Will N.Y. Stadium Help Organizers?

By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 6/6/2005

It's being billed as part of a "convention corridor," but just how useful will the proposed New York Sports & Convention Center be to tradeshow organizers?

Proponents say New York's 2012 Olympics bid depends on the $2.2 billion stadium, which will house the New York Jets football team and offer some exhibit and meeting space. But the project south of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center faces strong opposition. Several groups have filed legal challenges, and two state legislators were concerned enough to delay the project's vote before the Public Authorities Control Board.

U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth, meanwhile, has warned that the city's Olympics bid could be jeopardized if the project, supported by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Gov. George Pataki, isn't approved before the Intl. Olympic Committee selects the 2012 Summer Games site on July 6.

"It's become a political football," said Tim McGuinness, vice president of sales and convention center expansion for NYC & Co., the city's convention and visitors bureau.

Although the stadium project is a major concern to Olympics backers, tradeshow organizers are more interested in the $1.4 billion expansion at the Javits that would add 340,000 square feet of exhibit space and 265,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. With $300 million in state funding approved last December, the Javits expansion is expected to be completed by 2009, regardless of whether the sports stadium is built. Ground-breaking is anticipated by the second quarter of 2006.

McGuinness said that without the stadium project, the city would lose one of two key anchors for the West Side's redevelopment. "It could impact the growth of some shows that are pushing the envelope for the Javits," he added.

Although tradeshow organizers generally welcome new exhibit space in any shape, some wonder about the practicality of a multi-use facility. "When is a tradeshow facility not a tradeshow facility? When it's a football stadium," said Francis Friedman, president of New York-based Time & Place Strategies. "What they're trying to do is justify the stadium. Do we want to spend $600 million (in city money) to justify 200,000 gross sq. ft. of space?"

The proposed center would be built over the rail yards between 11th and 12th avenues and 30th and 33rd streets. It would contain 200,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space and 30,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.

According to plans, the facility could be transformed from a 75,000-seat football stadium to exhibit space within 24 hours by closing the retractable roof, removing pallets for the playing field, folding modular seating and lowering a lighting grid.

Backers say the facility will be used as a football stadium only 10 times a year. But Friedman pointed out that most of those days will fall on weekends, the time that trade-shows typically move in and out.

McGuinness said his organization surveyed associations and show managers beforehand to gauge whether they would use such a facility. "I'm a big football fan and I like football, but my big interest is from a convention and meetings viewpoint," he said. "Overwhelmingly, we heard back from people that, 'If you build the space, we would use it.' New York doesn't have enough space, even with the Javits center and the Javits center expansion."

Backers envision the stadium attracting new tradeshows and working "in tandem with the Javits center, offering existing shows ancillary space to expand south, a major plenary hall and first-class corporate hospitality facilities," according to promotional materials.

Longtime East Coast show organizer Mark Dineen agrees that the stadium could be useful as supplemental space. "Ultimately, I do think it would be a benefit to the expansion of the Javits," said Dineen, vice president of H.A. Bruno and director of C3 Corporate and Channel Computing Expo, being launched June 28–30 at the Javits. "You could use it for different things. If there was ever a show gargantuan enough to fill the Javits, it could be used for overflow. If you wanted to do a major presentation by a major keynote speaker, that space would lend itself well."

Several tradeshow industry representatives offered letters of support for the stadium project, pointing out that the venue could be useful for small and medium-sized shows.

"Adjacent and connected to the Javits center, the NYSCC appears ideally suited to serve as an incubator for smaller shows, and would be expected to incrementally increase the tourism and convention business in New York City and complement the expanded Javits center," wrote Greg Farrar, president of VNU Expositions.

Drew Lawsky, show director for VNU's JA Intl. Jewelry Shows, wrote that small and midsized shows not only represent additional business for the city, but have the potential to grow into much larger shows.

And Ken McAvoy, senior vice president for Reed Exhibitions, stated that the venue could provide expansion space for 10 Reed shows currently held at the Javits.

The New York Times is opposed to the stadium project, labeling the campaign in a recent editorial the "frenzied pursuit of an unnecessary football field." The New York Post, New York Daily News and Crain's New York Business all support it.

Meanwhile, according to published reports, the Jets are negotiating a backup plan to stay at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, to ensure they won't be homeless if the new stadium isn't built by 2009 as hoped.

"Overall, I'm a Giants fan, not a Jets fan," quipped Dineen. "From that perspective, it doesn't matter. But from a pure tradeshow perspective, at worst, it couldn't hurt. And at best, it could hopefully help."