Providence’s convention center is managed by a company that exerts its influence nationwide through management of public places such as stadiums, convention centers, and theaters. The company is SMG, based in Philadelphia. It manages facilities as diverse as the Worcester (Mass.) Centrum, where rock concerts and sporting events are held, to the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts in Jacksonville, Fla.
SMG was created in response to a market need for professionally managed public assembly facilities, including arenas, stadiums, theaters, and convention, exhibition, and trade centers, according to information published on the company Web site.
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The company is a “closely held” joint venture. The two, equal, principals are the Hyatt Hotel chain, with its 75,000 employees, and the Aramark Corp., one of the world’s largest service management companies.
SMG’s philosophy is to tailor its services to its clients, and to conduct “all company and municipal business with the utmost integrity.” According to its Web site, the company focuses on operational efficiency, cash flow, and fiscal accountability. It seeks to maximize event activity, attendance, and service quality.
One of the company’s affiliates is Network International, which specializes in the sale of advertising, product rights, and facility and even sponsorships for the sports entertainment industry. Its expertise includes the marketing and selling of products that are vital to the sports and entertainment industry, such as suites, premium (club) suites, VIP packages, and naming rights.
The services that Network offers its customers include design, development, pricing, and sales strategies for revenue producing products that it sells, according to the company Web site. In addition, its national and local leverage helps ensure our customers that they will reach their target markets. As a result, Network International has generated $8 million in 1998 revenues for SMG facilities.
By working directly with facility management and its tenants, Network International is positioned to understand and effectively place advertising within each SMG facility. From the integration of advertising opportunities in the initial design of a facility to developing additional revenue-enhancing opportunities or negotiating product packages, Network International provides the expertise and experience needed to generate revenue for SMG’s facilities, according to the company Web site.
The president of SMG, which was formed in 1988, is Wes Westley.
Some of the other notable facilities managed by SMG include: the Atlantic City Convention Center, the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the Denver Convention Complex, the Kansas Expocentre, the Lad Peebles Memorial Stadium in Mobile, Ala., London Arena, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center in Long Beach, Calif., and the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.
According to the company, in the last year SMG hosted more than 30 million people attending more than 8,800 events. Its international network of venues provides it with unlimited access to events and booking leverage.
SMG clients are provided with full service corporate marketing, promotions, and communications support. Through its marketing subsidiaries, it maintains day to day relationships with industry planners, promoters, and vendors.
SMG Sports and Entertainment focuses on the creation, productions and promotion of live entertainment events. This includes everything from concerts, family shows, Broadway theater series, and neighborhood festivals. It is an industry specialist that provides additional sports activities for all its facilities. The result is sports entertainment on a grand scale for its fans, as well as national television and media exposure for its communities.
The company’s Convention Center Division develops and maintains a national event database that profiles the corporate meetings and trade and consumer shows hosted at SMG exhibition facilities. SMG is the only sports management company that provides its clients with dedicated corporate based sales solicitation and show marketing support, according to the company.
