We went into Brick City, Newark, NJ, to chat with Sean Saadeh, the EVP of Entertainment at the Prudential Center. Sean provides valuable insights into the diverse programming at The Rock, from hosting family shows like Disney on Ice to becoming a crucial venue for the community. The discussion unfolds with Sean, originally not from New Jersey, expressing his love for the state and navigating the challenges of positioning New Jersey as a significant market in the competitive Tri-State area.
As the EVP of Entertainment, Sean sheds light on his position's intricacies, emphasizing the responsibility of keeping the venue bustling with events, spanning sports to concerts. The conversation explores the importance of crafting exceptional experiences for both performers and fans, ensuring that the Prudential Center feels like a home away from home. Sean delves into the unique nature of New Jersey and its success in driving the concert business, making it a hub for diverse genres, including K-pop and Latin, earning the center a top global ranking according to Billboard.
The discussion naturally flows into the ongoing enhancements at the Prudential Center, ranging from technological upgrades like connected screens, improved Wi-Fi, 5G, and data to a revamped culinary experience. Sean highlights the commitment to excellence, ensuring the Prudential Center remains at the forefront of providing a top-tier venue experience for fans. The interview wraps up with Mike Ham expressing his awe at the Prudential Center's global recognition.
As the conversation unfolds, listeners are encouraged to visit the Prudential Center's website (prucenter.com) or follow them on social media (@prucenter) for updates on upcoming events and to secure tickets for a diverse range of shows and experiences. This episode serves as a captivating exploration of the dynamic world of entertainment at the Prudential Center, making it a must-listen for anyone passionate about New Jersey's vibrant entertainment scene.
Get your tickets for #JerseyFest here: https://www.seetickets.us/event/jersey-fest/588283
Music: "Ride" by Jackson Pines
jacksonpines.com
Thank you to our sponsors:
New Jersey Lottery: njlottery.com
New Jersey Innovation Institute: njii.com
Make Cool Sh*t: makecoolshit.co
UCS Advisors: ucsgreatness.com
Albert & Whitney CPAs: awcpasllc.com
Mayo Performing Arts Center: mayoarts.org/events-calendar
Contact the show: mike@greetingsfromthegardenstate.com
We went into Brick City, Newark, NJ, to chat with Sean Saadeh, the EVP of Entertainment at the Prudential Center. Sean provides valuable insights into the diverse programming at The Rock, from hosting family shows like Disney on Ice to becoming a crucial venue for the community. The discussion unfolds with Sean, originally not from New Jersey, expressing his love for the state and navigating the challenges of positioning New Jersey as a significant market in the competitive Tri-State area.
As the EVP of Entertainment, Sean sheds light on his position's intricacies, emphasizing the responsibility of keeping the venue bustling with events, spanning sports to concerts. The conversation explores the importance of crafting exceptional experiences for both performers and fans, ensuring that the Prudential Center feels like a home away from home. Sean delves into the unique nature of New Jersey and its success in driving the concert business, making it a hub for diverse genres, including K-pop and Latin, earning the center a top global ranking according to Billboard.
The discussion naturally flows into the ongoing enhancements at the Prudential Center, ranging from technological upgrades like connected screens, improved Wi-Fi, 5G, and data to a revamped culinary experience. Sean highlights the commitment to excellence, ensuring the Prudential Center remains at the forefront of providing a top-tier venue experience for fans. The interview wraps up with Mike Ham expressing his awe at the Prudential Center's global recognition.
As the conversation unfolds, listeners are encouraged to visit the Prudential Center's website (prucenter.com) or follow them on social media (@prucenter) for updates on upcoming events and to secure tickets for a diverse range of shows and experiences. This episode serves as a captivating exploration of the dynamic world of entertainment at the Prudential Center, making it a must-listen for anyone passionate about New Jersey's vibrant entertainment scene.
Get your tickets for #JerseyFest here: https://www.seetickets.us/event/jersey-fest/588283
Music: "Ride" by Jackson Pines
jacksonpines.com
Thank you to our sponsors:
New Jersey Lottery: njlottery.com
New Jersey Innovation Institute: njii.com
Make Cool Sh*t: makecoolshit.co
UCS Advisors: ucsgreatness.com
Albert & Whitney CPAs: awcpasllc.com
Mayo Performing Arts Center: mayoarts.org/events-calendar
Contact the show: mike@greetingsfromthegardenstate.com
0:00
we've always been book bookended by New York and Philly and so it's just very easy oh you're the the New York Market
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it's like no we're not yeah there's there's 27 million people in the in the
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all right what's up everybody welcome back to another episode of greetings from the Garden State powered by the New Jersey Lottery I'm my cam we are here in
1:44
Newark New Jersey today at the credential center with the EVP of entertainment Sean Seda Sean welcome to the show thank you thanks for having me
1:51
I love being here it's just this is the biggest space probably we've been in I
1:56
think like only rivaled by the battleship uh in Camden uh which is obviously huge in and of itself but um
2:03
and it's also funny and I was telling Bill and Megan off off mik before um that down here you could see kind of on
2:11
the first camera that uh Disney on Ice is setting up down here and as a kid
2:17
Disney on Ice was like that's like I remember doing that every single year it was almost like a family tradition
2:22
through like work we had uh my dad's job not me as a kid but uh like there would be like a suite and we'd be you know
2:28
watching food and toys and whatever and it just so like kind of Full Circle moment that dision ice is here oh
2:34
welcome back yeah that's great yeah it's usually it's actually um the usually the
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first live entertainment event for little ones yeah um so their first
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experiences in arenas um because concerts tend to be too loud so it's it's kind of cool that we do this for
2:53
the community um and we do two of them a year we Disney on Ice in the fall and
2:58
one in in the win winter um and we have other a slew of other family shows that
3:04
usually are the first events that they go to yeah which is really cool and like I think and also like sorry to everyone
3:10
listening if there's some some banging in the background but that's you know that's part of the show that's why we like doing it this way excuse me so and
3:17
I think that's really cool because obviously you know I think a lot of people in Jersey associate uh credential
3:23
center with the Devils which is their home you know we'll get into the devils in a little bit but I do like the like
3:30
the diversity of the programming that you guys have here from like you know there's such a range and we'll get into
3:36
kind of like all the different all those different things uh in a second but I do want to learn and let the people know a
3:41
little bit about you are you a jersey guy I'm not actually okay all right that's fine uh but you have the Jersey
3:47
hat oners youve embraced it yeah right I have yeah I mean I've been out here for quite some time so I've been out on the
3:54
East Coast for over 12 years now um I started in Brooklyn um um I opened up
4:00
the barklay center um back in 2012 um but I've been on the Jersey side
4:07
um for almost eight and a half years now so um I feel like I'm part of the community now um you know we're a very
4:14
accepting Community you know yes absolutely and it it's what's interesting about jerseys I didn't know
4:19
anything about it when I came here um and you know there's there's all these
4:24
different stereotypes that you can apply to new jerseyans and New Jersey itself
4:30
and when I got here I was like this is pretty awesome like that's
4:35
cool like keep thinking that way we got something special over here with all of our communities um the towns the
4:42
Beautiful Homes and um and the divers diversity of the state sure um you know
4:48
it is I think one of the most densely populated states the most um in the
4:53
United States so we got everything here yeah and that's pretty cool um if you want to be in the city of City if you
5:00
want to be out in the mountains you have the mountains if you want the beach you got the beach you know not too many
5:05
states can say that um about their state so I think we're very we have a very special thing going on absolutely and I
5:11
and I think what I I find nework to be one of the most fascinating cities in
5:19
the state you know like and we I've had the luxury of you know as I've traveled cuz like we do all our episodes just
5:24
like this so we've been as far south as Wildwood and as far north as like MAA and monu like literally uh almost to the
5:32
total bottom uh but like the entire State and there's so many interesting places towns cities whatever but like
5:38
new Yark just has kind of this like energy you know that's like and especially in this area like this
5:44
surrounding area when you know you come down for Devil's game and like all that kind of stuff and you kind of like it's it has like a a pulse almost which is
5:52
really cool and interesting and I think this is kind of like one of those heartbeats that it has like this this
5:58
place for sure I I always always look at new New York as like has great bones yeah and it's it's and it has everything
6:05
that you want we just got to get people to come back to it yeah and I think having the credential Center here along
6:11
with so many other great um you know uh performance Halls um
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museums uh you know restaurants now um it it's it's a tremendous place to come
6:24
to now and um you know I get to come here every single day and I it close up
6:31
but um I think that as more and more people come down here and experience the events they get to also experience some
6:38
of the cool things some of the Hidden nuggets around Newark um which are are
6:44
pretty cool yeah for sure um so let's let's take the people also through what your role here at credential Center is I
6:51
said EVP of entertainment what do you do okay so uh me and my team were
6:57
responsible for keeping this place busy so we have the New Jersey Devils as you mentioned before they're our main tenant
7:03
and um and we own the team and we also have seeden Hall basketball that plays
7:09
here they are also a tenant in in the building um we oversee their schedule um
7:14
they operate on their own so do the devils and uh we are responsible for all
7:19
the concerts family shows um sporting events other sporting events that come through whether that's boxing UFC um aew
7:28
uh wrestling WWE wrestling all that comes through here uh plus all the family shows which
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of course we're loading in uh Disney on Ice right now so um we're we're here to
7:40
to to bring um you know content to the building um and that's that's typical in
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arenas you know we the the teams play 41 home games a year plus a couple of
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preseason games um SE and Hall will come in and play 14 to 15 games here uh home
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games and and so that that doesn't make up 365 days so you're talking about 65
8:05
days you know roughly 55 whatever the math is 56 days um with your tenants and
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now you have all these other days 300 more days to fill so our our job is to
8:17
keep the place busy and and to drive Revenue um and and it's beyond just the
8:23
making of money cuz we are a business of course we're we we're here to make money but I think it's also when we look at at
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the credential CER we think of it as the town hall of New Jersey yeah and as the town hall of New Jersey that means like
8:35
you want to bring something for everybody right um and so you know the
8:40
programming we we really look at how we curate that you know it's it's the family shows right that brings in the
8:48
youth and their parents and that's a really cool thing you got your your tenants Sports tenants and then you got
8:55
these concerts that we bring in that are span all different types of genres from
9:00
you know Legacy acts like Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones and and the Eagles to you know the being the home of
9:09
K-pop sure you know um we really consider ourselves as one of the first
9:14
venues in the United States to have embraced K-pop and now it's a huge
9:20
genre which we do you know five to six seven um concerts a year yeah um it's
9:26
sort of like the East Coast place to go for K-pop and uh we embraced it a long
9:33
time ago and we've you know since um since continue to embrace it and build
9:38
it um but Latin again super big um Latin
9:44
has crossover too that's not just Latin it's now Latin but it's also mainstream
9:50
artist um and uh so we see even when we produce those events those those events
9:57
have everybody and there's it's not just Latinos that are coming to these events it's everybody that's coming out so it's
10:03
pretty it's pretty cool um it's a fun thing to do you know it's it's
10:08
bringing happiness to our community and I I think I look at it that way yeah when you're like so take me through like
10:14
and we don't have to spend a lot of time on this but almost like the booking process and kind of curating that schedule and like how far out in advance
10:22
are you generally working because like I operate with this show on like hey you want to do it tomorrow like that kind of
10:28
that kind of schedule uh but I would imagine that doesn't work here you know so take me through like that process a
10:34
little bit and kind of how you start kind of building out a schedule that you know is going to hit all those different demographics that you're trying to hit
10:41
yeah so it's if you take a blank calendar right you're you're plugging in certain things based on booking windows
10:47
so booking windows are different for each type of event so um Family shows
10:54
for example like we're booking those out a year in advance so we kind of know where those fall yeah so you take that
10:59
off the calendar boom those are confirmed then you take your your your tenant schedules right they usually
11:05
don't come out until like you know June July August depending on you know like
11:11
uh with the NHL it's usually in the late June early July time frame um but at the
11:17
same time you're trying to book shows around that time so you're you're you're you're sort of just holding certain
11:23
dates right and then um horse trading a little bit and plugging plugging in
11:29
concerts when they come in um and then holding back team schedule so that you
11:35
can get so you can maximize really the the number of dates that you use in the
11:40
facility and that's a bit of a puzzle but we do it very very well and um I
11:47
think we we're very lucky to be able to work with great um with our our team the
11:53
devils and they totally get the bigger picture like they get that hey yeah we need real
11:59
real dates here and dates that work for us um but at the same time we need to
12:05
make sure that this venue is is busy and uh and I think that's really really key
12:11
um to have that that relationship with with your team and uh and same with Cen
12:16
Hall they they've been tremendous like if we need to horse trade a date um with the exception of like hey we need this
12:22
for what opening week or whatever it is you know they're they're very very uh
12:28
very great partners with us um to make sure that we maximize the venue yeah and
12:34
I think also what's interesting too is like you talk about ten so like the devils and seen Hall but everyone else
12:39
that comes through here is kind of like an out you know visiting teams and acts are all kind of like uh part of the
12:48
experience here um but also like their experience here I think is interesting and when bill sent over the information
12:54
uh prior to this interview and I was looking and how uh I like was read at one point I forget exactly what it said
13:00
but like the experience that like visiting teams have when they come here and how important that is because you
13:06
know like especially on like the ACT side I think you know could be great like a good space but if they have a
13:12
terrible experience while they're here it's going to be like hard to bring that same act back and have recurring business from that so like take me
13:18
through almost you know kind of like 30,000 foot view of like what that process is like and making sure that those experiences for people that are
13:25
visiting here um have a good experience yeah I think you know we work work
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really hard to make sure that the experience is topnotch it's first class
13:37
and and part of that is we're in a very competitive market you know we've got four Arenas uh five Arenas really in in
13:45
the the Tri-State New York metropolitan area and um you know there's choices AXS
13:54
have choices to play any of those venues um and so we want them to when they come
14:01
here we want them to feel like it's their home away from home remember these artists are on the road or the teams
14:08
that are playing basketball here or UFC they're they're constantly on the road so they they're not they don't have the
14:14
home Creature Comforts and so what we try to do is really make that experience um topnotch so they can feel like
14:21
they're at P for that night um we want our the fans to have a great experience
14:26
whether that's the The Culinary offerings that we have here um to you know uh ease of getting into the
14:33
building the technology that we provide um those are all things that we think about so we really have two customers we
14:39
have those that are like performing or playing a game here um and we have our
14:46
fans and those are new new jerse you know and so I think we we really pay
14:52
close attention to that and are constantly upgrading and looking at ways to make sure that our experien is is is
14:58
Top Notch um you know we we also you know we think that New Jersey is
15:04
different yeah you know um lot of people in in in the industry I don't think
15:09
people here in New Jersey feel this way because I think people are very proud about being on the New Jersey side but I
15:16
think the industry sometimes tries to lump us into New York right hey you're a New York they split Us in two or either
15:22
Philly for New York depending on which top you know top or bottom part of the state that's correct yeah cuz we've
15:27
always been book book ended by New York and Philly and so it's just very easy oh
15:32
you're the the New York Market it's like no we're not yeah there's there's 27
15:37
million people in the in the tri- state area 10 million of them are right here in New Jersey that's a huge market right
15:44
where we're pulling from right even if that's not half the state half the state goes down to Philly the half State gos
15:51
is that that's a huge population it would be the fourth fifth largest city in the United States so what we try to
15:58
push out out is hey New Jersey is a separate and incremental Market to New York right yeah the likelihood of an
16:05
artist playing New York City is pretty high right they're going to play New
16:11
York City when they route their tours um and what we want to do is we want to
16:17
make sure that we say hey look we get it you want to play New York City it's the largest city in the United States yeah
16:23
of course but don't forget New Jersey is the fourth fifth largest city it's a
16:29
huge Market um and you have to play it you must play it's got to be an
16:35
incremental play and I think that's why we've been successful I think driving
16:40
the concert business from 23 24 concerts a year to 60 concerts a year we've
16:46
almost tripled the concerts that have come through here um and some of that is
16:52
strength of touring you know that you know coming out of Co a lot of artists there was pent up energy right to to get
17:00
out and and tour they were you know creating um content right they were
17:05
creating new music um and um and I think they were just like sitting back and like what do I do with this now usually
17:12
it's you create it and then that's what prompts you to go tour yeah um which is
17:19
where artists make the most of their money now right is on touring it used to be opposite when I was a kid it
17:26
was and albums you're selling and that's right you're it's album sales and it was
17:32
it's really about hey how do we go out there in tour so that we can sell more albums right
17:39
now it's the opposite it's like let's put out new music which is important right great content but this is how
17:46
we're going to monetize it through live live events yeah I want to continue this conversation but I do have more of like
17:53
a personal question for you sure so you've been doing this for a while and let's just take the stuff that you
17:58
booked here at presedential Center do you ever have like Pinch Me moments where you're like holy I can't
18:03
believe I just booked this person or like get to watch that show and know that you had a hand
18:10
in putting on that show concert act whatever it is look there there's always
18:16
I think there's Pinch Me moments every single day this is why I do what I do right um it's
18:23
not this kind of job is a length it's it's it's a lot of hours right we're
18:29
putting in the hours cuz not only we're working a full day but then we have evening events and so you know you got
18:35
to love what you do sure and uh I've been doing this for 27 years um so I'm
18:41
getting up there to the 30y year range and uh you know it's I get excited for
18:48
every single event that comes through because there's somebody in the crowd not somebody there's thousands of people
18:53
in this crowd that love that particular artist or that particular event whether that's UFC whether that's boxing whether
19:00
that's any of our concerts the family shows like they're there and they're for
19:06
two to three hours they get to shut it off right whatever is bothering them
19:12
whatever is the stress in their life they get to shut it off come here and
19:18
just enjoy their favorite artist yeah and I love that right and I think where
19:24
I get the goosies the Goosebumps is every single time those lights go down
19:30
you know um it's pretty cool like the when they shut the lights down and the show starts and the crowd goes crazy
19:38
it's it's it's pretty pretty special that's really cool uh excuse me uh so before we kind of
19:45
take our before we take our break um you know all the stuff that you're talking about you know the experience of you
19:50
know people coming here and and all that kind of stuff and I I took a note here about uh when billboard ranked like
19:57
their top venues in the country and like prenal Center being pretty ey number
20:03
five in the world isn't that crazy not to me okay not to me but but I can
20:09
understand how people might not know that sure yeah I I think that's really kind like you know my point is like who
20:14
would even like you mentioned before how you know that the idea of like everyone
20:20
doing New York or like you know even Philly or these other like major cities but then right here in New York in our
20:26
state in Jersey is a top five venue in the world that's right that's crazy it
20:32
it is it is something very special yeah and I'm very prideful of um and goes
20:38
with a lot of hard work from me and my team I mean I have a great team uh Tyler
20:44
Bates who runs all of our concerts and family show bookings and Dylan wal um who runs all of our SP Sports properties
20:51
and um and special events uh and Shannon Dem more I I just got to name those
20:57
people because they're such a a huge part of my team um and they keep the place busy and and put a lot of love
21:05
into it and um and so it doesn't surprise me but I think
21:11
people in our state even would would be surprised by it because
21:17
they just everyday life number one you're not paying attention to
21:22
everything that's going on right number two um you know you're kind you know you get the world's most famous arena I
21:29
guess is what they they say um across you know over at MSG and um you know
21:36
that's where people just think oh that's that's the that's the spot right that's the the mecca for for for concerts and
21:44
sporting events and uh and I think we we do it differently I think the Jersey fan
21:51
I just got to say this like we often get called out on how great the crowds are
21:57
here for for our events it's uh it's not corporate it's the real fan that's in
22:03
our building yes that loves the artist and it's really really cool um they
22:08
bring it every single night I'm very proud of that proud of that too so I I guess I I guess I'm not surprised by it
22:15
but at the same time like I'm super um thrilled that we could create a number
22:22
five venue in the world right here in New Jersey for this community absolutely
22:28
um and I I love that because I do think that this place like when you come for a show or you come for a game or you come
22:34
for whatever like there is that Vibe you know and uh I was at another arena in
22:42
the state last week and it's like you just sometimes you don't get that same like
22:48
that same Vibe you know um but uh this has been great so far so we're going to take our break uh this is uh the green g
22:55
State podcast powered by the New Jersey Lottery I'm my cam we're here at the presedential center in New York New Jersey with Shan Sada we'll be right
23:04
back the Bale Performing Art Center is the heart of arts and entertainment in Morristown New Jersey empac presents
23:09
over 200 events annually and is home to an Innovative Children's Arts education program to see impact's upcoming
23:15
schedule of worldclass concerts standup comedy family shows and more head to mayoarts.org or just click the link in
23:22
our show notes hey folks I want to tell you about the crew over at make cool these are The Magicians who recently gave our
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coolshit or visit their website we makecool shit. remember that's co.com greetings from the Garden State
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is proud to be partnered with some amazing Brands a special thanks to L Grand Coffee House our official coffee
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and birdling our official travel bag to learn more about these and all of our other great sponsors head to greetings
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from the garden state.com all right we're back for Segment two of this episode of greetings
24:29
from the Garden State powered by the New Jersey Lottery I'm my cam we are here in uh New York New Jersey at the presedential center with sha Seda so
24:35
first segment we touched on a lot of stuff uh first I need to that I didn't
24:41
do this in the first segment I feel bad thank you guys for the Jersey Jersey
24:46
yeah which I love um that was like that whole time frame of like releasing those
24:52
jerseys and then kind of like what it's built into you know Bill's got the hat hat on and it's just it's it's amazing I
24:58
love it so much but I'm pumped so thank you for that you're welcome absolutely yeah and uh okay so I know in the first
25:05
segment I asked you a little bit about your background and we literally just launched into every other topic that we
25:12
possibly could so I do want to just circle back to that um and maybe ask
25:17
like why you eventually landed here and how and all that kind of stuff and like why this was a good fit for you at that
25:24
time perfect um yeah we did touch on that briefly um so as I said in in the
25:32
the prior segment been doing this for 27 years I started in St Diego so that's where I'm from San Diego California um
25:39
born and raised there um grew up going to see concerts and sporting events at
25:45
the San Diego Sports Arena so there was already this like interest in this this space this world that didn't know
25:52
anything about um as a youth and then in college you know got marketing degree
25:59
and uh and business degree at Santa Clair University um and uh didn't know
26:06
exactly what I wanted to do but I did some internships I I was a nonprofit right out of college they offered me a
26:11
job through that internship and uh quickly realize that yeah this is not
26:17
something that I want to do long term um I loved it in in certain ways but it
26:22
wasn't my calling and I always feel like if you got to get up every single day
26:27
put on your shoes and work long hours you better do something that you love and so I started doing a bit of a an
26:35
audit on what I really was passionate about and it turned out that you know Sports was something that I really
26:40
wanted to get into just didn't know how to get into it um however I did have a contact at the San Diego Sports Arena so
26:48
I reached out and um you know asked them about how to get into this business and
26:55
um it you know it uh they explained to me like it's not the easiest thing to get into
27:03
but um but in in the end uh I really enjoyed the conversation and re
27:10
recognized and realize that's what I wanted to do um it turns out that the
27:15
same person that I reached out to we were out in Scott Scotland playing golf yeah and uh like St Andrews yeah we had
27:23
a whole golf trip out there with our fathers that's and yeah and we it was
27:28
great trip a story for a different day but um you know we're walking down I forget
27:35
which Fairway at trun and uh I'm like how do I get in how do you make this
27:41
happen for me and it turns out like 6 months later um you know they had
27:46
something available and it was this booking position it was a booking assistant position I didn't even know
27:52
what booking meant sure I just knew that oh I wanted to be in sports um and it
27:57
turns out that booking is beyond sports right it's everything as I we mentioned in the last segment so you know
28:04
um I give the Hans Ernie Han and and his his father Ron Han all the uh the props
28:10
for getting me into the business a long long time ago um and I immediately fell in love with it um and I worked nine
28:17
years at the San Diego Sports Arena for them and you know after about eight nine years I was starting to get itchy you
28:25
know I wanted to sort of get out of that you know the the San Diego Sports
28:31
Arena everyday kind of scenario and to to Branch off and um uh I started
28:39
looking around um they had built a new Arena and Phoenix actually in glendell
28:45
Arizona for the Phoenix Coyotes at the time now they're the Arizona Coyotes yep
28:50
and uh you know I I put my name out there said I'd be interested in the position and um um I ended up getting
28:58
that position I worked for the Phoenix Coyotes for five years um and I learned
29:03
a ton there um San Diego was a competitive market Phoenix was a competitive market with two buildings
29:09
you had the the the venue downtown for the Suns yep um and so you had to grow
29:15
up pretty quickly and how you devise your booking strategy to generate the
29:20
business right because now you have competition right down the street it's not like your New York the New York
29:26
metropolitan area where you can play multiple venues yeah within the area it's one play in San Diego it's one play
29:32
in Phoenix so you're going after it um and and so that I think that helped me
29:38
helped groom me to become a very strategic Booker so instead of being
29:44
just operational which is a lot of you know hey here's all the information you know call me blah blah blah it's this is
29:52
going out there and selling yeah and being proactive with trying to bring
29:57
content to your building and so sorry when you were out in like San Diego and
30:02
and Arizona more specifically obviously those are like major spots yeah the
30:09
demographics of those places are obviously like different than they are like those two are different in and of
30:15
themselves than they are here than they are in the city you know so like did that I'm sure that kind of like plays a
30:22
huge role in kind of the types of Acts you're trying to get and like all that kind of stuff to try to make sure that you know you're in whatever community
30:28
that you're that you're in 100 100% yeah it's it's not like a cookie cutter
30:33
situation you have to tailored to what ven you're at what Market you're at um
30:39
and so like having some of those skill sets of identifying all right you can't just walk in and say all right let's
30:45
let's book all these people they may not work here you know they may not work in this in San Diego or may not work in in
30:51
Phoenix I mean we did a lot of Latin in San Diego and Phoenix cuz there's a lot big Latin community
30:58
but they weren't like R&B hipop um uh at least at the time that I was booking it
31:05
um and so you know I think just identifying where you can go after you know countries strong in in Phoenix not
31:12
as much in San Diego although now you could make an argument that country is everywhere you know it's not just but
31:19
back when I was booking in the in the mid90s um and and early 2000s um that
31:26
was you know very much the situation um but yeah yeah so that you always have to
31:31
take that into account sure sorry to throw you off track no no it's all it's all good and then after you know after 5
31:36
years um in Arizona I uh um I was lucky enough to get hired um by the the
31:43
Brooklyn Nets at the time they were the New Jersey Nets um they were still playing here yeah in fact um and uh you
31:51
know they they hired me to to open up the the barklay center in Brooklyn um I was lucky enough to come on about a year
31:58
and a half before opening um got to see it build up um and um worked really um
32:07
really hard on the the grand opening of that building and what that looked like so you know we we opened up with hjz
32:14
shows and brought Robert stron back to Brooklyn her her hometown yeah and uh
32:20
and that was that was wonderful it was it was a great experiencing opening experience opening the building and uh
32:27
got a ton of you know uh of learnings from that and I think learning from every single place has is a building
32:34
block that got me to where I am today yeah um and I think uh you know after
32:40
Brooklyn so I was there for four years after Brooklyn um uh the credential
32:45
Center had reached out to me and and uh at the time it was Scott O'Neal and and H Weber and uh asked if I would consider
32:53
coming over here um to to build their business here yeah and um I think at the
32:59
time uh I wasn't sure um quite frankly um what I wanted to do I didn't know if
33:05
that was the next step but I just was so impressed with um you know uh the whole
33:10
organization you know starting with you know our our managing Partners Josh Harris and David Blitzer um I just
33:17
really bought into their vision of how they saw their the expansion business of
33:24
of entertainment and sports and um you know that that they're family they're a
33:30
family uh oriented people that want wanted a legacy for for the kids and so
33:38
you know having uh stability there is always a great thing um and so when
33:44
you're considering your next steps like yeah I I like that um and um so I I
33:51
immediately signed on and uh and I've been here for eight and 1 half years now yeah um um and it's been been tremendous
33:59
it really has um I love the team here uh our our CEO Tad uh Brown is tremendous
34:06
great leader um uh Jake Reynolds who I report into uh has a great vision um and
34:13
uh I just love working with this team every single day yeah yeah that's awesome and I and I love kind of like
34:19
that whole trajectory and kind of how it culminates here you know and like also
34:25
over the last eight years obviously I'm sure that there's been obviously
34:30
like a lot of uh improvements upgrades kind of just like what when you what you
34:35
walked into eight years ago is not the same as what it is now like it's come such a long way um and to really provide
34:43
that top level experience for everyone involved and then to be a top venue in the world you know so I I love that that
34:51
you're a big part of that and kind of sharing all these different things um going off that a little bit I do want to
34:57
just talk a little bit about like some of the different spots because everyone knows you know you come in you go to
35:02
your seat but there's like so many more things going on up here like we're up here in this is called The Lofts right
35:08
the lofs correct yeah so we're up in the Lofts and there's some other spots so it take me through like those other places that people can enjoy a show game all
35:16
that kind of stuff from yeah I mean again we want people to have a great experience here and times have changed
35:23
as it relates to going to see concerts and sporting events um people want a
35:28
full 360 experience we recognize that and that's even in the last 10 years
35:34
that that consumer uh feel for coming to
35:39
a game or to an event is has evolved and I I think we've taken note T have taken
35:46
note of that um the lofs here you know built a few years ago it's a new product
35:52
that has smaller more open um Suites yeah we at an area with a club behind it
35:59
so that you can go and sort of network with with other people sure and I think that's what consumers were looking for
36:04
versus like a traditional site that's kind of evolved over the years and we do have traditional suets still some people
36:11
still want that product um but we've added like the pr Lounge so the pr Lounge is now sort of our front door um
36:19
that faces out towards uh the new mberry Commons park that they built in New York a few years ago and uh it's beautiful
36:27
it's actually it's an open space um for hockey games for the devil's games it's uh you know our first and second row um
36:35
uh fans they get that space um for concerts we open it up uh depending on
36:41
the concert um or the event um uh for the general public to come in um and
36:47
it's used as a bar you get some food there yeah um it's kind of a nice experience um and it's kind of it as I
36:54
said it faces out has its own front door so we can actually do special events in there too yeah as well as what's going
37:01
on in the arena so um it's it's a it's a great little space that we just added
37:06
this year um and it's beautiful if you haven't seen it we'll take you down there to see it yeah um we added a bar
37:15
um on the main Concourse where the old uh double secondary shop was okay um and
37:21
we kind of moved that off to the M&M's uh uh above above the M&M's um
37:28
Tower location so people that come up through the M&M's uh escalators up to
37:36
the top just to the right is the new uh secondary um uh Team Store yeah U and we
37:43
so we replac the old one with The Foundry which is this beautiful bar um
37:48
right in the middle of everything has you know screens TV screens to playing
37:53
upcoming games or uh uh whatever sporting events on that day yeah and uh
37:59
and then you know it's just easy access um and it's kind of a cool location as well um so those are a couple things
38:06
that we that we added um just recently um we added these Lo boxes right here
38:13
not Lo boxes but um uh main conquer uh uh or Studio Suite sorry uh that's
38:20
that's the name of it Studio suites right here that was two years ago we put those in um so just just upgrades like
38:27
that technology upgrades ipv where our screens are all um kind of connected
38:32
together we can U promote upcoming events we can add new food items on there you know above the concession
38:39
stands um so those are really some some of the cool technology things that we've added Wi-Fi um 5G um uh data yeah um and
38:51
uh what else am I missing um I gu I can't keep it straight but every every
38:58
year we're putting we're putting new and new things in yeah and I think that that's a really cool thing and you know
39:03
even just like all the old upgrades on the food like that's how I got this whole conversation started was coming to like the tasting event that you guys did
39:09
for all the new menu offerings and all that kind of stuff but I think everything that you're talking about and like those like little upgrades to kind
39:15
of just keep enhancing that experience because you know if you come here 2
39:20
years ago and then you come here now it's like oh wow you know it's even better you know and I'm sure if you come here 2 years from now it's going to be
39:27
even better you know like that it's going to continue it's a continued growth and and you you mentioned Levy or
39:33
you mentioned the food experience U Levy just came in as our our uh our concessionaire this year um and has
39:40
brought a whole new menu uh of items to the arena which I think uh The Culinary
39:46
experience is so important we're in New Jersey so it's important that's right and uh you know I think they get that
39:52
and um have elevated in so many ways they just got in so the it's it's again
39:58
it's just building blocks like each day we get better and better and better right and I think they've done a really
40:03
really good job um I think some of the technology associated with food now to get you in to get whatever you need and
40:10
back to your seat as quickly as possible is kind of a cool thing that they've added whether that's you know um you
40:16
know In-N-Out like sort of convenience store experience where you're just grabbing your beer or whatever it is um
40:22
and checking out with your card um just by tapping it or using Palm technology
40:28
uh or we're using I I forget the name of the technology but you're just putting you're literally putting it on a tray
40:34
and it's it's checking you out right then and there I did the last time I was here at a devil's game like I put the
40:39
stuff like all our drinks down on the on the whatever that was like I I used a tray and it was like YP that's how much
40:45
you owe and you know that's it so it was really cool i' never seen anything like that before it's it's really it's cool
40:52
that they're they're bringing this technology because it's a better customer experience
40:57
one of theing when people building is keep the
41:02
lines right so some people just want hey I just want to go grab a beer I don't want to stay on line for 15 minutes to
41:09
get it right it's not a great experience so being able to just oh I can just walk in here grab this put it on the tray
41:15
checks me out I'm good yeah yeah no that's awesome and and and that's really you know the experience side of it
41:21
obviously coming for a show or a game is like what you're going there for but it's very apparent that like the
41:29
experience you have within whatever venue you're at can like immediately change like how you feel about that
41:36
experience like of watching that show you know like if you miss half the game because you're standing online for a hot
41:42
dog you know or like half the concert because you had to go run to the bathroom you know like nobody wants that
41:47
nobody wants that we don't want that either exactly um I do want to uh shift what we're talking about a little bit
41:54
because um White Eagle Hall in Jersey City and also uh the Lowe's Jersey
42:00
theater also in Jersey City are also connected to prenal center right correct
42:05
um so take me through like that I guess relationship or that uh that how that works um and then why that's like an
42:13
important piece of this whole puzzle well I think the vision here is
42:18
that you know so much of the let's call it the music business resides in New
42:25
York especially at the smaller Club level theater level uh we have New
42:30
Jersey has a lot of Performing Arts centers um which is not necessarily a music first environment so what we
42:37
wanted to try to create is a jerseys side kind of music uh music scene right
42:44
and so you know we we started operating White Eagle Hall a couple years ago um
42:51
it's a beautiful 800 CER room um in Jersey City right right right in the
42:56
Grove Street area yeah um which is a really cool stop if you if you're going
43:01
into Jersey City by path um go go to Grove Street and walk around there they
43:07
have tons of restaurants and so on so forth quick 10-minute walk up from Grove Street um you're at White Eagle Hall um
43:15
historic building built in the 1910s somewhere in there um has all the
43:22
original finishings that used to be where St Anthony's basketball used to practice yeah um which is crazy
43:29
to think which is crazy to think yeah like there another historic spot you know so Bob Hurley used to conduct uh
43:35
his practices there and uh um and you know when the when the school went away
43:41
you know obviously that was sitting there it was originally a performance hall so um uh Ben La Piccolo who uh was
43:49
the developer on the on the project did a great job uh renovating the space he even took the the old bass Court um and
43:58
repurposed it for the bar tops oh cool I didn't know that so um so when you walk
44:04
in there yeah it's it's new and improved but you know uh you still have the skylights in there the original
44:10
skylights um you have you know parts of the the old floor that are you know part
44:15
of the bars as I said um with all the modern amenities um it's a great great
44:21
place to see a show yeah um and we've diverse divice Diversified the
44:27
programming there as well we've kind of taken the model at the arena level of course much smaller um and applied it um
44:34
to White Eagle Hall yeah so so now you have this 800 cap club we are in the process of um you know working in
44:41
partnership with with the Jersey City to renovate the Lowe's theater um when
44:47
that's done you're going to have a 4,000 GA venue um and a
44:53
28900 roughly um um uh 2900 capacity seated venue yeah um which is going to
45:02
be a beautiful beautiful theater from you know one of the original five Wonder theaters in the New York area and we're
45:09
going to renovate that it's going to be a beautiful space and uh and so what the
45:14
thinking behind all of this is like can we take an artist from 800 to to 2900
45:21
4,000 to um to the arena now truthfully
45:27
not every artist is going to do that of course um in fact very few that are 800
45:33
end up at the arena but what it does is it it gets
45:38
people artists to play New Jersey right yeah so you build a bit of the music
45:43
scene and the people that are making decisions on on behalf of the artists right agents managers we now have an
45:51
intimate relationship with those people so if you look at an agent's roster
45:56
they probably have you know maybe one two three Arena acts yeah and a bunch of
46:02
smaller acts right so if you're helping them build their smaller acts uh and you
46:08
know step by step you have a an intimate relationship with them where it makes it
46:13
easier for us to conduct business with them yeah um versus at the arena level it tends to be more of a touring
46:19
business to be honest with you so Live Nation AEG you know um those of the two
46:26
big uh promoters they're they're buying 60 city tours and they're putting them
46:32
in buildings at the club level and at the theater level too um you know it's
46:40
it's much more organic um so you know at the club level you're B we're buyers
46:46
yeah so we're we're taking risk on their artists um and so when you're doing that
46:51
you're not only helping those artists to to grow up and and get bigger um through
46:56
your involvement with with their tour but but also helping their agents and
47:02
their managers and all that stuff that uh um so it's it's kind of two-pronged
47:07
is why we're doing it and I think it sets us up well long term to be more of
47:12
a hub for live music right yeah and I love that because it's like I think you
47:17
know one of the things that you know and people think of Jersey uh that are kind
47:22
of like almost like Fringe familiar with like a lot of things that they think of are places like a stone Pony or like a
47:30
Starland Ballroom almost where it's like those kind of uh those environments
47:35
where it's like uh Club level almost like you said and you have performing art centers like you know the male
47:41
Performing Art Center in Morristown is one of our uh sponsors and was one of our first ever guests and we love them
47:47
of course but like you said there's like a totally different kind of uh Vibe
47:54
almost
48:08
all right we're back all right so we had some people come through so we wanted to take a quick Break um but we're still here
48:15
we're talking about we just we're talking about beauty of the Arena yeah the beauty of the Arena uh we were talking about the Lowe's theater we were
48:21
talking about White Eagle Hall all that kind of stuff and I love the idea of trying to like pull people back to
48:27
Jersey in a sense that's like uh just like a different style of like putting on entertainment and events and almost
48:34
kind of from a different end like curating excuse me um curating events
48:41
and acts that could eventually grow to something that could be here which I think is really cool yeah it's I think
48:47
it's it's it's something that they can aspire to to do and and to get to um but
48:55
I think the the the main thing here is that it's it's New Jersey yeah you know we're we're investing in New Jersey and
49:00
in the scene around here and and I don't think there's enough of that on the
49:05
Jersey side just s oh you know New York City That's Where It's At You know that's the Hub um and I think uh you
49:13
know especially after Co I think people uh want to stay on the side of
49:19
the river yeah you know the it's it's convenient it's less expensive going through tunnels Crossing Bridges
49:26
and and you know look I I I have a love for New York City I worked in Brooklyn for years so I do but I I love
49:36
how how much the fan base here loves their state yeah um and wants to be here
49:43
and um and so if they want to be here why not bring the the content here right
49:50
and I think by investing in these venues um is is a
49:56
makes a lot of sense um in Jersey City is not far from here you know so you
50:01
know we we we joke because where Lowe's is is uh Journal Square and I mentioned
50:08
earlier that wi Eagle Hall is on Grove Street so you could literally take a PATH train from here to Lowe's yep to
50:14
White Eagle Hall so we're right on the PATH train line and that's that's that's the beauty of it all I mean it's it
50:20
makes a lot of sense and so um you know we're excited about this and we're looking to grow it and we're excited
50:27
about just bringing beautiful venues to life here in New Jersey yeah and it's
50:33
great that you this is a great segue you're such a pro um that you know looking into the future kind of like
50:38
looking ahead and all these plans and things you guys are trying to do here excuse me I don't know why I can't talk
50:44
anymore um but like what are things uh that you're working on now like maybe
50:51
trying to like curate on the schedule uh a little bit more and um just like look looking into the future almost for
50:56
presential Center wh Hall uh Lowe's like all that kind of stuff together um and like what the goals are in the future
51:03
yeah I mean I think I think one of the things that we've invested on invested in in the past I I mentioned K-pop right
51:10
we're all in on K-POP that's a genre we want to invest in then it was Latin you
51:15
know let's build out the Latin business we're doing now we're doing 15 16 Latin shows a year um the next wave is country
51:23
music you know we have amp theaters in in New Jersey you know we have the uh PNC right down the way you know they do
51:30
a lot of Summer cont country shows um but I think that there's a there's a
51:38
great experience watching country in an arena as well and so we're we're focused on that building up the country business
51:44
so we have Dan and Shay and Kan Brown coming through and uh Zach Brian uh just
51:49
to name a few that uh that we have on the schedule now um and that's that's a
51:54
you know quite a few compared to what we've had in the past knowing that there is an Amphitheater right down the street
52:00
yeah um so that's definitely an an area of of growth and uh comedy is the other
52:06
area that we're we're looking to continue to grow and um as I mentioned before Tyler Bates are our head of
52:13
entertainment booking um for concerts uh he's he's 100% focused on that and we've
52:21
seen you know we've had quite a bit of success there whether that's Sebastian Maniscalco coming through or Bill Burr
52:28
they came through North the shore um we had uh Chris Rock and Kevin Hart
52:33
together uh as part of that tour um this some of just the recent uh comedy shows
52:39
yeah and uh we have Nate bansy coming up next week so um again we just have a
52:45
full schedule and that's that's an area of growth that we're we're really focused on and that that corresponds to
52:51
all of our venues again as we're managing and operating uh and book these venues we can take these these um
52:58
strategies and apply them of course at different levels cuz they're at different level capacities but um yeah
53:05
we're taking those strategies that's why I think we're we're great at what we do is we're able to um
53:10
really uh look at each and every venue separately and and and put together a
53:16
strong strategy around it yeah and I I love it and I love what you guys do this episode has been amazing uh so before we
53:24
wrap it up and send you back to you know doing the great job that you do um I
53:30
want to make sure that we give people like website places they can go like where do they get tickets for different
53:35
events and games and stuff like that um so where should they be going to do that well it's PR center.com and then our our
53:42
our social handles are at PR Center and uh you can buy tickets at Ticket Master
53:48
great yeah easy pretty easy um but uh Sean like thank you so much for doing
53:54
this with us today and it was like so cool to kind of you know be here when no one else really isn't here like just
54:01
kind of like the way that it is right now and not a full packed Stadium or Arena um and I you know good luck with
54:07
the Disney on Ice you know thank you I'll check in on that but uh you want to come since that was your first you know
54:13
one of your first show I don't know if I could do it it's just like it' be like too jarring of a childhood memory for me
54:19
uh but this has been awesome and you know uh I'm sure like we'll talk more in the future you know do some different
54:24
things yeah please come back yeah absolutely you can guarantee that um so
54:29
again this has been we'll make sure that we put uh the pr Center and the social handles and all that kind of stuff in the show notes so people can just go
54:36
click on them uh and you know get tickets to a show because there's a lot of great stuff coming up when this episode releases this is airing on
54:43
February 13th so there's going to be a ton of stuff coming up for the rest of the winter I guess spring and then
54:50
throughout the rest of the year so uh be sure to do that and have a great experience uh Sean thank thank you again
54:56
uh really appreciate it and this has been the greetings for the Garden State podcast powered by the New Jersey Lottery I'm Mike H we were here with the
55:01
EVP of entertainment Sean S at the presedential center in Newark New Jersey uh we're also powered by the New Jersey
55:07
Lottery I forgot to say that sorry Lottery uh thank you for listening and we will catch you next
55:19
time do you are right oh tell me before you go long the
55:27
way do you want to
55:54
ride