DOUG HIGGONS NAMED GM AT CONVOCATION CENTER
Old Dominion University and Global Spectrum named Douglas L. Higgons general manager for the new Ted F. Constant Convocation Center, scheduled to open this fall.
Higgons, deputy general manager at Utah Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City for the past two years. previously held various marketing and administrative positions at Global Spectrum's corporate headquarters and at several of its managed facilities from 1994 through 2000. Global Spectrum, a Philadelphia-based public assembly facilities and event management company, will operate the 8,600-seat Constant Convocation Center.
"We welcome Doug back to Global Spectrum. His experience in opening, marketing and operating new facilities will be of particular importance as we move toward the opening of Old Dominion's new Constant Convocation Center," said Michel F. Sauers, president of Global Spectrum. "With Doug's leadership, we look forward to providing the students, staff and teachers at the university and residents of the Norfolk area with a terrific new entertainment and sports facility."
Robert Fenning, vice president for administration and finance at Old Dominion, agreed. "We are very pleased to welcome Doug Higgons to the university community. He brings a wealth of experience and has assisted in opening four other venues in similar markets and settings. Coupled with his work with the Salt Lake City Olympics, his background makes him the top choice to manage this new and important addition to the Hampton Roads community. We look forward to an exciting year ahead."
The Constant Convocation Center, designed by a national team headed by the architect firm of Moseley and Rossetti Associates, will be the new home of the Old Dominion Monarchs and Lady Monarchs basketball teams, as well as family shows, concerts and other sporting events. The center will feature 16 luxury suites, premium seating, pre-wiring for television production, closed-circuit television throughout the arena, JumboTron scoreboards, video wall and a sports Hall of Fame with hands-on activities and exhibits. Visitors will also have access to up-scale concessions and private concessions on the VIP concourse, a full commissary, a 9,100-square-foot multi-purpose room and a retail store.
Higgons will lead Global Spectrum's involvement with all pre-opening phases of managing the facility, including working and consulting on the final stages of facility design and construction; preparing marketing programs, brochures and literature on the facility; preparing a pre-opening budget; recruiting, hiring and training all staff for the facility; supervising the procurement of furniture, fixtures and equipment; booking and marketing the facility; securing subcontractors; and analyzing all operational details. Global Spectrum will also establish and implement financial and accounting programs and procedures, as well as prepare the facility for its opening.
A 10-year facility and events management veteran, Higgons joined Global Spectrum in l994 as a marketing specialist at the company's headquarters, prior to being named marketing manager at the West Palm Beach (Fla.) Auditorium. He has also served as the company's assistant general manager at the Whittemore Center Arena at the University of New Hampshire, assistant general manager at the Colorado Springs World Arena, assistant general manager at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, Mass., and project manager for the University of Rhode Island's Convocation Center.
Higgons received a bachelor's degree in sports management from the University of Massachusetts in l992. He is a member of the International Association of Assembly Managers (IAAM) and a l999 graduate of its Oglebay School for Public Assembly Management. He has served as a member of the Salt Lake Sports Center County Advisory Board and an adjunct instructor at the University of New Hampshire.
The Constant Convocation Center will be the cornerstone of Old Dominion's planned 75-acre University Village, featuring a shopping center, office buildings, residential facilities and a variety of retail shops and restaurants. A 1,400-space parking deck with easy access to the arena and a 200-space surface lot for VIP parking will be available adjacent to the center. Additionally, the university's unique maglev transit system - the first of its kind in the nation - will connect the center and the University Village to the central campus and student residence halls when it is completed later this year.
Global Spectrum will incorporate its expert staff at arenas at Temple University, and the universities of South Carolina, Rhode Island, Miami and New Hampshire in the pre-opening planning stages of the new arena. The Global Spectrum staff will handle, upon opening, the day-to-day management of the facility, including booking, scheduling, marketing, maintenance, contracted services, staffing and other operations.
A Carnegie Doctoral Research - Extensive institution, Old Dominion University has 19,000 students and offers 65 bachelor's, 68 master's and 22 doctoral degree programs. The university boasts nationally ranked programs in nuclear physics, oceanography and physical therapy and is home to the nation's largest televised distance learning program, TELETECHNET.
Global Spectrum, which manages 30 arenas, stadiums, baseball parks and ice rink facilities throughout the U.S. and Canada, is part of the Comcast-Spectacor family of companies. They include Comcast-Spectacor Ventures, Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Phantoms, First Union Center, First Union Spectrum, Comcast SportsNet, Flyers Skate Zone, Bowie Baysox, Delmarva Shorebirds and Frederick Keys. Comcast-Spectacor Ventures includes Ovations Food Services, Front Row Marketing Services and Global Stadium Services. Other Global Spectrum facilities include the First Union Center and First Union Spectrum in Philadelphia, Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, N.J., and Colorado Springs World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Comcast-Spectacor <http://www.comcast-spectacor.com> is the Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment firm which owns the First Union Center, the First Union Spectrum, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Philadelphia Phantoms, Flyers Skate Zone, Comcast SportsNet, and the Bowie Baysox, the Delmarva Shorebirds and Frederick Keys Baseball Teams, all affiliates of the Baltimore Orioles. Comcast-Spectacor is also the principal owner of Global-Spectrum, which manages public assembly facilities and events worldwide.