Zausner Transforms U.S. Open Facilities, Experience

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The first half of Danny Zausner's 34-year career in event management took him all over the world — first as a concert promoter, then as head of Ogden Entertainment, where he oversaw the operation of 60 stadiums and arenas. For the past 17 years, his focus has resided exclusively on a 42-acre parcel of land a mere 15 miles from his home. As chief operating officer of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., Zausner has shepherded a $650 million, eight-year renovation that has transformed the world's largest public tennis facility into the envy of the entire sports world, with retractable roofs on two venues (including 24,000-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium) and a festival atmosphere surrounding its signature event — the U.S. Open. In the process, the Open has seen growth in ticket sales from $45 million to $120 million, as well as increases in attendance (40 percent), food and beverage sales (from $8 million to $30 million) and merchandise sales (from $6 million to $18 million). AB senior editor Paul Steinbach asked Zausner to reflect on his homecoming.

What does managing 60 venues entail?
In new venues, I was actively involved in every aspect — from the design of the building to getting the staff hired to selling the sponsorships and getting shows booked and convincing teams to play there and working with cities and/or private ownership groups to want to hire my company as opposed to the competition. And then in other venues where we were in for quite some time it was more about continuing to get the shows, the events in there that would help generate the revenue that would keep the cities interested in having us continue to manage those venues. So there were all different aspects, and obviously we had about 5,000 employees at all those locations, so it was critical to have the best general manager at each location who would report up. For instance, in the United States, I would have three regional executives — one East Coast, one Midwest and one West Coast. I had a person who oversaw all of Europe for us, and I had someone who oversaw Australia and someone who was in charge of South America. So it was my job to really just travel the world and check in with them regularly and help drum up new business in developing markets.

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