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Texas A&M's Kyle Field Hosts Major Events in Summer 2024: A Case Study in Stadium Facilities Management
Texas A&M hosted an international soccer match, then then the largest U.S. ticketed concert ever, in just a 7 day span.
E&I Article, Featuring SSC: Services for Education
Kyle Field, at Texas A&M, is a premiere college athletics stadium. Kyle Field has always been a destination for top-tier events, but summer 2024 was a standout summer for events, and facility maintenance. Kyle Field hosted an international soccer match between Mexico and Brazil on June 8, 2024. And just seven days later, hosted a George Strait concert, which was the largest ticketed concert ever held in the U.S. It is no surprise that these events take months, even years, of planning and preparation.
SSC: Services for Education is the facilities management provider at Texas A&M, and was a key player in preparation for these events. The team at SSC is well-versed in campus events, activities, and operations. With your institution's E&I membership you have a procurement contract with SSC. See SSC contract here.
Generally summer is “down time” at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field, but June 2024 was anything but down time. There was a need for an expedited maintenance timeline to have Kyle Field looking its best. Everything from utility checks to individual walkthroughs of each suite in the stadium had to be moved up to ensure the best possible fan experience. All summer maintenance needs had an extremely expedited timeline to prepare the stadium for the large amount of stadium visitors. The team at SSC began meetings with the Texas A&M team a year in advance for the June 2024 events, but those meetings really ramped up 3 months in advance. The utility plant for example needed preparation, evaluating utilities inside and outside of the stadium. The team at SSC helped Texas A&M prepare for event needs, like electricity, water and key functions for team spaces. The needs for an international soccer match and a George Strait concert are pretty different.
The team at SSC was at the stadium at 6am on event days, to be onsite and ready for any last minute, urgent requests or unexpected problems. The George Strait concert had an attendance of 111,000 people and required 115 custodians and 20 maintenance technicians. The custodial director at SSC walked 28,750 steps in the stadium that day!
Overall, the team at SSC had just seven days to reset Kyle Field from 85,000 visitors for soccer to a concert venue for 111,000. In addition to being responsible for a full stadium reset ahead of the George Strait concert, our team had the added challenge of caring for additional spaces during setup. As the stage and other key performance equipment was assembled, the SSC team removed trash, cleaned the field area after crew meals, and performed regular cleanings to ensure even the stadium and setup crew saw Kyle Field looking its best.
A high level of preparation allowed SSC to provide excellent service – responding to each issue that came up in a timely manner. Each level of the stadium had a designated SSC team lead to look for to resolve any issues that came up. Associates were all prepped with plans for their level, specific moments to be pre-pared for, and alternate pathways in case of access interruption. At the end of the day, in custodial and maintenance operations, no feedback from event attendees is often the best feedback we can get. It means SSC did its job well and created an exceptional fan experience — entirely behind the scenes.
This is just a case study summary - see the full case study by SSC.
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