TheStadiumBusiness Awards were announced today at the Museo dell'Automobile di Torino in Italy. Sporting Club earned honors in four of the six categories the company was nominated for including Venue of the Year, Executive of the Year, the Community Award and the Product Innovation Award.
LIVESTRONG Sporting Park was selected as Venue of the Year for the world’s best stadium, arena or sports venue – from the small club to the mega-capacity national sports facilities. The $200+ million venue was up against competition from four different continents.
Other nominees for Venue of the Year included the site of the 2012 NBA All-Star Game (Amway Center) and 2011 Rugby World Cup (Forsyth Barr Stadium), as well as the home of Brighton & Hove Albion FC (The American Express Community Stadium).
Hundreds of nominations were whittled down to create the shortlist, judged by an independent panel of industry figures including:
- Ebru Köksal, General Secretary, Turkish Football Federation
- David Manica, President, MANICA Architecture, USA
- Pat Coyle, President, Coyle Media Inc, USA
- Michael Bolingbroke, COO, Manchester United FC
- Thierry Favre, Head of National Associations Development, UEFA
- Ian Nuttall (Chair), Founder, TheStadiumBusiness, Italy
The club’s state-of-the-art facility, opened to rave reviews in June 2011, has already hosted the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams, along with the English Premier League’s Newcastle United FC and Mexico’s Club Deportivo Guadalajara. The stadium was selected to host the group stage of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup and served as the site for the semifinals and championship matches of the CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in April of 2012. The stadium is set to host Stoke City FC of the Barclay’s Premier League in August.
LIVESTRONG Sporting Park also won the Community Award for a stadium, arena and major sports complex that has found new ways to support, enhance and improve its local community while Sporting Club CEO, Robb Heineman earned Executive of the Year as a sports venue leader, pioneer or visionary that has over-delivered in the past 12 months. Heineman was recently chosen as one of the most promising young executives in sports business under the age of 40 by SportsBusiness Journal at the organization’s Forty Under 40 Awards gala in March.
With a unique vision and expertise in technology, Sporting Kansas City launched Sporting Innovations in October of 2011. Sporting Innovations (SI) is a sports technology company focused on developing and deploying next-generation technology to support the sports industry, and its fans. Sporting Innovations won the Product Innovation Award for their FAN360 Application. FAN360 is a real time delivery of interactive experiences by injection of sociographic data to create social intelligence and facilitate engagement.
LIVESTRONG Sporting Park was also nominated for New Venue Award and Customer Experience Award.
Click here to view a comprehensive list of Sporting Kansas City accolades. For more information on TheStadiumBusiness Awards visit their website at www.stadiumbusinessawards.com.
VENUE OF THE YEAR AWARD
LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, Kansas City, USA
Amway Center, Orlando, Florida, USA
Mercedes-Benz Arena, Shanghai, China
Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin, New Zealand
The American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, UK
EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR AWARD
Robb Heineman, CEO, Sporting KC, USA
Alex Martins, CEO, Orlando Magic, USA
Julian Jenkins, Director Of International Marketing & Special Projects, Cardiff City FC, UK
Lee Zeidman, SVP and GM STAPLES Center, Nokia Theatre and L.A. LIVE, USA
Martin Perry, Executive Director, Brighton & Hove Albion FC, UK
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AWARD
LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, Kansas City, USA
Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Canada
City Square / Etihad Stadium, Manchester City FC, UK
Amway Center, Orlando, Florida, USA
The American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, UK
PRODUCT INNOVATION AWARD
FAN360 (Sporting Innovations), USA
SPS Terraces (Intelligent Engineering), UK
Texlon ETFE Cladding at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin (Vector Foiltec), Germany
VisionSOFT (ANC Sports Enterprises LLC), USA
MCG Smartphone App (MCG / NextDigital), Australia
COMMUNITY AWARD
LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, Kansas City, USA
Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland
Miller Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
NEW VENUE AWARD
LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, Kansas City, USA
The American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, UK
Juventus Stadium, Turin, Italy
Stadion Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland
National Stadium, Warsaw, Poland
Ulker Sports Arena, Istanbul, Turkey
Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin, New Zealand
Coface Arena, Mainz, Germany
