owners are increasingly under pressure to pay more than minimum wage, because some contend a minimum wage is not enough for an employee to live on.
Increasingly, many municipalities are instituting living wage laws that mandate hourly wages higher than the United States' and individual states' minimum wage. It is important that sport facility managers are mindful of this, so they do not violate local and state wage laws.
The Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act was passed by Congress and became law in 1993. FMLA allows employees to take unpaid but protected leave for the employee's medical issues, or those of their specified family members. According to the Department of Labor, FMLA allows employees to take time off for an extended period for the following reasons (U. S. Department of Labor, 2018a)
- Illness
- Caring for a qualifying sick family member
- The birth or adoption of a child
- Military caregiving or other emergencies related to a family member's active duty service
Sport facility managers need to be aware of FMLA because it is an employee right, and they cannot retaliate against an eligible employee who uses FMLA time.
Workers' Rights
Sport facility managers also need to be aware of workers' general rights in the workplace. Some of these rights include (U.S. Department of Labor 2018b)
- To be trained in a language that the employee understands
- To be provided with the necessary safety equipment
- To report injury or illness
- To voice concerns over unsafe working conditions without fear of retaliation
Evaluation
The employment process starts with hiring the right employees and training them. Personnel management does not end there. Employees need to be evaluated, and if they do well, they should be given the opportunity to advance when such opportunities are available. In contrast, if an employee is not doing well and the deficiencies cannot be corrected (whether he does not have the skills to do the job effectively, refuses to change his behavior, violated a major policy or procedure, or violated the law), he would need to be reprimanded or terminated. During this process, the manager earns her stripes by vigilantly monitoring employees and giving appropriate feedback (the progressive disciplinary process in action). One of the keys for a facility manager is to resolve workplace conflicts, as highlighted by the “Resolving Conflict” sidebar.
Resolving Conflict
Matthew Kastel, Stadium Manager, Oriole Park
I have had the opportunity of being a manager in several sport facilities across many different regions of the United States. One of the truisms that is universal for managing employees no matter where you are or what you do is that when two or more employees are working together, the potential for conflict is there. Because humans are unique individuals, there is no one perfect answer for how to resolve disagreements among employees. That being said, I found the following techniques helpful in keeping conflict to a minimum.
- It starts with hiring. Each organization has its own unique culture. When hiring employees, it is helpful to hire employees that have a personality that fits the organization's culture. For example, a place like Disney World hires happy and helpful people for customer service work. Hiring someone outside that mold could lead to tension among the workers on how best to do the job.
- Give clear instructions. Most employee conflicts and disagreements begin over something small, like a group of workers having different ideas on how to get a task done. As manager, if you give clear instructions on work assignments, it reduces the possibility of employees having an argument on who is doing what, because you have already made that information clear.
- You need to be the adult in the room. When two employees are squabbling, it is important as a manager that you step in and make clear that this is a workplace, and this type of behavior is not tolerated at work. Once you settle the situation down, speak to each employee individually, and if a resolution is simple, get both employees together and tell them how you are resolving the issue. If the conflict is something serious, be sure to bring it to human resources to get their input and advice. Personalities sometimes do not match up, so there may not be a resolution to each conflict. In cases like this, it is important to impress upon employees that they do not have to like each other, but they need to work like they do.
- It is all about the team. As a manager, it is crucial to stress to employees that work is a team endeavor, and that all employees are in this together. This helps send a strong philosophical message to the workforce that they need to leave their petty personal grievances behind when they are at work.
- Be honest. Often conflict arises when there is a great deal of stress on the job, such as when there is a tight deadline, and everyone is on edge. On days like this, I am honest with my workers, acknowledging the elephant in the room. I tell the workers that we all know that the next few days are going to be rough, but if we work hard and take a deep breath every now and again, we will get through the situation fine. When the deadline passes and the mission has been accomplished, be sure to thank the workers. Sometimes this acknowledgment, both before and after the deadline, allows the workers to understand that management knows and appreciates what they are going through.
- Be firm. As boss there are situations you cannot tolerate when employees are having a conflict. Two examples of this are if, during a disagreement, an employee swears or threatens physical violence. As manager, you must step in right away and report the incident to human resources. Doing so may prevent workplace violence or employees' perception that they are working in an unsafe work environment.
- Have fun. Instead of focusing on the negative, which can turn into a cancer through a workplace, focus on the positive and the fun times. Many employees enjoy work and those they work with, so you have to accentuate the positive and remind employees of the good times when things are tough.
- Don't allow bullying. A toxic work environment can exist if people in the workplace are abusive. Calling people names, withholding opportunities, or just being mean are issues that often happen in a workplace. Of course, a manager should not engage in such conduct and should always try to prevent playing favorites. Just as important, a manager needs to know the temperament of her employees and workplace culture. When abuse or bullying is identified, a great manager finds a solution. A poor manager allows it to continue while hoping it will go away.
- Know when to praise or reprimand. A great manager knows he has to thank employees when they do a good job. Just showing up is not doing a good job. An inattentive employee during a changeover can injure others and cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage in a second. That is why it is so important to immediately acknowledge great work and immediately discuss poor performance. The failure to properly praise or reprimand can lead to significant conflict.
Understand management of multiuse college facilities
This chapter explores what is involved in managing multiuse college facilities. The concepts apply to more than just college facilities, but we felt a college example would best demonstrate the concepts. Multiuse college athletic facilities can include a wide variety of different facilities and as such the college is like a high school with multiple facilities. A college, though, might have anything from a handful of fields, a gym, and a fitness center to possibly several dozen facilities, including practice fields, field houses, stadiums, arenas, golf courses, and rowing houses. It all depends on size. The larger the university, the more athletic facilities it normally has. As an example, Yale University has the following athletic facilities: Brady Squash Center, The Course at Yale, Coxe Cage, Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, Cuyler Field/Dwyer Track, DeWitt Family Stadium, Frank Field, Gales Ferry, Gilder Boathouse, golf course, Ingalls Rink, Payne Whitney Gym (the largest gym in the world), Johnson Field, McNay Family Sailing Center, an outdoor education center, Ray Tompkins House, Reese Stadium, Smilow Field Center, Carm Cozza Complex, Yale Bowl, Kenney Center, and Yale Field (Official website, n.d.). Not every large college will have so many fields, but Yale is a good example of the diverse number of facilities that could be the responsibility of a facility manager.
Yale Athletic Facilities—Ingalls Rink
Jeremy Makins
Background
Mr. Makins has a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a master of business administration degree in marketing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Mr. Makins has had a long and distinguished career in sport marketing and facility management. That journey includes the following:
- Yale University. Director of ticket operations; associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations; senior associate athletic director, ticket and rink operations
- University of Illinois at Chicago. Volunteer graduate assistant; coordinator of ticket sales and outreach
- Chicago Bulls. Game-day sales
- Chicago Rush. Game-day hospitality
- Chicago Steel. Game-day operations
Industry Mentor
I did not take a traditional path to enter the sport administration field. I gained most of my industry-specific knowledge as on the job training, and my first supervisor, Scott Garrett, did an incredible job of teaching, training, and advising. I could not have asked for a better mentor, and he helped set me on my current path. I can directly connect a lot of my current philosophy to what Scott taught me.
At Yale, our deputy athletic director, Wayne Dean, has been an incredible mentor. He has taught me practical skills while always serving as my go-to guide when looking for advice or help. He is incredibly well respected in the collegiate hockey world, and I am very fortunate to be able to work with him.
For better or worse, I was not given a lot of advance training when I took on these job responsibilities. That meant it was a steep initial learning curve, but it also allowed me to introduce an outsider's perspective, which has proven to be successful.
My Facility
Our on-campus rink, Ingalls Rink, serves as the home to the Yale men's and women's hockey programs. A small group of staff members works together to service all operational needs. I am responsible for day-to-day scheduling, revenue generation, and oversight of our varsity hockey events. One other staff person handles most of the day-to-day building operations and maintenance needs. Finally, one other staff person focuses on the expenses, capital projects, and overall responsibility of the venue.
Ingalls Rink is an architecturally important venue, and on a daily basis we are focusing on regular building operations and also serving as hosts to tour groups and general public visitors who just want to see it. We had a major renovation about 10 years ago that helped keep the building viable for current usage needs. That renovation added new spaces that can be used for our men's and women's hockey teams (new locker rooms, strength and conditioning, coaches' offices, team rooms, etc.) while also upgrading many of the mechanical systems. Recently, we added light-emitting diode (LED) lighting over the ice surface.
As a part of Yale University, we work closely with the central university facilities office to ensure that Ingalls Rink continues to be one of the most beautiful and significant hockey rinks in the country.
Ingalls Rink, often called the whale, is an iconic sport facility.
Working at My Facility
Being a part of the team that services our incredible student-athletes is very fulfilling. There is immense satisfaction at the end of a big win, especially if played in front of a sellout crowd. Our university president refers to it as BIRG—basking in reflected glory. We have some challenges that can make my job more challenging. Being an iconic facility minimizes the things we can do with the outside of the facility. We also have coaches who want their athletes to have access to work out and train in the enclosed gym at any time. Thus, we had to issue swipe cards to hockey players so they can come in at any time to train. That can raise security issues, such as lights being left on or a door being left ajar. These issues might not be unique just to my facility, but the politics around our campus and the issues that might arise between the university, students, coaches, and the public requires careful navigation.
A Day in the Life of a Facility Manager
Ingalls Rink is open during the university's academic season—essentially from September through the end of March. However, that doesn't mean that we only focus on the rink during those months.
I spend the majority of my summer (May to August) planning and preparing the upcoming year's schedule. This means regular e-mails, phone calls, and meetings to set up the coming year. By the time August rolls around, 90% of the rink's schedule is finalized for the year. After agreeing to a tentative schedule, I interface between our users and a team at Yale that consists of risk management, the general counsel's office, and the tax and bond office to review and approve the facility use agreements (FUAs). It's my job to prepare the FUAs so that the internal Yale team can quickly review and approve them.
During the academic year, I have a number of administrative duties not related to rink operations, so my time is not exclusively spent at the rink. On a daily basis, however, I maintain regular correspondence with our lead operations staff person—we discuss any number of things, although the conversations typically focus on rink schedule, staffing schedule, custodial schedule, weather forecast, and event preparation and logistics.
Our big event days include men's and women's varsity games. For a weekday game played at 7:00 p.m., I will typically be in my main office (not located at the rink) at 9:00 a.m. That time is spent collaborating with other athletic department personnel and preparing for the weekend's events (since we are a collegiate athletic department, we are preparing for all of our events—not just hockey). I will typically be on-site at the rink 4 hours before game time.
I have a routine and checklist so that I can set up the building for the game (tables, stanchions, scanners, laptops, ticket printers, etc.). Most of our game-day staff arrive between 1-1/2 and 2 hours before the game, so I need to make sure I'm ready to greet them and give them game-specific information. Once the game-day staff are prepared, they'll get into position and be ready for us to open our doors to the public.
During an event, I am typically walking the rink. For me, that means that I am constantly scanning the crowd, checking in with game-day staff, talking with security and police, walking outside to check on parking operations, handling customer service issues, and managing crowd control. If things are going well, I may get to spend a couple minutes in the third period to watch the end of the game!
Our typical game lasts about 2 hours and 15 minutes, so by 9:15 p.m., the teams should be off the ice. Some nights, we have other events scheduled to go on after the varsity game, but typically we don't schedule anything afterwards. My postgame routine includes breaking down the tables, signage, laptops, scanners, and other items that were set up a couple hours before the game. I ensure that fans safely leave the venue, the visiting team gets to its bus, and that the postgame cleaning crew gets started; and then I do a final check of the building to see if any immediate damage was incurred. On an average night, I usually leave the rink around 10:30 p.m.
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