Sporting Club Receives International Acclaim with Four TheStadiumBusiness Awards
Published on May 15, 2012 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release
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).
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.
LIVESTRONGSporting 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 was named 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 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 the Customer Experience Award.
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
Major League Soccer Stories from May 15, 2012
- Houston Dynamo Tie Portland Timbers 0-0 - Houston Dynamo FC
- Timbers Earn Point on the Road in Draw with Houston - Portland Timbers
- Sporting Club Receives International Acclaim with Four TheStadiumBusiness Awards - Sporting Kansas City
- RSL Icons Beckerman, Rimando Invited to Join USMNT Camp in Florida - Real Salt Lake
- This Week in MLS: Galaxy visit the White House today before weekend's SuperClasico - MLS
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