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The new Red Wings arena being built in Detroit, the expansion to the Big House at University of Michigan, the major overhaul of the Daytona International Speedway that debuted last month: All are part of an arms race to build venues that are as much about entertainment as they are about sports.<\/p>\n
Helping make this boom a reality is quiet giant Barton Malow,\u00a0a 90-year-old Southfield construction<\/a>company that has been the construction manager on all of these projects. Since it completed the Pontiac Silverdome in 1975, Barton Malow has been involved in the building of 60 major sports complexes across the United States. They range from Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the New England Patriots\u2019 Gillette Stadium, to the Cincinnati Bengals\u2019 Paul Brown Stadium and the in-progress SunTrust Park for the Atlanta Braves.<\/p>\n The $627 million Red Wings arena will set a standard for sports complexes when it is completed in September 2017, believes Ryan Maibach, CEO of Barton Malow. \u201cI think we\u2019ll see other arenas try to copy it,\u201d he says of the yet-unnamed venue. Barton Malow also oversaw the completion of Joe Louis Arena in 1979.<\/p>\n The 20,000-seat facility just north of downtown will house two rinks \u2014 one for Wings games, one beneath that for practice and amateur events. Both are below street level to reduce the building\u2019s visual profile to the surrounding neighborhood. The main rink will feature \u201cgondola seating,\u201d suite-like areas in the upper portion of the arena that will \u201chover\u201d over the lower sections.<\/p>\n Other enhancements include plenty of dining options, a giant LED screen in an outdoor plaza and a \u201cskin\u201d on the outside of the arena that can display video and graphics. The venue will use a so-called \u201cdeconstructed\u201d design with a glass-roofed concourse, offices, retail shops and restaurants in separate buildings outside the arena so that those venues can stay open even when the arena isn\u2019t being used for a projected 150 events per year.<\/p>\n The first roof truss for the new sports complex was placed Wednesday.<\/p>\n Silverdome its big break<\/p>\n Barton Malow is\u00a0on a short list of big-project construction\u00a0<\/a>firms that includes New York\u2019s Turner Construction (which helped build Yankee Stadium) and Oklahoma\u2019s Manhattan (the Cowboys\u2019 AT&T Stadium).<\/p>\n Barton\u2019s completion of the Silverdome in 1975 was its big break. One of the first football megaplexes, the Silverdome came on the heels of New Orleans\u2019 Superdome, a project handled by another contractor that had been plagued by cost overruns.<\/p>\n Barton Malow\u2019s efficiency in bringing the Silverdome in on time and budget polished the firm\u2019s reputation in an industry that has to juggle huge capital project expenditures while keeping the cash flowing with ongoing sporting events.<\/p>\n In building the Daytona project, for example, Barton Malow had to work through two Daytona 500s. It had to coordinate construction with NASCAR in order to hit its mark with this year\u2019s opening.<\/p>\n When Barton Malow was selected to build Red Wings arena along with partners White Construction of Detroit and Hunt Construction Group of Indianapolis, Ilitch Holdings CEO Christopher Ilitch said they had built some of the most innovative sports and entertainment venues across the country: \u201cThey were selected by Olympia Development over a number of top construction firms because of their sports and entertainment construction experience, construction management leadership and commitment to the local community.<\/p>\n What distinguishes modern sports complexes like the Red Wings arena and the $400 million remake of Daytona\u2019s front-stretch grandstand is a more involving, more luxurious spectator experience. It\u2019s not the diehard fans that sports organizers\u00a0have been losing<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 it\u2019s the more casual fans.<\/p>\n \u201cThese terrific venues have to compete against the comforts of home and high-definition televisions to get fans to come,\u201d says Maibach. \u201cHence the investment in food services, scoreboards, Wi-Fi technology and sight lines.\u201d<\/p>\n Aju Fenn, an economics professor at Colorado College who studies the sports industry, sees it this way: \u201cThe fan experience has been segmented into different price groups with different amenities so that sports complexes can appeal to fans at different price points. This allows sports firms to garner greater revenues compared to having a single type of seat and a few price categories.\u201d<\/p>\n Daytona\u2019s fans were focus<\/p>\n The re-imagining of Daytona International Speedway\u2019s 3\/4-mile-long main grandstand \u2014 unveiled at the Daytona 500 last month \u2014 was done with casual fans in mind. Every one of the 101,500 seats is within reach by no more than 20 steps. The number of restrooms has doubled to 1,891. There are 40 escalators. The number of concession stands tripled.<\/p>\n Known as Daytona Rising, the complex is billed as America\u2019s first \u201cmotorsports stadium\u201d with amenities similar to Comerica Park. (Barton Malow did renovation work on Comerica\u2019s Pepsi Porch a couple of years ago.)<\/p>\n