Tag: Amway Center

Video Tip: Operations Management at the Orlando Magic

magic Jay and I think you and your students will love our five new videos and cases that feature the Orlando Magic and its new home, the Amway Center.  From our 2 months of interviewing and filming team executives, we are convinced that from an operations perspective, it is one of the most professionally run sports franchises in the country.

It wasn’t easy to get an inside view of an NBA team–requiring the sign off of Orlando’s mayor, the team’s owner, team execs, as well as the NBA’s David Sterns. In selecting the Magic to feature in this new edition, though, we expose your students to an exciting area of service OM. Our previous editions featured videos on Frito-Lay, Darden Restaurants, Arnold Palmer Hospital, Hard Rock Café, Regal Marine and ambulance maker Wheeled Coach. We have invested over $300,000 to script and film the 35 videos that accompany our OM texts–all free to adopters and embedded in MyOMLab.

Here are the new videos:

Chapter 4, forecasting, features the Magic’s use of multiple regression to forecast sales.

Supp.5, our new chapter on sustainability, highlights the US’s 1st LEED gold-certified sports arena.

Chapter 13 illustrates how the Magic use revenue management to maximize ticket revenue.

Chapter 14, MRP,  features Chef John’s use of bills-of-materials to feed 18,500 fans at a game.

And my favorite, titled “From the Eagles to the Magic: Converting the Amway Center”, illustrates the critical issue of scheduling (Chapter 15). The video includes a time-lapsed shot of the overnight conversion from rock concert to basketball game.

We hope you enjoy this newest set of videos and note that MyOMLab now includes 4 assignable multiple choice questions on each of the 35 videos.

OM in the News: From Lady Gaga to the Orlando Magic

What do Lady Gaga and the Orlando Magic have in common? As the Orlando Sentinel (April 15,2011) reports, Lady Gaga (if you don’t know who she is, don’t worry–your students do) performed her Monster Ball Tour on April 15th in the sparkling new Amway Center in downtown Orlando before 17,000 screaming fans. It took 42 trucks and busses to carry her massive concert set to town. The unloading and set building process began the night before and was only possible because the Amway Center has state-of-the-art technology and space for the show. The old Amway Arena had only half the number of loading bays, no freight elevators, and less sophisticated sound and lighting–hence missed out as a destination for major tours.

How is this an operations management issue? It’s because today (April 16th), the Orlando Magic open their first NBA Playoff game of the season against the Atlanta Hawks in the very same space. With ESPN providing national TV coverage in 3-D, Lady Gaga’s crew had just 3 hours to clear out-of-town (from 11:30pm yesterday till 2:30am today) to make room for the ESPN crew to set up, and to allow for the concert floor and seats to be converted to a basketball arena.

Precise scheduling,  excellent processes, and good communications make these change-overs possible. Whether its Lady Gaga to Magic, or NY Knicks to Ice Follies, OM is the key to success.

Discussion questions:

1. Name some other activities that require such perfect scheduling.

2.  Why are ultra-modern arenas so important to cities like Orlando?